M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Manasseh Son of Hezekiah, King of Judah
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. 3 He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to the whole army of the heavens,[a] and he served them. 4 He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” 5 He built altars to all the army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.
6 He made his son pass through the fire. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.
7 He put an image of Asherah, which he had made, into the house about which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. 8 I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I gave to their fathers, if they will just be careful to do whatever I commanded them and to observe the whole law which my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord exterminated before the people of Israel.
God’s Judgment on Manasseh
10 Then the Lord said through his prophets:
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has engaged in these disgusting practices and has done more evil than all that which the Amorites who had gone before him had done, and he has caused Judah to sin with his filthy idols, 12 therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Pay attention! I am bringing such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Israel the plumb line that was stretched out over Samaria and the level used on the house of Ahab. I will wipe away Jerusalem just as someone wipes a bowl clean and turns it upside down. 14 I will hand over the remnant of my possession and give them into the hand of their enemies, so that they become plunder and spoils for all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt until today.
16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. This was in addition to the sin which he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.
17 As for the rest of Manasseh’s acts, everything he did and the sin he committed, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 18 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon became king in his place.
Amon Son of Manasseh, King of Judah
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king and he ruled for two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.
20 He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. 21 He walked in all the ways in which his father had walked, and he served the filthy idols which his father had served, and he worshipped them. 22 He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord.
23 Amon’s servants conspired against him, and they killed the king in his palace. 24 Then the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
25 As for the rest of Amon’s acts, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 26 They buried him in his own tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Josiah became king in his place.
Christ Is Superior to Moses
3 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, focus your attention on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in God’s whole house. 3 In fact, Jesus is worthy of greater glory than Moses, in the same way that the builder of a house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, and God is the one who built everything.
5 Moses was faithful as a servant within God’s whole house by testifying to the things that would be spoken. 6 But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. We are his house, if we hold on firmly[a] to our confidence and the hope about which we boast until the end.[b]
Do Not Harden Your Hearts
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness.
9 Your fathers tested and tried me,
even though they saw my works 10 for forty years.
That is why I was angry with that generation
and said, “In their heart they are always going astray,
and they did not learn my ways.”
11 So I swore an oath in my wrath,
“They will never enter my rest.”[c]
12 Watch out, brothers, so that there is not an evil, unbelieving heart in any of you that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become people who share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firmly until the end. 15 As it is said:
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.[d]
16 Who was it who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who left Egypt, led by Moses? 17 And with whom was God angry for forty years? Surely it was with the ones who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, wasn’t it? 18 And about whom did he swear an oath that they would not enter his rest, if it wasn’t concerning those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Return to the Lord!
14 Israel, return to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your guilt.
2 Take words with you[a] and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Forgive all our guilt,
and receive us graciously,
and let us present the fruit of our lips as bulls.[b]
3 Assyria cannot save us.
We will not ride on horses.
We will no longer call the work of our hands our gods!
For in you the fatherless child finds compassion.”
4 I will cure them of their unfaithfulness.
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be refreshing like dew to Israel.
It will blossom like a lily.
It will take root like a cedar of Lebanon.
6 Its young shoots will sprout.
Its beauty will be like an olive tree.
Its fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 Those who live in Israel’s shade will once again grow grain.
They will blossom like a grape vine.
Its fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, how much more do I have to put up with from idols?
I am the one who has answered, and I look after him.
I am like a fresh fir tree.
Your fruit comes from me.
9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things.
Who is discerning? Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.
Psalm 139
God’s Attributes—Too Wonderful for Me!
Heading
For the choir director. By David. A psalm.
God Is All-Knowing
1 Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
3 You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,[a]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before there is a word on my tongue,
you, Lord, already know it completely.
5 You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.
God Is Present Everywhere
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?[b]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
9 I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
10 Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
11 And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
12 then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
God Is Powerful and Good
13 For you created my inner organs.[c]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
17 Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
God Is Holy
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
20 men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
22 I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
23 Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
24 See if there is any way in me that causes pain,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.