M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Rehoboam King of Judah

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.

² When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, heard about this, he returned from Egypt, ³ and the people then sent for Jeroboam.

Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke that he laid on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Return to me in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked for advice from the old men^[a] who had served his father Solomon while he was alive: “How would you advise me to respond to these people?”

⁷ They said to him, “If you are good to these people and respond favorably to their request, and you speak accommodating words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam did not follow the advice the old men gave him. Instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who were serving as his advisors. ⁹ He said to them, “How would you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father laid upon us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy. You make it light for us.’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.^{[b] 11} My father imposed a heavy yoke on you. I will add to your yoke. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.’”^[c]

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had directed: “Come back to me on the third day.”

¹³ The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the old men.

¹⁴ Instead, he spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father made your yoke heavy. I will add to it. My father punished you with whips. I will punish you with scorpions.”

¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events was from God, so that the Lord would keep his word, as he had spoken it to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah from Shiloh.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw^[d] that the king did not listen to them, they responded to the king:

So all Israel went to their tents.^[e]

¹⁷ Rehoboam continued to rule over the people of Israel who were living in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Hadoram,^[f] who was in charge of the forced labor, but the people of Israel stoned Hadoram to death. King Rehoboam, however, was able to get into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David until this day.

Introduction

1 The revelation from Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Christ expressed this revelation by means of symbols sent^[a] through his angel to his servant John. ² John spoke as a witness to the word of God and to the testimony about^[b] Jesus Christ, that is, to everything he saw. ³ Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and hold on to the things written in it, because the time is near.

Greeting

⁴ John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:^[c]

Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed^[d] us from our sins by his own blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”^[e] says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.

God Tells John to Write Down What He Sees

⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus,^[f] was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.^[g]

¹⁰ I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet, ¹¹ saying, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

Jesus Appears

¹² I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, ¹³ and among the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was clothed with a robe that reached to his feet, and around his chest he wore a gold sash. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white, like white wool or like snow. His eyes were like blazing flames. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze being refined in a furnace. His voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining as the sun shines in all its brightness.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last— ¹⁸ the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell.^[h]

¹⁹ “So write what you have seen, both those things that are and those that will take place after this.

²⁰ “The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

2 Gather yourselves together; yes, gather together, you shameless^[a] nation, ² before the decree takes effect, before the day blows by like chaff, before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you. ³ Seek the Lord, all you humble people of the earth who have carried out his commands. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. Maybe then you will be sheltered in the day of the Lord’s anger.

⁴ Yes, Gaza will be deserted, and Ashkelon will be desolate. Ashdod’s people will be driven out by noon, and Ekron will be uprooted. ⁵ Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Kerethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you so that no one is left alive! ⁶ The seacoast will become pastureland, with shelters for shepherds and sheep pens for flocks. ⁷ It will become the possession of those who remain from the house of Judah. Their flocks will pasture there. In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening, because the Lord their God will take care of them. He will restore their fortunes.

⁸ I have heard the taunts from Moab and the insults from the Ammonites as they have taunted my people and made proud claims against their territory. ⁹ Therefore as I live, declares the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, Moab will become like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah, a patch of ground overgrown with weeds and a salt pit^[b] that is desolate forever. The surviving remnant of my people will plunder them, and the remnant of my nation will take possession of their land. ¹⁰ This is what they will get for their pride, because they have taunted and talked arrogantly against the people of the Lord of Armies. ¹¹ The Lord will be terrifying to them, when he will starve^[c] all the gods of the earth. Then all the distant nations will bow down to him, each of them in their own country.

¹² You Cushites,^[d] you also will die by my sword.

¹³ Then he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh desolate, dry like the wilderness. ¹⁴ Flocks and herds will lie down there, with all sorts of other creatures. Screech owls and hedgehogs^[e] will live among its columns. Owls will hoot through the windows. Rubble will cover the thresholds. Even the cedar beams will be exposed. ¹⁵ This was the smug city that lived securely, that said to herself, “I am all there is. There are none that compare to me.” What a heap of ruins she has become, a place for wild animals to lie down! Everyone who passes by taunts her and shakes his fist.

The Resurrection

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women^[a] went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. ² They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. ³ When they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. ⁵ The women were terrified and bowed down with their faces to the ground.

The men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” ⁸ Then they remembered his words.

⁹ When they returned from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. ¹¹ Yet these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over to look in, he saw only the strips of linen cloth. He went home, amazed at what had happened.

On the Way to Emmaus

¹³ Now, on that same day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles^[b] from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about all of these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing this, Jesus himself approached and began to walk along with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk along?” Saddened, they stopped.

¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked them.

They replied, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be condemned to death. And they crucified him. ²¹ But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel. Not only that, but besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Also some women of our group amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning. ²³ When they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb. They found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter his glory?” ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸ As they approached the village where they were going, he acted as if he were going to travel farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, since it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.”

So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he reclined at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and began giving it to them. ³¹ Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us along the road and while he was explaining the Scriptures to us?” ³³ They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those who were with them assembled together. ³⁴ They were saying, “The Lord really has been raised! He has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ They themselves described what had happened along the road, and how they recognized him when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

³⁶ As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

³⁷ But they were terrified and frightened and thought they were looking at a ghost.

³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ While they still did not believe it (because of their joy), and while they were still wondering, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb.^{[c] 43} He took it and ate in front of them. ⁴⁴ He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He said to them, “This is what is written and so it must be:^[d] The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus Ascends Into Heaven

⁵⁰ He led them out as far as the vicinity of Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² So they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ They were continually in the temple courts, praising and^[e] blessing God. Amen.^[f]