M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
14 Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. His son Asa became king in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.[a]
Asa King of Judah
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He removed the foreign altars and the high places. He demolished the sacred memorial stones and chopped down the Asherah poles. 4 He told Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command. 5 He removed the high places and the sun pillars[b] from all the cities of Judah. The kingdom enjoyed peace and quiet under him.
6 He built fortified cities in Judah because the land was quiet. He had no wars in those years because the Lord gave him rest.
7 Asa said to Judah, “We will build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, and barred gates. The land before us is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We sought him, and he has given us peace all around.”
So they built and prospered.
8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, who carried large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand men from Benjamin, who carried shields and were armed with bows. These were all strong, powerful warriors.
9 Zerah the Cushite[c] came out against them with an army of a million[d] men and three hundred chariots and advanced as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa went out to confront him, and they formed battle lines in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
11 Asa cried to the Lord his God, “Lord, there is no one except you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, because we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this horde.[e] Lord, you are our God. Men will not prevail against you.”
12 The Lord defeated the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar. The Cushites fell until none of them were left alive, because they were broken before the Lord and before his army, who carried away a large amount of plunder. 14 They struck all the cities around Gerar, because the dread of the Lord was upon them. They looted all the cities because there was a great deal of plunder in them. 15 Also they struck the tents of the herdsmen and carried off very many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
Asa’s Reformation
15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. 2 He went out to meet Asa and said this to him:
Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he is there to be found. If you forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach, and without the law. 4 Then in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel. They sought him, and he was found by them. 5 During those times there was no peace for those who went out and came in, because there were great disturbances affecting all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 It was nation against nation and city against city. They were broken in pieces because God troubled them with every kind of distress. 7 But take courage and do not let your hands be slack, because there will be a reward for your work.
8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of[f] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He put away the disgusting idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in front of the porch of the Lord’s house.
9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those who had settled among them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, because people from Israel had gone over to Asa in great numbers since they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 On that day they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep from the plunder they had brought.
12 They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. 13 Anyone who did not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether young or old,[g] man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting, and with trumpets and ram’s horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, because they had sworn with all their heart, and they very eagerly sought the Lord. He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest on every side.
(1 Kings 15:13-15)
16 Asa even removed his grandmother Ma’akah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an obscene image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image and crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
17 The high places, however, were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was completely committed throughout all his days. 18 He brought silver and gold and vessels and utensils to the House of the Lord as dedicated offerings for himself and his father.
Asa’s Treaty With Aram
19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.
John’s Vision of God
4 After these things I looked, and there was a door opened in heaven! And the first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in spirit. And look! A throne was standing in heaven, and someone was sitting on the throne. 3 The one who was sitting there looked like a jasper stone and a ruby.[a] Around the throne there was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.
4 Also around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and sitting on those thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white garments, with gold crowns on their heads. 5 Out of the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and crashes of thunder. In front of the throne seven flaming lamps were burning, which are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne was something resembling a glassy sea, which was like crystal.
In the middle, near the throne and around the throne, there were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings, and the wings were full of eyes all around and underneath.[b] Day and night, without pause, they keep saying:
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
who was and who is and who is coming.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders bow down before him who sits on the throne. They worship the one who lives forever and ever and lay down their crowns in front of his throne as they say:
11 Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive the glory and the honor and the power,
for you have created all things,
and because of your will they existed and were created.
The Second Message:
The Glory of This House
2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month,[a] the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet.
2 Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the surviving remnant of the people.
3 Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look now? Doesn’t it seem like nothing in your eyes?
4 But now, be strong, Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest! Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Get to work, and I will be with you, declares the Lord of Armies. 5 This is the promise I made[b] to you when you left Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Do not be afraid!
6 Listen, this is what the Lord of Armies says. Once again, in a little while, I myself will shake the heavens and the earth, the seas and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations, and the desired of all the nations will come,[c] and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Armies. 8 The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of Armies. 9 The glory of this second house will be greater than that of the first one,[d] says the Lord of Armies. For in this place I will provide peace, declares the Lord of Armies.
The Third Set of Messages:
The Transfer of Cleanness and Uncleanness
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius,[e] the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet.
11 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Ask the priests about the law. 12 If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and he touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food with the fold of the garment, will that food become holy?
The priests answered, “No.”
13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from contact with a dead body touches any of these things, will that thing become unclean?”
The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”
14 Then Haggai responded:
This is how it is with this people, and this is how it is with this nation in my presence, declares the Lord, and this is how it is with all the work of their hands. Everything that they offer there is unclean.
15 Now, consider your ways carefully, from the time before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord, up to this day.[f] 16 Through all that time, whenever anyone came to a heap of grain to get twenty measures,[g] there were only ten. Whenever anyone came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck you and all the work of your hands with blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.
18 Consider your ways carefully, from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, all the way back to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid.[h] Consider this. 19 Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not produced fruit.
But from this day on, I will bless you.
Zerubbabel Is the Lord’s Signet Ring
20 The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month.
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah. Say, “I will shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will go down, each one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the Lord of Armies, I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant, declares the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of Armies.”
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above.[b] 8 The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
10 “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11 Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.[c]
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but[d] have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. 21 But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.
23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, 24 for John had not been thrown into prison yet.
25 Then an argument broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[e] about purification. 26 His disciples came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”
27 John answered, “A man cannot receive a single thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
31 The one who comes from above is superior to everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in a way that belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is superior to everyone. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 The one who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. 34 In fact, the one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, for God[f] gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.