M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ahaziah King of Judah
22 The residents of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in Jehoram’s place because the raiding band, which had come to the camp with the Arabs, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram ruled as the king of Judah.
2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri.
3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother was advising him how to do wicked things. 4 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did, because they were his advisors after the death of his father. This led to his destruction.
5 He also followed their advice and went with Jehoram,[a] the son of Ahab, the king of Israel, to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram there. 6 So he returned to Jezre’el to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramah when he was fighting against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah[b] son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Jehoram son of Ahab in Jezre’el because Jehoram had been wounded.
7 It was due to God that Ahaziah’s downfall came about when he went to visit Joram. After Ahaziah had arrived, he went out with Jehoram[c] to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. 8 When Jehu was carrying out judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers,[d] who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He also searched for Ahaziah and captured him, while he was hiding in Samaria.[e] They brought him to Jehu, who put him to death. They buried him, because they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” There was nobody from the house of Ahaziah strong enough to rule the kingdom.
Athaliah
10 When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went into action and destroyed[f] all the royal heirs[g] belonging to the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath,[h] the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah. She stole him away from among the king’s sons, who were to be killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because she was a sister of Ahaziah, Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid Joash from Athaliah, so that she could not kill him.
12 He was kept hidden with them in the House of God for six years, while Athaliah was ruling over the land.
Jehoiada Anoints Joash as King
23 In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself[i] by entering into a covenant with the commanders of the hundreds, namely, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Ma’aseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zikri. 2 They went around Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the leading fathers of Israel, who came to Jerusalem.
3 The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the House of God. Jehoiada said to them:
Look! Here is the king’s son. He will rule as king, just as the Lord has promised concerning the sons of David.
4 This is what you will do. One third of you who are coming on duty on the Sabbath to perform your duties as priests and Levites are to guard the gates. 5 One third of you will be in the palace of the king, and one third at the Foundation Gate.[j] All the people will be stationed in the courtyards of the House of the Lord.
6 No one will come into the house[k] of the Lord except the priests and the Levites who are serving. They are allowed to enter because they are holy. All the rest of the people will follow the directions of the Lord.
7 The Levites will completely surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who enters the house will be put to death. You accompany the king when he comes in and goes out.
8 The Levites and all Judah did exactly as Jehoiada the priest had commanded. Each leader combined the men coming on duty on the Sabbath with those going off duty on the Sabbath, because Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions.
9 Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of the hundreds the spears, the large shields, and the small shields[l] which belonged to King David and which were in the House of God. 10 He stationed all the people, each man with his weapon in his hand, in a circle from the south side of the temple building to the north side of the building, around the altar and all around the building, completely surrounding the king.
11 Then they brought out the king’s son. They set the crown on him and gave him the Testimony,[m] and they made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”
Athaliah’s Death
12 When Athaliah heard the noise made by the people who were running and praising the king, she went to the crowd of people at the House of the Lord. 13 She looked, and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officials and the trumpeters were beside the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing the trumpets. The singers with their musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and shouted, “Treason! Treason!”
14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders who were in charge of the units of a hundred in the army. He told them, “Bring her out between the ranks. Anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword,” but the priest also told them, “You must not put her to death in the House of the Lord.” 15 So they laid their hands on her, and she was taken to the entrance of the Horse Gate by the palace of the king, where she was put to death.
16 Jehoiada made a covenant including himself, all the people, and the king, that they would be the Lord’s people.
17 All the people then went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed Baal’s altars and his images. They killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.
18 Jehoiada posted a watch[n] over the House of the Lord. It was under the supervision of the levitical priests, whom David had given assignments in the House of the Lord to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing as David had directed. 19 He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the House of the Lord, so that no one could enter if he was unclean in any way.
20 He took the commanders of the hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land. He brought the king down from the House of the Lord. They came through the upper gate of the palace of the king. They seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.
21 All the people of the land rejoiced. The city was quiet after they killed Athaliah with the sword.
The Angel With a Little Scroll
10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down out of heaven. He was clothed with a cloud, a rainbow was over his head, his face was like the sun, his feet were like pillars of fire, 2 and he had in his hand a little scroll, which had been opened. He put his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, 3 and he cried out with a loud voice, just as a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders spoke using their own voices.
4 When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up the things that the seven thunders said, and do not write them down.”
5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, 6 and he swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created the sky and the things in it, the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. 7 Instead, in the days of the sound made by the seventh angel, that is, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will also be completed, exactly as he made this good news known to his servants the prophets.”
John’s Commission to Prophesy
8 The voice that I heard from heaven also spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that has been opened in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little scroll.”
He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10 I took the little scroll out of the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11 And they said to me, “It is necessary that you prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
The Eighth Vision: Four Chariots
6 Then I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked again. There were four chariots coming out from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses. The second chariot had black horses. 3 The third chariot had white horses. The fourth chariot had dappled horses. All of them were powerful. 4 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[a] of the heavens, going forth from their stations to present themselves to the Lord of all the earth. 6 The driver with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, and the one with the white horses is following after them, and the one with the dappled horses is going toward the land of the south.”
7 Now the powerful horses came out, and they were eager to range throughout the earth. He said, “Go! Range throughout the earth.” So they ranged throughout the earth.
8 Then he called out to me and told me, “Look! Those who are going out toward the land of the north have caused my Spirit to rest in the land of the north.”
The Crowning of Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me:
10 Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon—and on that very day go into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
12 Tell him that this is what the Lord of Armies says:
There is a man whose name is the Branch, because he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 He is the one who will build the temple of the Lord. He will be clothed with majesty, and he will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful relations between the two offices.[b]
14 The crown will be kept in the temple as a memorial[c] for Helem[d] and Tobijah and Jedaiah and Hen,[e] son of Zephaniah.
15 Those who are far away will come and build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God.
A Blind Man Sees
9 As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. 4 I[a] must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”
6 After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before this as a beggar asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one!”
10 So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is he?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.
“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”
16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”
There was division among them, 17 so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”
20 “We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. 21 But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”
30 “That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. 32 From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”[b]
36 “Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.