M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elisha Heals Naaman

5 ^(A) Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army. The Lord had helped him and his troops defeat their enemies, so the king of Syria respected Naaman very much. Naaman was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy.^[a]

² One day while the Syrian troops were raiding Israel, they captured a girl, and she became a servant of Naaman's wife. ³ Some time later the girl said, “If your husband Naaman would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would be cured of his leprosy.”

⁴ When Naaman told the king what the girl had said, ⁵ the king replied, “Go ahead! I will give you a letter to take to the king of Israel.”

Naaman left and took along 30,000 pieces of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 10 new outfits. ⁶ He also carried the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I am sending my servant Naaman to you. Would you cure him of his leprosy?”

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in fear and shouted, “That Syrian king believes I can cure this man of leprosy! Does he think I'm God with power over life and death? He must be trying to pick a fight with me.”

⁸ As soon as Elisha the prophet^[b] heard what had happened, he sent the Israelite king this message: “Why are you so afraid? Send the man to me, so that he will know there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹ Naaman left with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent someone outside to say to him, “Go wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then you'll be completely cured.”

¹¹ But Naaman stormed off, grumbling, “Why couldn't he come out and talk to me? I thought for sure he would stand in front of me and pray to the Lord his God, then wave his hand over my skin and cure me. ¹² What about the Abana River^[c] or the Pharpar River? Those rivers in Damascus are just as good as any river in Israel. I could have washed in them and been cured.”

¹³ His servants went over to him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. So why don't you do what he said? Go wash and be cured.”

¹⁴ Naaman walked down to the Jordan; he waded out into the water and stooped down in it seven times, just as Elisha had told him. At once, he was cured, and his skin became as smooth as a child's.

¹⁵ Naaman and his officials went back to Elisha. Naaman stood in front of him and announced, “Now I know that the God of Israel is the only God in the whole world. Sir, would you please accept a gift from me?”

¹⁶ “I am a servant of the living Lord,” Elisha answered, “and I swear that I will not take anything from you.”

Naaman kept begging, but Elisha kept refusing. ¹⁷ Finally Naaman said, “If you won't accept a gift, then please let me take home as much soil as two mules can pull in a wagon. Sir, from now on I will offer sacrifices only to the Lord.^{[d] 18} But I pray that the Lord will forgive me when I go into the temple of the god Rimmon and bow down there with the king of Syria.”

¹⁹ “Go on home, and don't worry about that,” Elisha replied. Then Naaman left.

Elisha Places a Curse on Gehazi

After Naaman had gone only a short distance, ²⁰ Gehazi said to himself, “Elisha let that Syrian off too easy. He should have taken Naaman's gift. I swear by the living Lord that I will talk to Naaman myself and get something from him.” ²¹ So he hurried after Naaman.

When Naaman saw Gehazi running after him, he got out of his chariot to meet him. Naaman asked, “Is everything all right?”

²² “Yes,” Gehazi answered. “But my master has sent me to tell you about two young prophets from the hills of Ephraim. They came asking for help, and now Elisha wants to know if you would give them 3,000 pieces of silver and some new clothes?”

²³ “Sure,” Naaman replied. “But why don't you take twice that amount of silver?” He convinced Gehazi to take it all, then put the silver in two bags. He handed the bags and the clothes to his two servants, and they carried them for Gehazi.

²⁴ When they reached the hill where Gehazi lived, he took the bags from the servants and placed them in his house, then sent the men away. After they had gone, ²⁵ Gehazi went in and stood in front of Elisha, who asked, “Gehazi, where have you been?”

“Nowhere, sir,” Gehazi answered.

²⁶ Elisha asked, “Don't you know that my spirit was there when Naaman got out of his chariot to talk with you? Gehazi, you have no right to accept money or clothes, olive orchards or vineyards, sheep or cattle, or servants. ²⁷ Because of what you've done, Naaman's leprosy^[e] will now be on you and your descendants forever!”

Suddenly, Gehazi's skin became white with leprosy, and he left.

How To Pray

2 First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. ² Pray for kings and others in power, so we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. ³ This kind of prayer is good, and it pleases God our Savior. ⁴ God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is,

Daniel Prays for the People

9 ^1-2 (A) Daniel wrote:

Some years later, Darius the Mede,^[a] who was the son of Xerxes,^[b] had become king of Babylonia. And during his first year as king, I found out from studying the writings of the prophets that the Lord had said to Jeremiah, “Jerusalem will lie in ruins for 70 years.”^{[c] 3-4} Then, to show my sorrow, I went without eating and dressed in sackcloth^[d] and sat in ashes. I confessed my sins and earnestly prayed to the Lord my God:

Our Lord, you are a great and fearsome God, and you faithfully keep your agreement with those who love and obey you. ⁵ But we have sinned terribly by rebelling against you and rejecting your laws and teachings. ⁶ We have ignored the message your servants the prophets spoke to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and everyone else.

^7 (B) Everything you do is right, our Lord. But still we suffer public disgrace because we have been unfaithful and have sinned against you. This includes all of us, both far and near—the people of Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel, as well as those you dragged away to foreign lands, ⁸ and even our kings, our officials, and our ancestors. ⁹ Lord God, you are merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against you ¹⁰ and rejected your teachings that came to us from your servants the prophets.

^11 (C) Everyone in Israel has stubbornly refused to obey your laws, and so those curses written by your servant Moses have fallen upon us. ¹² You warned us and our leaders that Jerusalem would suffer the worst disaster in human history, and you did exactly as you had threatened. ¹³ We have not escaped any of the terrible curses written by Moses, and yet we have refused to beg you for mercy and to remind ourselves of how faithful you have always been. ¹⁴ And when you finally punished us with this horrible disaster, that was also the right thing to do, because we deserved it so much.

^15 (D) Our Lord God, with your own mighty arm you rescued us from Egypt and made yourself famous to this very day, but we have sinned terribly. ¹⁶ In the past, you treated us with such kindness, that we now beg you to stop being so terribly angry with Jerusalem. After all, it is your chosen city built on your holy mountain, even though it has suffered public disgrace because of our sins and those of our ancestors.

^17 (E) I am your servant, Lord God, and I beg you to answer my prayers and bring honor to yourself by having pity on your temple that lies in ruins. ^18 (F) Please show mercy to your chosen city, not because we deserve it, but because of your great kindness. ¹⁹ Forgive us! Hurry and do something, not only for your city and your chosen people, but to bring honor to yourself.

The Seventy Weeks

Daniel wrote:

²⁰ I was still confessing my sins and those of all Israel to the Lord my God, and I was praying for the good of his holy mountain,^{[e] 21 (G)} when Gabriel suddenly came flying in at the time of the evening sacrifice. This was the same Gabriel I had seen in my vision, ²² and he explained:

Daniel, I am here to help you understand the vision. ²³ God thinks highly of you, and at the very moment you started praying, I was sent to give you the answer. ²⁴ God has decided that for 70 weeks,^[f] your people and your holy city must suffer as the price of their sins. Then evil will disappear, and justice will rule forever; the visions and words of the prophets will come true, and a most holy place will be dedicated.^[g]

²⁵ You need to realize that from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Chosen Leader,^[h] it will be 7 weeks and another 62 weeks.^[i] Streets will be built in Jerusalem, and a trench will be dug around the city for protection, but these will be difficult times.^{[j] 26} At the end of the 62 weeks,^[k] the Chosen Leader^[l] will be killed and left with nothing.^[m]

A foreign ruler and his army will sweep down like a mighty flood, leaving both the city and the temple in ruins, and war and destruction will continue until the end, just as God has decided. ^27 (H) For one week^[n] this foreigner^[o] will make a firm agreement with many people, and halfway through this week,^[p] he will end all sacrifices and offerings. Then the “Horrible Thing” that causes destruction will be put there. And it will stay there until the time God has decided to destroy this one who destroys.

Come Praise the Lord

The Lord Is Always Merciful