M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahab(A)
18 After Jehoshaphat had become wealthy and was enjoying abundant honor, he allied himself to Ahab. 2 After a few years, he visited Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered lots of sheep and oxen for him, and the people who were with him persuaded Jehoshaphat to attack Ramoth-gilead. 3 King Ahab of Israel asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “Will you join me in attacking Ramoth-gilead?”
“I’m with you,” Jehoshaphat[a] replied. “and my army is with you. We’ll join you in the battle.” 4 But then Jehoshaphat asked the king of Israel, “Please ask for a message from the Lord, first.”
5 So the king of Israel gathered together 400 prophets and asked them, “Should we go attack Ramoth-gilead, or should I call off the attack?”[b]
“Go attack them,” they all said, “because God will drop them right in the king’s hand.”
6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord left here that we could talk to?”
7 “There is still one man left by whom we could ask the Lord what to do,” the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, “but I hate him because he won’t prophesy anything good about me. Instead, he always prophesies evil. He is Imla’s son Micaiah.”
But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, “Kings[c] should never talk like that.”
8 Nevertheless, the king of Israel called an officer and ordered him, “Bring me Imla’s son Micaiah quickly.”
9 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were each sitting on their own thrones, arrayed in their robes, and sitting on the threshing floor at the entrance to the city gate of Samaria, and all of the prophets were prophesying in front of them. 10 Chenaanah’s son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!’”
11 All the other prophets were saying similar things, like “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and you will be successful, because the Lord will hand it over to the king!”
Micaiah the True Prophet Warns Ahab and Jehoshaphat(B)
12 Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone off to summon Micaiah advised him, “Look, everything that the other prophets were saying has been unanimously favorable to the king. So please, cooperate with them and speak favorably.”
13 “As the Lord lives,” Micaiah replied, “I’ll say what my God tells me to say.”
14 When Micaiah[d] approached the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I not?”
“Go to war,” Micaiah[e] replied, “and you will be successful, because the Lord will hand it over to the king!”
15 When he heard this, the king asked him, “How many times do I have to ask you? Tell me nothing but the truth, and do it in the name of the Lord!”
16 And so Micaiah replied:
“I saw all of Israel
scattered on the mountains
like sheep without a shepherd.
And the Lord told me,
‘These have no master,
so let them each return to his own home in peace.’”
17 Then the king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me, but only evil?”
18 But Micaiah responded, “Therefore, listen to what the Lord has to say. I saw the Lord, sitting on his throne, and the entire Heavenly Army was surrounding him on his right hand and on his left hand.
19 “The Lord asked, ‘Who will tempt King Ahab of Israel to attack Ramoth-gilead, so that he will die there?’ And one was saying one thing and one was saying another.
20 “But then a spirit approached, stood in front of the Lord, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
“And the Lord asked him, ‘How?’
21 “‘I will go,’ he announced, ‘and I will be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets!’
“So the Lord said, ‘You’re just the one to deceive him. You will be successful. Go and do it.’
22 Now therefore, listen! The Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these prophets of yours, because the Lord has determined to bring disaster upon you.”
23 As if on cue, Chenaanah’s son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, “How did the Spirit of the Lord move from me to speak to you?”
24 Micaiah replied, “You’ll learn the answer to that question when the day comes that you run away to hide yourself in a closet!”
25 Then the king of Israel ordered, “Take Micaiah and place him in the custody of Amon, the city governor. Hand him over to Joash, the king’s son. 26 Give him this order: ‘Place him in prison on survival rations only until I come back safely.’”
27 “If you return alive,” Micaiah responded, “then the Lord has not spoken by me.” Then he added, “Listen, everybody!”
Ahab’s Dies at Ramoth-gilead(C)
28 So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah both attacked Ramoth-gilead. 29 The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle.
30 Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to his chariot commanders: “Don’t attack unimportant soldiers or ranking officers. Go after only the king of Israel.” 31 So when the chariot commanders observed Jehoshaphat, they said by mistake, “It’s the king of Israel!” and they turned aside to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord, who helped him, and God diverted them from him. 32 When the chariot commanders saw that their target[f] was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
33 Meanwhile, somebody drew his bow and struck the king of Israel at a weak spot where his armor plates joined, so he instructed his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I’ve been severely wounded.” 34 The battle continued on for the rest of the day while the king of Israel propped himself up in front of the Arameans until the sun set, at which time he died.
The Vision of the Sealing of 144,000 People
7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 I saw another angel coming from the east having the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the land and sea, 3 “Don’t harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”
4 I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, and 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
The Vision of Tribulation Saints
9 After these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the lamb!”
11 All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces in front of the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying,
“Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength
be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
13 “Who are these people wearing white robes,” one of the elders asked me, “and where did they come from?”
14 I told him, “Sir, you know.”
Then he told me, “These are the people who are coming out of the terrible suffering.[a] They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. 15 That is why:
“They are in front of the throne of God
and worship[b] him night and day in his Temple.
The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will never be hungry or thirsty again.
Neither the sun nor its heat will ever beat down on them,
17 because the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd.
He will lead them to springs filled with the water of life,
and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”[c]
The Vision of the High Priest
3 Then I saw Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the angel of the Lord, with Satan[a] standing at his right to oppose him.
2 The Lord told Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan—in fact, may the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! This man is a burning brand plucked from the fire, is he not?”
3 Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood in the presence of the angel.
4 So the angel[b] continued to tell those who were standing in his presence, “Remove his filthy clothes.”
And he told Joshua,[c] “Look how I’ve removed your iniquity. Now I’m clothing you with fine garments.”
5 Then I said, “Let them place a pure diadem[d] on his head.”
So they placed the pure diadem[e] on his head and clothed him with fine garments while the angel of the Lord was standing beside them.[f]
The Lord’s Charge to Joshua
6 Then the angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘If you will live according to my ways, and if you will keep what I have entrusted to you,[g] then you will also administer my Temple, and you will also guard my courtyards. And I will give you access to these who serve[h] here.
8 “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and those companions of yours who sit with you,[i] for these men are a sign that I am presenting my servant, the Branch.[j] 9 Look, the stone that I put in place in Joshua’s presence—on that one stone are seven eyes.[k] And look, I will do the engraving myself,’ declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, ‘and I will remove the perversity of that land in a single day. 10 At that time,’[l] declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, ‘you will invite each of your neighbors to join you[m] under the vine and fig tree.’”
Jesus Feeds More than Five Thousand(A)
6 After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (that is, to Tiberias). 2 A large crowd kept following him because they had seen the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. 3 But Jesus went up on a hillside and sat down there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Jesus[a] said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii[b] worth of bread isn’t enough for each of them to have a little.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are these among so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that area, so they sat down, numbering about 5,000 men.
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He also distributed[c] as much fish as they wanted. 12 When they were completely satisfied, Jesus[d] told his disciples, “Collect the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they collected and filled twelve baskets full of pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign[e] that he had done, they kept saying, “Truly this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!” 15 Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew[f] again to the hillside by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Sea(B)
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough. 19 After they had rowed about 25 or 30 stadia,[g] they saw Jesus walking on the sea toward their boat. They became terrified. 20 But he told them, “It is I. Stop being afraid!” 21 So they were glad to take him on board, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
Jesus the Bread of Life
22 The next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat had been there, and no other, and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with his disciples. Instead, his disciples had gone away by themselves. 23 Other small boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.[h] 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
25 When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi,[i] when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied to them, “Truly, I tell all of you[j] emphatically, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied. 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to perform God’s works?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is God’s work: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”[k]
32 Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[l] emphatically, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they told him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
35 Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. 36 I told you that you have seen me,[m] yet you don’t believe. 37 Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and I’ll never turn away the one who comes to me. 38 I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day. 40 This is my Father’s will: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
41 Then the Jewish leaders[n] began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They kept saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, isn’t it, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him to life on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And all of them will be taught by God.’[o] Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned anything comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who comes from God. This one has seen the Father. 47 Truly, I tell all of you[p] emphatically, the one who believes in me[q] has eternal life. 48 I’m the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. 51 I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he’ll live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 Then the Jewish leaders[r] debated angrily with each other, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[s] emphatically, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him to life on the last day, 55 because my flesh is real[t] food, and my blood is real[u] drink. 56 The person who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will also live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not the kind that your ancestors ate. They died, but the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This is a difficult statement. Who can accept[v] it?”
61 But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you saw the Son of Man going up to the place where he was before? 63 It’s the Spirit who gives life; the flesh accomplishes nothing. The words that I’ve spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some among you who don’t believe...”—because Jesus knew from the beginning those who weren’t believing, as well as the one who would betray him. 65 So he said, “That’s why I told you that no one can come to me unless it be granted him by the Father.” 66 As a result,[w] many of his disciples turned back and no longer associated[x] with him.
67 So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave, too, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Besides, we have believed and remain convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”[y]
70 Jesus answered them, “I chose you, the Twelve, didn’t I? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 Now he was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,[z] because this man was going to betray him, even though he was one of the Twelve.
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