M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram(A)
22 The residents of Jerusalem made Jehoram’s[a] son Ahaziah[b] king in his place after the raiding party that had invaded the city with the Arabs had killed all of the older sons. That’s how Jehoram’s son Ahaziah became king of Judah. 2 Ahaziah was 22[c] years old when he became king, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother was Athaliah, Omri’s granddaughter.
3 He followed the example[d] of Ahab’s dynasty because his mother gave him evil counsel. 4 So he practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, just like Ahab’s dynasty had done, because after his father died, he was given advice that resulted in his destruction. 5 He followed their counsel and accompanied Ahab’s son Joram, king of Israel, to wage war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram, 6 so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that he had received at Ramah in the battle against King Hazael of Aram. King Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoram’s son, went to visit Ahab’s son Joram, because he was wounded.
Ahaziah is Executed(B)
7 God used Ahaziah’s visit to Joram to destroy Ahaziah. As soon as he arrived, Ahaziah[e] went out with Joram to attack Nimshi’s son Jehu, whom the Lord had appointed to eliminate Ahab’s dynasty. 8 And that’s exactly what happened. While Jehu was punishing[f] Ahab’s dynasty, he located the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers who were ministering to Ahaziah, and he put them to death. 9 Jehu[g] also searched for Ahaziah, had him apprehended while Ahaziah[h] was hiding out in Samaria, and had Ahaziah[i] brought to him. Jehu[j] had Ahaziah[k] executed and buried. It was said of Jehu,[l] “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all of his heart.” As a result, there was no one left in the household of Ahaziah strong enough to reign in the kingdom.
Athaliah’s Revolt(C)
10 As soon as Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah learned that her son had died, she set out to destroy the entire royal family of Judah. 11 However, the king’s daughter Jehoshabeath took Ahaziah’s son Joash away from the king’s children who were about to be assassinated and hid him and his nurse in a bedroom. That’s how King Jehoram’s daughter Jehoshabeath, who was also the priest Jehoiada’s wife and Ahaziah’s sister, hid him from Athaliah. As a result, she was not able to kill him. 12 Joash[m] remained with them for six years, hidden in God’s Temple while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Jehoiada Establishes Joash as King(D)
23 Seven years later, Jehoiada mustered up some courage and made a deal with the officers who commanded units of hundreds of soldiers, including Jehoram’s son Azariah, Jehochanan’s son Ishmael, Obed’s son Azariah, Adaiah’s son Maaseiah, and Zichri’s son Elishaphat. 2 They traveled throughout Judah and gathered together the descendants of Levi from all the cities of Judah, along with the Israeli family leaders. 3 Everybody went to Jerusalem, and the whole group made a covenant with the king in God’s Temple, where Jehoiada[n] addressed them:
“Look! The king’s son is going to rule, just as the Lord promised David’s descendants. 4 So here’s what you’ll need to do: One third of you priests and descendants of Levi who are on duty during the Sabbath will serve as guards at the temple gates. 5 Another third of you priests and descendants of Levi[o] will take your places in the royal palace, while another third of you priests and descendants of Levi[p] will stand near the Foundation Gate. The rest of you will remain in the courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. 6 Nobody is to enter the Lord’s Temple except for the priests and descendants of Levi who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially holy, but all the rest of the people must observe the Lord’s instructions. 7 The descendants of Levi will surround the king, brandishing weapons in their hands, and anybody who enters the Temple will be killed. Stay near the king wherever he enters and leaves.”
8 What Jehoiada the priest ordered is precisely what the descendants of Levi and all of Judah did. Each of them took the men who were on duty on the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty. Jehoiada the priest did not release the divisions from service, 9 and Jehoiada the priest issued the spears and shields that King David had placed in storage in God’s Temple to the officers in charge of the units of hundreds. 10 He set the rest of the people to serve as guards for the king, and each one brandished weapons in his hand, from the south side of the Temple to the north side of the Temple, around the altar, and surrounding the palace. 11 Then he brought out the king’s son, put a crown on him, and presented him with the Testimony,[q]
Joash is Crowned and Athaliah Executed(E)
12 When Athaliah heard all the commotion of the people running around and praising the king, she went straight to the Lord’s Temple to confront[r] the people. 13 She looked around, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the gate, accompanied by officers and trumpeters who stood beside the king, along with all the people of the land rejoicing and sounding trumpets while singers lead the celebration with their musical instruments. Athaliah tore her robes and yelled “Treason! Treason!”
14 But Jehoiada the priest summoned the captains of hundreds who had been appointed in charge over the army and ordered them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and execute anyone who follows her.” The priest also told them, “Don’t execute her in the Lord’s Temple.” 15 So they arrested her when she arrived at the entrance to the Horse Gate near the royal palace, and then they executed her there.
Jehoiada’s Reforms(F)
16 After this, Jehoiada drew up a covenant between himself as an individual with all the people, and between himself as king, that they would be the Lord’s people. 17 Then all the people went to the temple of Baal, broke its altars and idols to pieces, and executed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. 18 Jehoiada also placed the offices of the Lord’s Temple under the authority of the Levitical priests whom David had assigned over the Lord’s Temple, just as is required by the Law of Moses, to offer the Lord’s burnt offerings with joy and singing, just as David had ordered. 19 Jehoiada[s] also stationed inspectors[t] at the Lord’s Temple so that no one would enter who was ritually unclean in any manner. 20 He also took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the people’s governors, and all the people of the land, and they all marched with the king from the Lord’s Temple through the upper gate to the royal palace, where they installed the king on his royal throne. 21 There all of the people of the land rejoiced and the city stayed quiet, because they had executed Athaliah with a sword.
The Vision of the Powerful Angel
10 Then I saw another powerful angel come down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire. 2 He held a small, opened scroll in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 he shouted in a loud voice as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke with voices of their own. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was going to write, but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and don’t write it down.”
5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 He swore an oath by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay. 7 When the time approaches[a] for the seventh angel to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan[b] will be fulfilled, as he had announced to his servants, the prophets.”
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go and take the opened scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. “Take it and eat it,” he told me. “It will turn bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, it turned bitter in my stomach. 11 Then the seven thunders[c] told me, “You must prophesy again about many people, nations, languages, and kings.”
The Vision of the Four Chariots
6 Then I looked up and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains! And the mountains were made of brass! 2 Attached to the first chariot were red horses. Attached to the second chariot were black horses. 3 Attached to the third chariot were white horses. Attached to the fourth chariot were speckled horses and gray[a] horses. 4 In response, I asked the angel who had been talking with me, “Sir, what are these?”
5 The angel told me, “These are four heavenly spirits that are going out on patrol after having presented themselves to the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The black horses are headed into the north country, and the white ones are headed out after them. The speckled horses are headed toward the south country.”
7 Then the gray horses went out. They were eager to go out on patrol throughout the earth, so the angel[b] said, “Go patrol the earth.” So they went out on patrol throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look! The horses that went north have caused my spirit to rest in the north country.”
The Future Prosperity of the Branch
9 Then this message from the Lord came to me: 10 “Go take up an offering[c] from those who came out of[d] the Babylonian[e] exile, that is, from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah. Go along with them today into the house of Zephaniah’s son Josiah, who returned from Babylon. 11 Take silver and gold and fashion crowns to set upon the head of Joshua son of Johozadak, the High Priest. 12 Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: “Here is the man whose name is The Branch.[f] He will branch out from where he is and will rebuild the Temple of the Lord. 13 Yes, he will indeed rebuild the Temple of the Lord, and he will exalt its majesty by sitting and ruling on his throne. He will serve as priest on his throne, and no contention[g] will exist between them. 14 The crowns will go to Helem, to Tobijah, to Jedaiah, and to Zephaniah’s son Hen, as a memorial in the Temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are now far away will come and do reconstruction work in the Temple of the Lord. Then you will know that the Lord of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you. This will come about if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”’”
Jesus Heals a Blind Man
9 As he was walking along, he observed a man who had been blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,[a] who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This happened so that[b] God’s work might be revealed in him. 4 I[c] must do the work of the one who sent me[d] while it is day. Night is approaching, when no one can work. 5 As long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.” 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he spread the mud on the man’s eyes 7 and told him, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “Sent One”). So he went off, washed, and came back seeing.
8 Then the neighbors and those who had previously seen him as a beggar said, “This is the man who used to sit and beg, isn’t it?”
9 Some were saying, “It’s him,” while others were saying, “No, but it’s someone like him.”
But he himself kept saying, “It’s me!”
10 So they asked him, “How, then, did you gain your eyesight?”
11 He said, “The man named Jesus made some mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So off I went and washed, and I received my sight.”
12 They asked him, “Where is that man?”
He said, “I don’t know!”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 So they brought to the Pharisees the man who had once been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and healed[e] his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had gained his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees began to remark, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.
17 So they asked the formerly[f] blind man again, “What do you say about him, since it was your eyes he healed?”[g]
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jewish leaders[h] did not believe that the man[i] had been blind and had gained sight until they summoned his parents[j] 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How does he now see?”
20 His parents replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how it is that he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is of age and can speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,[k] since the Jewish leaders[l] had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus[m] was the Messiah[n] would be thrown out of the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 The Jewish leaders[o] summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 But he responded, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not. The one thing I do know is that I used to be blind and now I can see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he heal[p] your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I’ve already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples, too, do you?”
28 At this, they turned on him in fury and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “This is an amazing thing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he healed[q] my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he does listen to anyone who worships him and does his will. 32 Ever since creation it has never been heard that anyone healed[r] the eyes of a man who was born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
34 They asked him, “You were born a sinner[s] and you are trying to instruct us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. So when he found him, he asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[t]
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir?[u] Tell me,[v] so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus told him, “You have seen him. He is the person who is talking with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I do believe,” and worshipped him.
39 Then Jesus said, “I have come into this world to judge it, so that those who are blind may see and so that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were near him overheard this and asked him, “We aren’t blind, too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not have any sin. But now that you insist, ‘We see,’ your sin still exists.”
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