M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The first four plagues

16 Then I heard a loud voice coming from the temple, addressing the seven angels. “Off you go,” said the voice, “and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s anger.” ² So the first one went off and poured out his bowl on the earth. Foul, painful sores came on the people who had the mark of the monster, and on those who worshiped its image. ³ The second one poured his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that from a corpse. Every living thing in the sea died. ⁴ The third one poured his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel of the waters saying,

⁷ And I heard the altar respond, “Yes, Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured his bowl upon the sun, and it was allowed to burn people with its fire. ⁹ People were burned up by its great heat, and they cursed the name of the God who had authority over these plagues. They did not repent or give him glory.

The last three plagues

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured his bowl upon the throne of the monster. Its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and people chewed their tongues because of the pain ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their agonies and their terrible sores. They did not repent of what they had been doing.

¹² Then the sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the rising sun. ¹³ Then I saw three unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the monster, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They were like frogs. ¹⁴ These are the spirits of demons, who perform signs and go off to the kings of the whole earth, to gather them together for war on the great day of Almighty God. ¹⁵ (Look—I am coming like a thief! God’s blessing on the one who stays awake, and on those who keep their robes about them, so as not to go around naked and have their shame exposed!) ¹⁶ And they gathered the kings together at the place which in Hebrew is called Mount Megiddo.

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne. “It is done!” said the voice. ¹⁸ There were lightnings and rumblings, and thunderclaps and a great earthquake, such as there had never been before, no, not such a great earthquake since the time that humans came on the earth. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. Then Babylon the Great was recalled in the presence of God, so that he could give her the cup of the wine of his anger. ²⁰ Every island fled away, and the mountains disappeared. ²¹ Enormous hailstones, each weighing a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people. They cursed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was terrible.

The true vine

15 “I am the true vine,” said Jesus, “and my father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t bear fruit; and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it can bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean. That’s because of the word that I’ve spoken to you.

⁴ “Remain in me, and I will remain in you! The branch can’t bear fruit by itself, but only if it remains in the vine. In the same way, you can’t bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. People who remain in me, and I in them, are the ones who bear plenty of fruit. Without me, you see, you can’t do anything.

⁶ “If people don’t remain in me, they are thrown out, like a branch, and they wither. People collect the branches and put them on the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will happen for you. ⁸ My father is glorified in this: that you bear plenty of fruit, and so become my disciples.”

Obeying and loving

⁹ “As the father loved me,” Jesus continued, “so I loved you. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commands, and remain in his love. ¹¹ I’ve said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and so that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my command: love one another, in the same way that I loved you. ¹³ No one has a love greater than this, to lay down your life for your friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do what I tell you. ¹⁵ I’m not calling you ‘servants’ any longer; servants don’t know what their master is doing. But I’ve called you ‘friends,’ because I’ve let you know everything I heard from my father.

¹⁶ “You didn’t choose me. I chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command to you: love one another.”

If the world hates you

¹⁸ “If the world hates you,” Jesus went on, “know that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were from the world, the world would be fond of its own. But the world hates you for this reason: that you’re not from the world. No: I chose you out of the world.

²⁰ “Remember the word that I said to you: servants are not greater than their masters. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they kept my word, they will keep yours too. ²¹ But they will do all these things to you because of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me.

²² “If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ (Anyone who hates me, hates my father as well!) ²⁴ If I hadn’t done, there in the middle of them, the works which nobody else did, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they have seen me, and my father—and they’ve hated us both! ²⁵ All this has happened, however, so that the word written in their law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’

²⁶ “When the helper comes—the one I shall send you from the father, the spirit of truth who comes from the father—he will give evidence about me. ²⁷ And you will give evidence as well, because you have been with me from the start.”