M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Lord Speaks to Ahaziah

1 Now Moab turned against Israel after the death of Ahab. ² Ahaziah fell through the window of his second-floor room in Samaria, and lay sick. So he sent men with news, saying to them, “Go and ask Baalzebub the god of Ekron if I will get well again from this sickness.” ³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up and go meet the men sent from the king of Samaria. Say to them, ‘Are you going to ask Baal-zebub the god of Ekron because there is no God in Israel?’ ⁴ This is what the Lord says. ‘You will not leave the bed on which you lie. You will die for sure.’” Then Elijah left.

⁵ When the men returned to Ahaziah, he said to them, “Why have you returned?” ⁶ They said, “A man came up to meet us. He said to us, ‘Go and return to the king who sent you. Tell him, “This is what the Lord says. ‘Are you asking Baal-zebub the god of Ekron because there is no God in Israel? So you will not leave the bed on which you lie. You will die for sure.’”’” ⁷ Ahaziah said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and said this to you?” ⁸ They answered, “He was a man with much hair. He wore a piece of leather around his body.” Ahaziah said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then the king sent a captain with fifty of his men to take Elijah. The captain went up to him and saw Elijah sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” ¹⁰ Elijah said to the captain of fifty men, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and destroyed him and his fifty men. ¹¹ So Ahaziah sent to him another captain with fifty men. The captain said to Elijah, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Be quick to come down.’” ¹² Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and destroyed him and his fifty men. ¹³ So Ahaziah sent to him a third captain with fifty men. When the third captain of fifty men went up, he came and put his face to the ground in front of Elijah. He begged him and said, “O man of God, I beg you. Let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be of great worth in your eyes. ¹⁴ Fire came down from heaven and destroyed the first two captains with their armies of fifty. But now let my life be of great worth in your eyes.” ¹⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then Elijah said to Ahaziah, “This is what the Lord says. ‘You have sent men to ask of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron. Is it because there is no God in Israel to ask of His Word? So now you will not leave the bed on which you lie. You will die for sure.’”

¹⁷ So Ahaziah died, just as the word of the Lord had said through Elijah. Because Ahaziah had no son, Jehoram his brother became king in his place, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

1 This letter is from Paul and Silas and Timothy. It is to the church in the city of Thessalonica that belongs to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ² May you have loving-favor and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ We must give thanks to God for you always, Christian brothers. It is the right thing to do because your faith is growing so much. Your love for each other is stronger all the time. ⁴ We are proud of you and tell the other churches about you. We tell them how your faith stays so strong even when people make it hard for you and make you suffer. ⁵ God wants you to prove yourselves to be worth being in His holy nation by suffering for Him. ⁶ He does what is right and will allow trouble to come to those who are making it hard for you. ⁷ He will help you and us who are suffering. This will happen when the Lord Jesus comes down from heaven with His powerful angels in a bright fire. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and those who do not obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ They will be punished forever and taken away from the Lord and from the shining-greatness of His power. ¹⁰ On the day He comes, His shining-greatness will be seen in those who belong to Him. On that day, He will receive honor from all those who put their trust in Him. You believed what we had to say to you. ¹¹ For this reason, we always pray for you. We pray that our God will make you worth being chosen. We pray that His power will help you do the good things you want to do. We pray that your work of faith will be complete. ¹² In this way, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be honored by you and you will be honored by Him. It is through the loving-favor of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Belshazzar’s Special Supper

5 King Belshazzar gave a special supper for a thousand of his important men, and drank wine with them. ² When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he had all the gold and silver cups brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Lord’s house in Jerusalem. The king sent for them so that he and his important men and all his wives could drink from them. ³ So they brought the gold cups that had been taken from the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king and his important men and all his wives drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone.

⁵ All at once the fingers of a man’s hand were seen writing on the wall near the lamp-stand of the king’s house. And the king saw the back of the hand as it wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s face turned white, and his thoughts turned to fear. His legs became weak and his knees began shaking. ⁷ The king called in a loud voice for the wonder-workers, the men who learned from stars and those who used their secret ways. He said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed with purple clothing and have a chain of gold around his neck. And he will be the third in power in the nation.” ⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in. But they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was very afraid. His face lost even more of its color, and his important men did not know what to do.

¹⁰ The queen heard the words of the king and his men, and came into the room where they were eating. She said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts make you afraid or your face turn white. ¹¹ There is a man in your nation who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In your father’s time light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him the head of the wonder-workers, the men who learned from stars, and those who use their secret ways. ¹² This was because a special spirit was found in this Daniel whom the king called Belteshazzar. He had much learning and understanding to tell the meaning of dreams and secrets and to give answers to problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what this means.”

Daniel Tells What the Writing Means

¹³ So Daniel was brought to the king. And the king said to him, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the people whom my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴ I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you. Light and understanding and special wisdom have been found in you also. ¹⁵ The wise men and wonder-workers were brought in to me so that they might read this writing and tell me what it means. But they could not tell me its meaning. ¹⁶ Now I have heard that you are able to tell the meaning of such things and give answers to hard problems. If you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you will be dressed in purple and wear a chain of gold around your neck. And you will be the third in power in the nation.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered the king, saying, “Keep your gifts for yourself, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing to the king and tell him what it means. ¹⁸ O king, the Most High made your father Nebuchadnezzar king, and gave him greatness, honor, and power. ¹⁹ Because of the greatness He gave to him, all the people of every nation and language shook in fear in front of him. He killed whomever he wanted. And he let live whomever he wanted. He gave honor to whomever he wanted. And he put down whomever he wanted. ²⁰ But when his heart and spirit became proud and he acted in pride, he was taken from his throne and his greatness was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven away from people, and his mind became like that of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys. He ate grass like cattle, and his body became wet with the water from heaven. It was like this for him until he understood that the Most High God is ruler over the nation of all men, and that He lets whomever He wants rule it. ²² Yet you, his son Belshazzar, have not put away the pride from your heart, even though you knew all this. ²³ You have honored yourself more than the Lord of heaven. The cups of His house have been brought to you. And you and your important men and all your wives have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But you have not honored the God Who holds your life and your ways in His hand. ²⁴ So the hand was sent from Him to write on your wall. ²⁵ “This is what was written: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.’ ²⁶ And this is what it means: ‘MENE’ means that God has numbered the days of your rule and has brought it to an end. ²⁷ ‘TEKEL’ means that you have been weighed and found to be too light. ²⁸ ‘PERES’ means that your nation has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹ Then Belshazzar had them dress Daniel in purple and put a chain of gold around his neck. And he made it known that Daniel was the third most powerful ruler in the nation.

Belshazzar Is Killed

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar the king of Babylon was killed. ³¹ So Darius the Mede became the king when he was sixty-two years old.

The King Rules

110 The Lord says to my Lord, “Sit at My right side, for those who hate You will be a place to rest Your feet.” ² The Lord will send out Your strength from Zion, saying, “Rule in front of those who hate You.” ³ Your people will be willing to help in the day of Your power. Your young men will be dressed in holy clothes. They will come to You like water on the grass in the early morning.

⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a Religious Leader forever, in the same way as Melchizedek.” ⁵ The Lord is at Your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of His anger. ⁶ He will say who is guilty or not among the nations. He will fill them with dead bodies. He will crush the leaders of many lands. ⁷ He will drink from the river on the way. And so He will lift up His head.

The Lord Be Praised

111 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart where those who are right with God gather together and in the meeting of the people. ² The works of the Lord are great. All who find joy in them try to understand them. ³ His work is great and powerful. And He is right and good forever. ⁴ He has made His great works to be remembered. The Lord shows loving-favor and pity. ⁵ He gives food to those who fear Him. He will remember His agreement forever. ⁶ He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the land of other nations.

⁷ The works of His hands are faithful and right. All His Laws are true. ⁸ They stand strong forever and ever. They are done by what is true and right. ⁹ He has made a way for His people to be free. He has set up His agreement forever. His holy name is to be honored with fear. ¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who obey His Laws have good understanding. His praise lasts forever.