M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
King Jehoshaphat of Judah
17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king. Jehoshaphat strengthened himself to wage war against Israel. 2 He put troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and placed military posts in Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
3 Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, who lived in the old way like his ancestor David. Jehoshaphat didn’t dedicate his life to serving other gods—the Baals. 4 Instead, he dedicated his life to his ancestor’s Elohim and lived by Elohim’s commands. Jehoshaphat did not do what Israel was doing. 5 So Yahweh established Jehoshaphat’s power over the kingdom. All the people of Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had a lot of riches and honor. 6 He had the confidence to live the way Yahweh wanted him to live. He also got rid of the illegal places of worship and poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah in Judah.
7 In the third year of his reign, he sent his officers Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. 8 With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, Tob Adonijah, and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 They taught in Judah. They had the Book of Yahweh’s Teachings with them when they taught the people in all the cities of Judah.
10 Fear of Yahweh came to all the kingdoms around Judah. As a result, they didn’t wage war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver as taxes. The Arabs also brought him flocks: 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. 12 So Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built fortresses and cities where supplies were stored in Judah. 13 He had large supplies of food in the cities of Judah and an army of professional soldiers with him in Jerusalem. 14 The following is a breakdown of these soldiers. They are listed by families. Judah’s regimental commanders were Commander Adnah (with 300,000 fighting men), 15 next to him Commander Jehohanan (with 280,000), 16 and next to him Amasiah, Zichri’s son, who volunteered to serve Yahweh (with 200,000 fighting men). 17 From Benjamin there was the fighting man Eliada (with 200,000 armed men with bows and shields), 18 and next to him was Jehozabad (with him was an army of 180,000 armed men). 19 These were the men who served the king in addition to those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout Judah.
The Lamb Opens the First Six Seals
6 I watched as the lamb opened the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Go!” 2 Then I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow. He was given a crown and rode off as a warrior to win battles.
3 When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Go!” 4 A second horse went out. It was fiery red. Its rider was given the power to take peace away from the earth and to make people slaughter one another. So he was given a large sword.
5 When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Go!” I looked, and there was a black horse, and its rider held a scale. 6 I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay or three quarts of barley for a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine.”
7 When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Go!” 8 I looked, and there was a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death. Hell followed him. They were given power over one-fourth of the earth to kill people using wars, famines, plagues, and the wild animals on the earth.
9 When the lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of God’s word and the testimony they had given about him. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, “Holy and true Master, how long before you judge and take revenge on those living on earth who shed our blood?” 11 Each of the souls was given a white robe. They were told to rest a little longer until all their coworkers, the other Christians, would be killed as they had been killed.
12 I watched as the lamb opened the sixth seal. A powerful earthquake struck. The sun turned as black as sackcloth made of hair. The full moon turned as red as blood. 13 The stars fell from the sky to the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when it is shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and all the slaves and free people hid themselves in caves and among the rocks in the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the lamb, 17 because the frightening day of their anger has come, and who is able to endure it?”
The Lord Will Choose Jerusalem
2 [a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 I asked him, “Where are you going?”
He answered, “I am going to measure Jerusalem to see how wide and how long it is.”
3 Then the angel who was speaking with me left. Another angel came out to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited like an unwalled village because it will have so many people and animals in it. 5 I will be a wall of fire around it, declares Yahweh. I will be the glory within it.’
6 “Hurry, hurry! Flee from the land of the north, declares Yahweh. I’ve scattered you to the four winds of heaven. 7 Hurry, Zion! Escape, you inhabitants of Babylon! 8 This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: Afterwards, the Glory sent me to the nations who looted you. Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye. 9 I’m going to shake my fist at the nations, and their own slaves will loot them. Then you will know that Yahweh Tsebaoth has sent me. 10 Sing for joy and rejoice, people of Zion. I’m going to come and live among you, declares Yahweh. 11 On that day many nations will join Yahweh and become my people. I will live among you. Then you will know that Yahweh Tsebaoth has sent me to you. 12 Yahweh will claim Judah as his own in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
13 “Everyone be silent in the presence of Yahweh. He is waking up and setting out from his holy dwelling place.”
Jesus Cures a Man at the Bethesda Pool
5 Later, Yeshua went to Jerusalem for a Jewish festival.
2 Near Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew. It had five porches. 3 Under these porches a large number of sick people—people who were blind, lame, or paralyzed—used to lie.[a] 5 One man, who had been sick for 38 years, was lying there. 6 Yeshua saw the man lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time. So Yeshua asked the man, “Would you like to get well?”
7 The sick man answered Yeshua, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.”
8 Yeshua told the man, “Get up, pick up your cot, and walk.” 9 The man immediately became well, picked up his cot, and walked.
That happened on a day of worship. 10 So the Jews told the man who had been healed, “This is a day of worship. You’re not allowed to carry your cot today.”
11 The man replied, “The man who made me well told me to pick up my cot and walk.”
12 The Jews asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 But the man who had been healed didn’t know who Yeshua was. (Yeshua had withdrawn from the crowd.)
14 Later, Yeshua met the man in the temple courtyard and told him, “You’re well now. Stop sinning so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”
15 The man went back to the Jews and told them that Yeshua was the man who had made him well.
The Son Is Equal to the Father
16 The Jews began to persecute Yeshua because he kept healing people on the day of worship. 17 Yeshua replied to them, “My Father is working right now, and so am I.”
18 His reply made the Jews more intent on killing him. Not only did he break the laws about the day of worship, but also he made himself equal to God when he said repeatedly that God was his Father.
19 Yeshua said to the Jews, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. The Father will show him even greater things to do than these things so that you will be amazed. 21 In the same way that the Father brings back the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.
22 “The Father doesn’t judge anyone. He has entrusted judgment entirely to the Son 23 so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him. 24 I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life. They won’t be judged because they have already passed from death to life.
25 “I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. 26 The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too.
27 “He has also given the Son authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man.[b] 28 Don’t be surprised at what I’ve just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice, 29 and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged. 30 I can’t do anything on my own. As I listen to the Father, I make my judgments. My judgments are right because I don’t try to do what I want but what the one who sent me wants.
31 “If I testify on my own behalf, what I say isn’t true. 32 Someone else testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true. 33 You sent people to John the Baptizer, and he testified to the truth. 34 But I don’t depend on human testimony. I’m telling you this to save you. 35 John was a lamp that gave off brilliant light. For a time you enjoyed the pleasure of his light. 36 But I have something that testifies more favorably on my behalf than John’s testimony. The tasks that the Father gave me to carry out, these tasks which I perform, testify on my behalf. They prove that the Father has sent me. 37 The Father who sent me testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice, and you have never seen his form. 38 So you don’t have the Father’s message within you, because you don’t believe in the person he has sent. 39 You study the Scriptures in detail because you think you have the source of eternal life in them. These Scriptures testify on my behalf. 40 Yet, you don’t want to come to me to get eternal life.
41 “I don’t accept praise from humans. 42 But I know what kind of people you are. You don’t have any love for God. 43 I have come with the authority my Father has given me, but you don’t accept me. If someone else comes with his own authority, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept each other’s praise and don’t look for the praise that comes from the only God?
45 “Don’t think that I will accuse you in the presence of the Father. Moses, the one you trust, is already accusing you. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me. Moses wrote about me. 47 If you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how will you ever believe what I say?”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.