M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehu Anointed Prophetically to Rule in Place of Joram of Israel

9 Now Elisha the prophet called for one of the sons of the prophets, and he said to him, “Gird your loins, and take this flask of olive oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-Gilead. ² Go there and look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. Go, for you must cause him to arise from among his brothers, and you must bring him into an inner room.^{[a] 3} You must take the flask of olive oil and pour it out on his head. You must say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I hereby anoint you as king over Israel.”’ Then you must open the door and flee; do not linger!”

⁴ So the young man, servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. ⁵ He came, and look, the commanders of the army were sitting there. He said, “I have a word for you, O commander!” Jehu said, “For whom? For all of us?” And he said, “For you, O commander!” ⁶ He got up and went to the house, and poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I hereby anoint you as king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. ⁷ You will destroy the house of Ahab your master, and you will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all of the servants of Yahweh, from the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off all males^[b] from Ahab, both bond and free. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and there shall not be anyone to bury her.’”^[c] Then he opened the door and fled.

Jehu Assassinates Joram

¹¹ Then Jehu came out to the officers of his master, and they said to him, “Peace? Why did this madman come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his foolish talk.” ¹² Then they said, “Liar. Please tell us.” He said, “Thus and so^[d] he said to me, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I hereby anoint you as king over Israel.”’” ¹³ So they hastened each one to take his cloak, and they spread them under him on the bare steps, blew on the trumpet, and said, “Jehu is king!”

¹⁴ So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram was keeping guard in Ramoth-Gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the threat^[e] of Hazael king of Aram. ¹⁵ But Joram the king had returned to heal in Jezreel from the wound which the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, “If this is what you want,^[f] do not let him go out as a fugitive from the city to go to make it known in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to visit Joram. ¹⁷ Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu when he came, and he said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them.” And he said, “Is it peace?” ¹⁸ So the rider of the horse went out to meet him, and he said, “Thus the king asks, ‘Is it peace?’” Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace?^[g] Turn after me.” Then the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger went up to them, but he did not return.” ¹⁹ Then he sent out a second horseman, and he came to them and said, “Thus the king asks, ‘Is it peace?’” Then Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace?^[h] Turn after me.” ²⁰ So the sentinel reported, saying, “He went up to them, but he did not return, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives with madness.”

²¹ Then Joram said, “Get ready,” so he got his chariot ready. Joram king of Israel went out, and Ahaziah king of Judah, each with his chariot. They went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the tract of land of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is it peace?” And he said, “What peace is there while the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her sorceries are numerous?” ²³ Joram turned his chariot^[i] and fled and said to Ahaziah, “It’s treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴ Then Jehu drew his bow^[j] and shot Joram between his shoulders so that the arrow went out from his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. ²⁵ He said to Bidkar his third servant, “Lift him out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I were with the pair of chariots behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: ²⁶ ‘“Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday,” declares Yahweh, “I will requite it for you in this tract of land,” declares Yahweh.’ So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh.”

Jehu Orders the Assassination of Ahaziah

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, “Shoot him also, in the chariot.” They shot him at the ascent of Gur which is in Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo, but he died there. ²⁸ Then his officers carried him to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his tomb with his ancestors^[k] in the city of David. ²⁹ In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.

Jezebel Loses Her High Position

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, so she painted her eyes with black eye paint and adorned her head and looked through the window. ³¹ Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, “Is it peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?” ³² When he lifted up his face to the window, he asked, “Who is with me?” Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. ³³ So he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴ Then he came and ate and drank, and said, “Please take care of this cursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king.” ³⁵ When they went to bury her, they could not find her, except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶ They returned and told him, and he said, “This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.’” ³⁷ So the dead body of Jezebel became dung on the surface spread on the field in the plot of ground of Jezreel, so one cannot say, “This is Jezebel.”

Slaves and Masters

6 All those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, lest the name of God and the teaching be slandered. ² And those who have believing masters must not look down on them because they are brothers, but rather they must serve, because those who benefit by their service are believers and dearly loved.

False Teachers and the Love of Money

Teach and encourage these things. ³ If anyone teaches other doctrine and does not devote himself to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, ⁴ he is conceited, understanding nothing, but having a morbid interest concerning controversies and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions, ⁵ constant wrangling by people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who consider godliness to be a means of gain. ⁶ But godliness with contentment is a great means of gain. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world, so that neither can we bring anything out. ⁸ But if we^[a] have food and clothing, with these things we will be content. ⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge those people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all evil, by which some, because they^[b] desire it, have gone astray from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

Renewed Charge to Timothy

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patient endurance, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I command you, in the sight of God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you observe the commandment without fault, irreproachable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which he will make known in his own time, the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, ¹⁶ the one who alone possesses immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no human being has seen nor is able to see, to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Instructions to the Rich

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be proud and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us all things richly for enjoyment, ¹⁸ to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, sharing freely, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, in order that they may take hold of what is truly life.

Final Charge and Benediction

²⁰ O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless empty talk and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹ which some, by^[c] professing it, have deviated concerning the faith. Grace be with you all.

God Commands Hosea to Start a Family

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

⁶ And she conceived again and bore a daughter, and he^[k] said to him,

Yod

Kaph

Lamed