M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Rehoboam’s Kingdom

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors,^[a] to fight against Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, ³ “Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Do not go up, and do not fight against your brothers. Return, each man to his house, for this matter has come from me.”’” So they obeyed the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ And Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built cities as strongholds in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etah, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-Zur, Socoh, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities that are in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ And he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, along with stores of food, olive oil, and wine. ¹² And in all the cities he put shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened them. So he had Judah and Benjamin.

The Priests and Levites Come to Jerusalem

¹³ Now the priests and the Levites who were throughout all Israel took their stand with him^[b] from all their territories. ¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasturelands and their property and came to Judah and to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to Yahweh. ¹⁵ And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the bull calves that he had made. ¹⁶ Then after them, from all the tribes of Israel, those who set their heart to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to offer to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.^{[c] 17} And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, secure for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Harem and Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter^[d] of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ And she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). ²² And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king. ²³ And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives for them.

Shishak of Egypt Invades Jerusalem

12 And when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and when he was strengthened, he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him. ² And it happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam (for they had acted unfaithfully against Yahweh), Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. And there was no number to the people who came up with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites. ⁴ And he took the fortified cities that belonged to Judah, and he came up to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem from before Shishak. And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘You yourselves have abandoned me, and I myself have surely abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.’” ⁶ Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “Yahweh is righteous.” ⁷ And when Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy. I will give to them some way of escape, that my anger not be poured out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ However, they shall be his servants, that they might know my service and the service of the kingdoms of other countries.”

⁹ Then Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures out of the house of Yahweh and the treasures out of the king’s house. He took everything. He also took the small shields of gold that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ And King Rehoboam made small shields of bronze in their place and committed them into the hand of the commanders of the guards who were keeping the entrance of the house of the king. ¹¹ And whenever the king went into the house of Yahweh, the guards came and carried them, and then they returned them to the alcove of the guards. ¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh was turned away from him, so that he did not destroy the city completely. Moreover, matters were well in Judah.

The Death of Rehoboam

¹³ So King Rehoboam was strengthened in Jerusalem, and he reigned there. Now, Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where Yahweh had chosen to put his name out of all the tribes of Israel. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite. ¹⁴ And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

¹⁵ Now the words of Rehoboam from the first to the last, are they not written in the chronicles^[e] of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer as a record? And there were battles between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their^[f] days. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his ancestors,^[g] and he was buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigned in his place.

The Letter to the Church in Ephesus

2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

“This is what the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand says, the one who walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands: ² ‘I know your works, and your labor and patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you found them to be false. ³ And you have patient endurance, and have endured many things because of my name, and have not become weary. ⁴ But I have this against you: that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the works you did at first^[a]. But if you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ But you do have this: that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, things which I also hate. ⁷ The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to him to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.’

The Letter to the Church in Smyrna

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

“This is what the first and the last says, who was dead and came to life: ⁹ ‘I know your affliction and poverty (but you are rich), and the slander of those who call themselves Jews^[b] and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will experience affliction ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.’

The Letter to the Church in Pergamum

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

“This is what the one who has the sharp double-edged sword says: ¹³ ‘I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny your^[c] faith in me, even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵ So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth. ¹⁷ The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give to him some of the hidden manna, and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

The Letter to the Church in Thyatira

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

“This is what the Son of God says, the one who has his eyes like a fiery flame and his feet like fine bronze: ¹⁹ ‘I know your works, and your love, and faith, and service, and patient endurance—and your last works are greater than the first. ²⁰ But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ And I have given her time in order to repent, and she did not want to repent from her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I am throwing her into a sickbed and those who committed adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent from her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with deadly disease, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. ²⁴ But I say to you, to the rest who are in Thyatira, all those who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they say, I do not put upon you any other burden. ²⁵ Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come. ²⁶ And the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, ²⁷ and “he will shepherd them with an iron rod; he will break them in pieces like jars made of clay,”^{[d] 28} as I also have received from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Judgment of Jerusalem and the Nations

The Prologue to John’s Gospel

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² This one was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that^[a] has come into being. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity.^{[b] 5} And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome^[c] it.

⁶ A man came, sent from God, whose name was^[d] John. ⁷ This one came for a witness, in order that he could testify about the light, so that all would believe through him. ⁸ That one was not the light, but came^[e] in order that he could testify about the light. ⁹ The true light, who gives light to every person, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, and the world did not recognize^[f] him. ¹¹ He came to his own things, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But as many as received him—to those who believe in his name—he gave to them authority to become children of God, ¹³ who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a husband, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John testified about him and cried out, saying, “This one was he about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me is ahead of me, because he existed before me.’” ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, and grace after grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time; the one and only, God, the one who is in the bosom of the Father—that one has made him^[g] known.

John the Baptist Testifies to Jesus

¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent^[h] priests and Levites from Jerusalem so that they could ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ And he confessed—and he did not deny, and confessed—“I am not the Christ!” ²¹ And they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?”^[i] And he answered, “No!” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

²³ He said,

just as Isaiah the prophet said.” ²⁴ (And they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ And they asked him and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water. In your midst stands one whom you do not know— ²⁷ the one who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie^[k] the strap of his sandal!” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹ On the next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This one is the one about whom I said, ‘After me is coming a man who is ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ³¹ And I did not know him, but in order that he could be revealed to Israel, because of this I came baptizing with water.”

³² And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and remaining upon him. ³³ And I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water, that one said to me, ‘The one upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him—this one is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testify that this one is the Chosen One^[l] of God.

Two of John’s Disciples Follow Jesus

³⁵ On the next day again John was standing there,^[m] and two of his disciples, ³⁶ and looking at Jesus as he^[n] was walking by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” ³⁷ And the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ And Jesus, turning around and seeing them following him,^[o] said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means when^[p] translated “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and you will see!” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day (it was about the tenth hour).

Andrew Declares Jesus to be the Messiah

⁴⁰ Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. ⁴¹ This one first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “Christ”). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, “You are Simon the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is interpreted “Peter”).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ On the next day he wanted to depart for Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” ⁴⁴ (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.) ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets wrote about—Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth!” ⁴⁶ And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see!”

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Look! A true Israelite^[q] in whom is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “From where do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you^[r] were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly I say to all of you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”