M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Asa Backslides

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasa of Israel marched against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah.

² In response, Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the House of Adonai and from the royal palace, and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram who lived in Damascus saying, ³ “Let there be a covenant between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with King Baasha of Israel so that he may withdraw from me.”

⁴ So Ben-hadad consented to King Asa’s request and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They ravaged Ijon, Dan, Abelmaim and all the storage cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasa heard, he stopped building Ramah and stopped his work. ⁶ Then King Asa took up all of Judah to carry away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasa had been building—with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him: “Because you have depended on the king of Aram, and not depended on Adonai your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a mighty army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on Adonai, He delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of Adonai range throughtout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are wholly His. You have acted foolishly in this matter. Indeed, from now on you will have wars.”

¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the prison for he was enraged at him for this. Also Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. ¹¹ Behold, the acts of Asa, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

¹² Now in the thirty-nineth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet. His illness was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek Adonai but physicians.

¹³ Finally Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴ He was buried in his own tomb, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him in his resting place, which was filled with sweet spices and various blended perfumes and they made a very large fire for him.

A Scroll with Seven Seals

5 And I saw in the right hand of the One seated upon the throne a scroll, written on both the front and the back, sealed with seven seals. ^{[a] 2} I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” ³ No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. ⁴ I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

⁵ Then one of the elders tells me, “Stop weeping! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,^[b] the Root of David,^[c] has triumphed—He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Worshiping the Lamb

⁶ And in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as having been slain—having seven horns and seven eyes,^[d] which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. ⁸ When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense—which are the prayers of the kedoshim.

⁹ And they are singing a new song,^[e] saying,

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders—their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. ^{[g] 12} They were chanting with a loud voice,

¹³ And I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and everything in them, responding,

¹⁴ And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Adonai came to the prophet Zechariah^[a], son of Berechiah son of Iddo, saying:

² “Adonai has been furious with your fathers. ³ Therefore tell them, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘Return to Me’^[b]—it is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot—‘and I will return to you,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot. ⁴ Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried out saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘Turn back now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me.’ It is a declaration of Adonai.

⁵ “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But My words and My decrees, which I commanded My servants the prophets—did they not overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said ‘As He determined, Adonai-Tzva’ot has dealt with us according to our ways and our deeds.’”

Among the Myrtle Trees

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shevat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Adonai came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying: ⁸ “In the night I saw, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse was standing among the myrtle trees that were in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel and white horses.^[c]

⁹ Then I asked, ‘What are these, my lord?’

Now the angel speaking with me said to me, ‘I will show you what these are.’

¹⁰ Then the man standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, ‘These are the ones Adonai has sent to walk back and forth throughout the earth.’

¹¹ They answered the angel of Adonai who stood among the myrtle trees saying, ‘We have walked throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth sits quietly and is still.’

¹² Then the angel of Adonai answered and said, ‘Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will You withhold compassion on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah with whom You have been angry for 70 years?’ ¹³ Adonai answered the angel who was speaking to me with pleasant, comforting words.

¹⁴ Then the angel speaking to me said, ‘Cry out saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “I am exceedingly zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion ¹⁵ and I am infuriated with the haughty nations. I was a little angry with them, but they furthered their own calamity.”

¹⁶ “Therefore,” thus says Adonai, “I will return to Jerusalem with compassion. My House will be built there,” declares Adonai-Tzva’ot “and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ¹⁷ Again cry out, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “My cities will again overflow with prosperity and Adonai will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.’”^[d]

Yeshua Offers Living Water

4 Now Yeshua knew that the Pharisees heard that He was making and immersing more disciples than John. ² (Although Yeshua Himself was not immersing, His disciples were.) ³ So He left Judea and went back again to the Galilee.

⁴ But He needed to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So He comes to a Samaritan town called Shechem, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ^{[a] 6} Now Jacob’s well was there. So Yeshua, exhausted from the journey, was sitting by the well. It was midday.^[b]

⁷ A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Yeshua tells her, ⁸ for His disciples had gone away to the town to buy food.

⁹ Then the Samaritan woman tells Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jewish people don’t deal with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Yeshua replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “You don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Then from where do You get this living water? ¹² You’re not greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us this well. He drank out of it himself, with his sons and his cattle.”

¹³ Yeshua replied to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. ¹⁴ But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty. The water that I give him will become a fountain of water within him, springing up to eternal life!”

¹⁵ “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “give me this water, so I won’t get thirsty or have to come all the way here to draw water!”

¹⁶ He tells her, “Go call your husband, and then come back here.”

¹⁷ “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.

Yeshua tells her, “You’ve said it right, ‘I have no husband.’ ¹⁸ For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. This you’ve spoken truthfully!”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “I see that You are a prophet! ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you all say that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ Yeshua tells her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But an hour is coming—it is here now—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshipers. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman tells Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Anointed One.)^[c] When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Yeshua tells her, “I—the One speaking to you—I am.”

Ready for Harvest

²⁷ At this moment, His disciples came back. They were amazed that He was speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You speaking with her?”

²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She tells the people, ²⁹ “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did! He couldn’t be the Messiah, could He?” ³⁰ The people left the town and began coming to Him.

³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples were pressing Him, “Rabbi, eat!”

³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ So the disciples were saying to each other, “No one brought Him food to eat, did they?”

³⁴ Yeshua tells them, “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and to accomplish His work. ³⁵ Don’t you say, ‘Four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields! They are white and ready for harvest.

³⁶ “The reaper receives a reward and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you haven’t worked for. Others have worked hard, and you have joined in their work.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town put their trust in Him because of the word of the woman testifying, “He told me everything I ever did!” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Him, they kept asking Him to stay with them. He stayed there two days, ⁴¹ and many more believed because of His word. ⁴² They kept telling the woman, “It’s no longer because of your words that we believe. We’ve heard for ourselves! Now we know that this really is the Savior of the world!”

Life for a Dying Son

⁴³ After the two days, He went on from there into the Galilee. ⁴⁴ Now Yeshua Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ But when He came into the Galilee, they welcomed Him. For they had seen all He had done at the feast in Jerusalem, since they also had gone up to celebrate.

⁴⁶ So He went again to Cana of the Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. Now there was a nobleman whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Yeshua had come from Judea to the Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.

⁴⁸ Then Yeshua said to him, “Unless you all see signs and wonders, you’ll never believe!”

⁴⁹ The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

⁵⁰ Yeshua tells him, “Go! Your son lives!”

The man believed the word that Yeshua said to him and started off. ⁵¹ While on his way down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when the boy began to get better. They said, “The fever left him yesterday at about the seventh hour.”^[d]

⁵³ Then the father realized that it was the same hour Yeshua said to him, “Your son lives!” Now he himself believed, along with his whole household. ⁵⁴ Yeshua did this as the second sign, after He had come again from Judea into the Galilee.