M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
3 Ahab’s son Joram began his reign over Israel during the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jehoshaphat[a] of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. His capital was Samaria. 2 He was a very evil man, but not as wicked as his father and mother had been, for he at least tore down the pillar to Baal that his father had made. 3 Nevertheless he still clung to the great sin of Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who had led the people of Israel into the worship of idols.
4 King Mesha of Moab and his people were sheep ranchers. They paid Israel an annual tribute of 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams; 5 but after Ahab’s death, the king of Moab rebelled against Israel. 6-8 So King Joram mustered the Israeli army and sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you help me fight him?”
“Of course I will,” Jehoshaphat replied. “My people and horses are yours to command. What are your battle plans?”
“We’ll attack from the wilderness of Edom,” Joram replied.
9 So their two armies, now joined also by troops from Edom, moved along a roundabout route through the wilderness for seven days; but there was no water for the men or their pack animals.
10 “Oh, what shall we do?” the king of Israel cried out. “The Lord has brought us here to let the king of Moab defeat us.”
11 But Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord with us? If so, we can find out what to do!”
“Elisha is here,” one of the king of Israel’s officers replied. Then he added, “He was Elijah’s assistant.”
12 “Fine,” Jehoshaphat said. “He’s just the man we want.”[b] So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom went to consult Elisha.
13 “I want no part of you,” Elisha snarled at King Joram of Israel. “Go to the false prophets of your father and mother!”
But King Joram replied, “No! For it is the Lord who has called us here to be destroyed by the king of Moab!”
14 “I swear by the Lord God that I wouldn’t bother with you except for the presence of King Jehoshaphat of Judah,” Elisha replied. 15 “Now bring me someone to play the lute.” And as the lute was played, the message of the Lord came to Elisha:
16 “The Lord says to fill this dry valley with trenches to hold the water he will send. 17 You won’t see wind nor rain, but this valley will be filled with water, and you will have plenty for yourselves and for your animals! 18 But this is only the beginning, for the Lord will make you victorious over the army of Moab! 19 You will conquer the best of their cities—even those that are fortified—and ruin all the good land with stones.”
20 And sure enough, the next day at about the time when the morning sacrifice was offered—look! Water! It was flowing from the direction of Edom, and soon there was water everywhere.
21 Meanwhile, when the people of Moab heard about the three armies marching against them, they mobilized every man who could fight, old and young, and stationed themselves along their frontier. 22 But early the next morning the sun looked red as it shone across the water!
23 “Blood!” they exclaimed. “The three armies have attacked and killed each other! Let’s go and collect the loot!”
24 But when they arrived at the Israeli camp, the army of Israel rushed out and began killing them; and the army of Moab fled. Then the men of Israel moved forward into the land of Moab, destroying everything as they went. 25 They destroyed the cities, threw stones on every good piece of land, stopped up the wells, and felled the fruit trees; finally, only Fort Kir-hareseth was left, but even that finally fell to them.[c]
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle had been lost, he led 700 of his swordsmen in a last desperate attempt to break through to the king of Edom; but he failed. 27 Then he took his oldest son, who was to have been the next king, and to the horror of the Israeli army, killed him and sacrificed him as a burnt offering upon the wall. So the army of Israel turned back in disgust to their own land.
3 Finally, dear brothers, as I come to the end of this letter, I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts everywhere as it did when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be saved out of the clutches of evil men, for not everyone loves the Lord. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from satanic attacks of every kind. 4 And we trust the Lord that you are putting into practice the things we taught you, and that you always will. 5 May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.
6 Now here is a command, dear brothers, given in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by his authority: Stay away from any Christian who spends his days in laziness and does not follow the ideal of hard work we set up for you. 7 For you well know that you ought to follow our example: you never saw us loafing; 8 we never accepted food from anyone without buying it; we worked hard day and night for the money we needed to live on, in order that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 It wasn’t that we didn’t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to show you firsthand how you should work for your living. 10 Even while we were still there with you, we gave you this rule: “He who does not work shall not eat.”
11 Yet we hear that some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work, and wasting your time in gossiping. 12 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we appeal to such people—we command them—to quiet down, get to work, and earn their own living. 13 And to the rest of you I say, dear brothers, never be tired of doing right.
14 If anyone refuses to obey what we say in this letter, notice who he is and stay away from him, that he may be ashamed of himself. 15 Don’t think of him as an enemy, but speak to him as you would to a brother who needs to be warned.
16 May the Lord of peace himself give you his peace no matter what happens. The Lord be with you all.
17 Now here is my greeting, which I am writing with my own hand, as I do at the end of all my letters, for proof that it really is from me. This is in my own handwriting. 18 May the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you all.
Sincerely, Paul
7 One night during the first year of Belshazzar’s reign over the Babylonian Empire, Daniel had a dream and he wrote it down. This is his description of what he saw:
2 In my dream I saw a great storm on a mighty ocean, with strong winds blowing from every direction. 3 Then four huge animals came up out of the water, each different from the other. 4 The first was like a lion, but it had eagle’s wings! And as I watched, its wings were pulled off so that it could no longer fly, and it was left standing on the ground, on two feet, like a man; and a man’s mind was given to it. 5 The second animal looked like a bear with its paw raised, ready to strike. It held three ribs between its teeth, and I heard a voice saying to it, “Get up! Devour many people!” 6 The third of these strange animals looked like a leopard, but on its back it had wings like those of birds, and it had four heads! And great power was given to it over all mankind.
7 Then, as I watched in my dream, a fourth animal rose up out of the ocean, too dreadful to describe and incredibly strong. It devoured some of its victims by tearing them apart with its huge iron teeth, and others it crushed beneath its feet. It was far more brutal and vicious than any of the other animals, and it had ten horns.
8 As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them, and three of the first ones were yanked out, roots and all, to give it room; this little horn had a man’s eyes and a bragging mouth.
9 I watched as thrones were put in place and the Ancient of Days—the Almighty God—sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like whitest wool. He sat upon a fiery throne brought in on flaming wheels, and 10 a river of fire flowed from before him. Millions of angels ministered to him, and hundreds of millions of people stood before him, waiting to be judged. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened.
11 As I watched, the brutal fourth animal was killed and its body handed over to be burned because of its arrogance against Almighty God and the boasting of its little horn. 12 As for the other three animals, their kingdoms were taken from them, but they were allowed to live a short time longer.[a]
13 Next I saw the arrival of a Man—or so he seemed to be—brought there on clouds from heaven; he approached the Ancient of Days and was presented to him. 14 He was given the ruling power and glory over all the nations of the world, so that all people of every language must obey him. His power is eternal—it will never end; his government shall never fall.
15 I was confused and disturbed by all I had seen (Daniel wrote in his report), 16 so I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him the meaning of all these things, and he explained them to me.
17 “These four huge animals,” he said, “represent four kings who will someday rule the earth. 18 But in the end the people of the Most High God shall rule the governments of the world forever and forever.”
19 Then I asked about the fourth animal, the one so brutal and shocking, with its iron teeth and brass claws that tore men apart and stamped others to death with its feet. 20 I asked, too, about the ten horns and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the others—the horn with the eyes and the loud, bragging mouth, the one that was stronger than the others. 21 For I had seen this horn warring against God’s people and winning, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and opened his court and vindicated his people, giving them worldwide powers of government.
23 “This fourth animal,” he told me, “is the fourth world power[b] that will rule the earth. It will be more brutal than any of the others; it will devour the whole world, destroying everything before it. 24 His ten horns are ten kings that will rise out of his empire; then another king[c] will arise, more brutal than the other ten, and will destroy three of them. 25 He will defy the Most High God and wear down the saints with persecution, and he will try to change all laws, morals, and customs.[d] God’s people will be helpless in his hands for three and a half years.
26 “But then the Ancient of Days will come[e] and open his court of justice and take all power from this vicious king, to consume and destroy it until the end. 27 Then all nations under heaven and their power shall be given to the people of God;[f] they shall rule all things forever, and all rulers shall serve and obey them.”
28 That was the end of the dream. When I awoke, I was greatly disturbed, and my face was pale with fright, but I told no one what I had seen.
114 Long ago when the Israelis escaped from Egypt, from that land of foreign tongue, 2 then the lands of Judah and of Israel became God’s new home and kingdom.
3 The Red Sea saw them coming and quickly broke apart before them. The Jordan River opened up a path for them to cross. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs! 5 What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you cut yourself in two? What happened, Jordan River, to your waters? Why were they held back? 6 Why, mountains, did you skip like rams? Why, little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Jacob. 8 For he caused gushing streams to burst from flinty rock.
115 Glorify your name, not ours, O Lord! Cause everyone to praise your loving-kindness and your truth. 2 Why let the nations say, “Their God is dead!”[a]
3 For he is in the heavens and does as he wishes. 4 Their gods are merely man-made things of silver and of gold. 5 They can’t talk or see, despite their eyes and mouths! 6 Nor can they hear, nor smell, 7 nor use their hands or feet, nor speak! 8 And those who make and worship them are just as foolish as their idols are.
9 O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper. He is your shield. 10 O priests of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper; he is your shield. 11 All of you, his people, trust in him. He is your helper; he is your shield.
12 Jehovah is constantly thinking about us, and he will surely bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and the priests of Aaron, 13 and all, both great and small, who reverence him.
14 May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. 15 Yes, Jehovah who made heaven and earth will personally bless you! 16 The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all mankind.
17 The dead cannot sing praises to Jehovah here on earth,[b] 18 but we can! We praise him forever! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.