M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he called together from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand^[a] choice men to make war and to battle with Israel in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God saying: ³ Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon and king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ “So says the Lord: You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each man must return to his house, for this event is from Me.” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Secures the Kingdom

⁵ So Rehoboam dwelled in Jerusalem and built siege cities in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth Zur in the east, Soko, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah in the west, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish in the south, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon in the northwest, and central Hebron, all of which were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He strengthened the fortresses and set leaders in them with stockpiles of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And in all the cities he placed shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened these places. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³ And the priests and Levites in all Israel came before him from all their territories. ¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasture lands and properties, and they traveled to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord. ¹⁵ And he set for himself priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols that he made. ¹⁶ And those who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel followed after them from all the tribes of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ And Rehoboam took Mahalath for a wife, the daughter of both Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ Then after her he took Maakah the daughter of Absalom. And she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maakah the daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines), and he had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²² And Rehoboam set Abijah the son of Maakah as chief and head over his brothers for he planned to make him king. ²³ And he was discerning and spread out all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, even among the fortified cities, and he provided for them an abundance of provisions and wives.

Egypt Attacks Jerusalem^(A)

12 Now when the reign of Rehoboam was established and strong, he, and all of Israel with him, abandoned the law of the Lord. ² And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem for they had acted unfaithfully against the Lord, ³ with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horses. The people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiktes, and Ethiopians. ⁴ And he captured the fortified cities that were in Judah, and he came even to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the rulers of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem before Shishak, and he said to them, “So the Lord says: You have abandoned Me, so I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.”

⁶ Then the king and the rulers of Israel humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ So when the Lord observed that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will let some of them escape, and My anger will not pour out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ For they will be slaves to him so that they experience My labor and the labor of the kingdoms of other lands.”

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the palace of the king. He took everything, even the gold shields that Solomon made. ¹⁰ And King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and entrusted them to the hands of the rulers of the guards, those who guarded the entrance to the king’s palace. ¹¹ And it happened that whenever the king came to the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him so that there was not a complete annihilation. Moreover, there were some good things in Judah during this time.

The Death of Rehoboam

¹³ So King Rehoboam was strong and reigned in Jerusalem. For Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. ¹⁴ And he acted evil because he did not set his heart to seek out the Lord.

¹⁵ Now, are not the acts of Rehoboam written from beginning to end in the annals of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, according to genealogy? And there were battles between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, and Abijah ruled in his place.

The Message to Ephesus

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

“He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, says these things: ² I know your works, your labor and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles, but are not, and have found them to be liars. ³ You have endured, and have been patient, and for My name’s sake have labored and have not grown weary.

⁴ “But I have something against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your candlestick from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ But this you have: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give permission to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

The Message to Smyrna

⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

“The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life, says these things: ⁹ I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich). And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

The Message to Pergamum

¹² “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

“He who has the sharp two-edged sword says these things: ¹³ I know your works and where you live, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold firmly to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

¹⁴ “But I have a few things against you: You have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵ So you also have those who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will war against them with the sword of My mouth.

¹⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except he who receives it.

The Message to Thyatira

¹⁸ “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

“The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like fine brass, says these things: ¹⁹ I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience, and that your last works are more than the first.

²⁰ “But I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, but she did not repent. ²² Look! I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. ²³ I will put her children to death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the hearts and minds. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

²⁴ “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this teaching, who have not known what some call the ‘depths of Satan,’ I will put on you no other burden. ²⁵ But hold firmly what you have until I come.

²⁶ “To him who overcomes and keeps My works to the end, I will give authority over the nations—

even as I myself have received authority from My Father. ²⁸ And I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Woe to Jerusalem

The Conversion of the Nations

Israel’s Song of Joy

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. ⁵ The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ This man came as a witness in order to testify concerning the Light, that all men through Him might believe. ⁸ He was not this Light, but was sent in order to testify concerning the Light.

⁹ The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. ¹² Yet to all who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God, to those who believed in His name, ¹³ who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ John bore witness of Him and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” ¹⁶ We have all received from His fullness grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

The Testimony of John the Baptist^(A)

¹⁹ Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹ They asked him, “Who then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

²² They said to him then, “Who are you? Tell us so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say concerning yourself?”

²³ John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’^[a] just as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “Why do you baptize then, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water, but One stands among you, whom you do not know. ²⁷ This is He who comes after me, who is preferred before me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

²⁸ These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. ³⁰ This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ³¹ I did not know Him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water: so that He might be revealed to Israel.”

³² Then John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen and have borne witness that He is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples

³⁵ Again, the next day John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶ Looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷ The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Then Jesus turned, saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?”

And they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

³⁹ Jesus said to them, “Come and see.”

So they came and saw where He stayed and remained with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ). ⁴² Then he brought him to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

The Calling of Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip, and said to him, “Follow Me.”

⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, as well as the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said concerning him, “Here is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”

⁴⁸ Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”

Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you 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 him, “Because I said to you, ‘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 you, hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”