M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

14 So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ² And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: ³ for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the ^[a]pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. ⁵ Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁶ And he built fortified cities in Judah; for the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest. ⁷ For he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars; the land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God; we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army that bare bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

⁹ And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and he came unto Mareshah. ¹⁰ Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, ^[b]there is none ^[c]besides thee to help, between the mighty and him that hath no strength: help us, O Jehovah our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy name are we come against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. ¹² So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians ^[d]so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were ^[e]destroyed before Jehovah, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty. ¹⁴ And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for ^[f]the fear of Jehovah came upon them: and they despoiled all the cities; for there was much spoil in them. ¹⁵ They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

15 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: ² and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Jehovah is with you, while ye are with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. ³ Now for a long season Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law: ⁴ but when in their distress they turned unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. ⁵ And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in; but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶ And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity. ⁷ But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack; for your work shall be rewarded.

⁸ And when Asa heard these words, ^[g]and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah. ⁹ And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹ And they sacrificed unto Jehovah in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹² And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³ and that whosoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴ And they sware unto Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and Jehovah gave them rest round about.

¹⁶ And also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being ^[h]queen, because she had made an abominable image ^[i]for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷ But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. ¹⁸ And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹ And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.

4 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must ^[a]come to pass hereafter. ² Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; ³ and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. ⁴ And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold. ⁵ And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; ⁶ and before the throne, as it were a ^[b]sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst ^[c]of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. ⁷ And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying,

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and ^[d]who is to come.

⁹ And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth ^[e]for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth ^[f]for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹ Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.

2 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, ² Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, ³ Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing? ⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work: for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts, ^5 [a]according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit ^[b]abode among you: fear ye not. ⁶ For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; ⁷ and I will shake all nations; and ^[c]the precious things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts. ⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts. ⁹ The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts.

¹⁰ In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. ¹³ Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. ¹⁴ Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith Jehovah; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ And now, I pray you, consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah. ^16 [d]Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty. ¹⁷ I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah. ¹⁸ Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Jehovah’s temple was laid, consider it. ¹⁹ Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree have not brought forth; from this day will I bless you.

²⁰ And the word of Jehovah came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, ²¹ Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; ²² and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. ²³ In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith Jehovah of hosts.

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ² the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. ³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born ^[a]anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born ^[b]anew. ^8 [c]The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? ¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ¹² If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, ^[d]who is in heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; ¹⁵ that whosoever ^[e]believeth may in him have eternal life.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. ¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. ²⁰ For every one that ^[f]doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be ^[g]reproved. ²¹ But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, ^[h]that they have been wrought in God.

²² After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. ²³ And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there ^[i]was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. ²⁴ For John was not yet cast into prison. ²⁵ There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purifying. ²⁶ And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. ²⁷ John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. ²⁸ Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. ²⁹ He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹ He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: ^[j]he that cometh from heaven is above all. ³² What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness. ³³ He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴ For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure. ³⁵ The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. ³⁶ He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that ^[k]obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.