M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

King Asa Rules in Judah

14 Abijah died and they buried him in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. In his days the land had peace ten years.

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ For he put away the strange altars and high places. He tore down the pillars used in worship of false gods. And he cut down the false goddesses, the Asherim. ⁴ He told Judah to follow the Lord God of their fathers, and to obey the Laws. ⁵ He put the high places and the altars of special perfume away from all the cities of Judah. And the nation had rest under his rule. ⁶ He built strong cities in Judah, since the land had rest. No one fought a war with him during those years, because the Lord had given him rest. ⁷ So he said to the people of Judah, “Let us build these cities. And let us build walls and towers around them, with iron gates. The land is still ours, because we have followed the Lord our God. We have followed Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and did well. ⁸ Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, with large battle-coverings and spears. And he had 280,000 men from Benjamin, with battle-coverings and bows. All of them were powerful soldiers.

⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian came out to fight against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 war-wagons. He came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa went out to meet him. They made themselves ready for battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one but You to help in the battle between the powerful and the weak. So help us, O Lord God. For we trust in You. In Your name we have come against these many people. O Lord, You are our God. Do not let any man win the fight against You.” ¹² So the Lord began to destroy the Ethiopians in front of Asa and the people of Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and the people with him went after them as far as Gerar. The Ethiopians were killed until none were left alive. They were destroyed before the Lord and His army. And they carried away many things that had belonged to the Ethiopians. ¹⁴ Then they destroyed all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they took everything of worth that was in the cities, for there was much left. ¹⁵ They destroyed the tents of the animals. And they took away many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Asa Makes Changes

15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² Azariah went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you look for Him, He will let you find Him. But if you leave Him, He will leave you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching religious leader, and without law. ⁴ But in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel. They looked for Him, and He let them find Him. ⁵ In those times there was no peace for him who went out, or for him who came in. For much trouble came to all the people of the lands. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God sent every kind of trouble upon them. ⁷ But you be strong. Do not lose strength of heart. For you will be paid for your work.”

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the words of Azariah the son of Oded, his heart became strong. He put away the sinful false gods from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim. He built again the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord’s house. ⁹ Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, who lived with them. For many had left Israel to come to him when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s rule. ¹¹ They killed animals on the altar in worship to the Lord that day. They killed and gave 700 cattle and 7,000 sheep from the animals they had taken in battle. ¹² And they agreed to follow the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul. ¹³ Whoever would not follow the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴ They made a promise to the Lord with a loud voice, calling out and blowing horns. ¹⁵ All Judah was filled with joy because of the promise. For they had promised with their whole heart. They had looked for the Lord with a pure heart. And He let them find Him. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.

¹⁶ King Asa even stopped his mother from being queen mother. Because she had made a sinful object of the false goddess Asherah. Asa cut down her sinful object. He crushed it and burned it at the Kidron River. ¹⁷ But the high places were not taken away from Israel. Yet Asa’s heart was without blame all his days. ¹⁸ He brought into the house of God the holy things of his father and his own holy things. He brought in silver and gold and the things used for the worship. ¹⁹ And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s rule.

The King’s Place of Power in Heaven

4 After this, I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. The first voice I heard was like the loud sound of a horn. It said, “Come up here. I will show you what must happen after these things.” ² At once I was under the Spirit’s power. See! The throne was in heaven, and One was sitting on it. ³ The One Who sat there looked as bright as jasper and sardius stones. The colors like those of an emerald stone were all around the throne. ⁴ There were twenty-four smaller thrones around the throne. And on these thrones twenty-four leaders were sitting dressed in white clothes. They had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ Lightning and noise and thunder came from the throne. Seven lights of fire were burning before the throne. These were the seven Spirits of God.

⁶ Before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, shining and clear. Around the throne and on each side there were four living beings that were full of eyes in front and in back. ⁷ The first living being was like a lion. The second one was like a young cow. The third one had a face like a man. The fourth one was like a very large bird with its wings spread. ⁸ Each one of the four living beings had six wings. They had eyes all over them, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the All-powerful One. He is the One Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”

⁹ The four living beings speak of His shining-greatness and give honor and thanks to Him Who sits on His throne as King. It is He Who lives forever. ¹⁰ The twenty-four leaders get down before Him and worship Him Who lives forever. They lay their crowns before Him and say, ¹¹ “Our Lord and our God, it is right for You to have the shining-greatness and the honor and the power. You made all things. They were made and have life because You wanted it that way.”

The Great New House of God

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the man of God, saying, ² “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the head religious leader, and to the rest of the people. Say to them, ³ ‘Who is left among you who saw this house of God as it was before in its greatness? And how does it look to you now? Is it anything like it was? ⁴ But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, head religious leader. And be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord. ‘Do the work, for I am with you,’ says the Lord of All. ⁵ ‘As I promised you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is with you. Do not be afraid.’ ⁶ For the Lord of All says, ‘Once again, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all the nations so that the riches of all nations will come in. And I will fill this house with greatness,’ says the Lord of All. ⁸ ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of All. ⁹ ‘This house will be even greater than it was before,’ says the Lord of All. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of All.”

The People Are Unclean

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the Word of the Lord came to Haggai the man of God, saying, ¹¹ “The Lord of All says, ‘Ask the religious leaders to decide about this: ¹² If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his clothing, and this fold touches bread or hot food, or wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” The religious leaders answered and said, “No.” ¹³ Then Haggai said, “If a man is unclean because he touched a dead body and touches any of these, will it become unclean?” And the religious leaders answered and said, “It will become unclean.”

The Lord Promises Good to Come to His People

¹⁴ Then Haggai said, “‘So are these people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord. ‘And so is everything they have made. What they give there is unclean. ¹⁵ Now think about this from this day on. Think about how things were before one stone was placed on another in the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ When anyone came to a place where there were twenty baskets of grain, there would be only ten. When anyone came to a place to get fifty bottles of wine, there would be only twenty. ¹⁷ I destroyed you and everything you did with a strong-wind, disease, and hail. Yet you did not return to Me,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Think about this from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day when the base of the Lord’s house was laid, think about this: ¹⁹ Is the seed still in the store-house? The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not given any fruit. Yet from this day on I will bring good to you.’”

The Lord’s Promise to Zerubbabel

²⁰ The Word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, ²¹ “Tell Zerubbabel, ruler of Judah, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. ²² I will take the power away from kings and destroy the power of the nations. I will destroy war-wagons and their drivers. Horses and their horsemen will fall, every one by the sword of another. ²³ On that day,’ says the Lord of All, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will make you like a ring for marking My name. For I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of All.”

Nicodemus Asks Jesus about Life

3 There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a proud religious law-keeper and a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Teacher, we know You have come from God to teach us. No one can do these powerful works You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus Tells of the New Kind of Birth

³ Jesus said to him, “For sure, I tell you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the holy nation of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? How can he get into his mother’s body and be born the second time?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “For sure, I tell you, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit of God, he cannot get into the holy nation of God. ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ “Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to and you hear its sound. You do not know where it comes from or where it goes. It is the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit of God.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can this be?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Are you a teacher among the Jews and do not know these things? ¹¹ For sure, I tell you, We are talking about things We know. We tell of what We have seen. Yet you do not take Our words to be true. ¹² I tell you about things of the earth and you do not believe them. How will you believe if I tell you things about heaven?

¹³ “No one has gone up into heaven except the One Who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man *Who is in heaven. ¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. ¹⁵ Then whoever puts his trust in Him will have life that lasts forever. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Whoever puts his trust in God’s Son will not be lost but will have life that lasts forever. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to say it is guilty. He sent His Son so the world might be saved from the punishment of sin by Him. ¹⁸ Whoever puts his trust in His Son is not guilty. Whoever does not put his trust in Him is guilty already. It is because he does not put his trust in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹ “The Light has come into the world. And the Light is the test by which men are guilty or not. People love darkness more than the Light because the things they do are sinful. ²⁰ Everyone who sins hates the Light. He stays away from the Light because his sin would be found out. ²¹ The man who does what is right comes to the Light. What he does will be seen because he has done what God wanted him to do.”

Jesus Preaches in Judea

²² After this, Jesus and His followers came into the country of Judea. He stayed with them there and baptized people.

John the Baptist Tells More about Jesus

²³ John was baptizing in the town of Aenon near Salim. There was much water there and people were coming to be baptized. ²⁴ John had not been put in prison yet.

²⁵ Then some of the followers of John and a Jew started to argue about the religious washing of the Jewish worship. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Teacher, the One with you on the other side of the Jordan River is baptizing also. He is the One you told of. Everyone is going to Him.”

²⁷ John said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You heard the words that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ ²⁹ The man who has just been married has the bride. The friend of the man just married stands at his side and listens to him. He has joy when he hears the voice of the man just married. I am full of this joy. ³⁰ He must become more important. I must become less important.

³¹ “He Who comes from above is above all. He who comes from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He Who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He tells of what He has seen and heard. But no one believes what He says. ³³ Whoever receives His words proves that God is true. ³⁴ He was sent by God and He speaks God’s Word. God gives Him all of His Spirit. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. ³⁶ He who puts his trust in the Son has life that lasts forever. He who does not put his trust in the Son will not have life, but the anger of God is on him.”