M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
19 King Jehoshaphat of Judah came back safely to his house in Jerusalem. 2 The prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, went out to meet the king. Jehu said to him, “Why did you help those who are wicked? Why do you love those who hate the Lord? That’s the reason the Lord is angry with you now. 3 Fortunately, you did some good things in your life. You did remove the Asherah poles from this country, and you did decide to ask God for his advice.”
Jehoshaphat Chooses Judges
4 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he would go out among the people throughout Judah, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim. He helped the people turn back to the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped. 5 Jehoshaphat went from town to town and appointed judges in each of the fortresses of Judah. 6 He told the judges, “Be careful in what you are doing, because you are not judging for people, but for the Lord. He will be with you when you make decisions. 7 You must fear the Lord. Protect justice and do what is right because the Lord our God is fair. He does not treat some people as if they are more important than others, and he does not accept bribes to change his judgments.”
8 In Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat chose some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the families of Israel to be judges. These men lived in Jerusalem and used the law of the Lord to settle problems among the people. 9 Jehoshaphat commanded them, “You must serve faithfully with all your heart. You must fear the Lord. 10 People from cities around the country will bring their problems to you. You will listen to cases where people have broken a law or a command or maybe killed someone. In all these cases you must warn the people not to sin against the Lord so that he will not get angry and punish you and your people.
11 “Amariah is the high priest, so he will make the final decision about the people’s responsibilities to the Lord. Zebadiah son of Ishmael is the leader of the tribe of Judah, so he will make the final decision about the people’s responsibilities to the king. The Levites will serve as scribes for you. Be brave and do what is right! May the Lord be with those of you who are good judges.”
Jehoshaphat Faces War
20 Later, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and some Meunites[a] came to start a war with Jehoshaphat. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “There is a large army coming against you from Edom. They are coming from the other side of the Dead Sea. They are already in Hazazon Tamar!” (Hazazon Tamar is also called En Gedi.) 3 Jehoshaphat became afraid, and he decided to ask the Lord what to do. He announced a time of fasting for everyone in Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to ask the Lord for help. They came from out of all the towns of Judah to ask for the Lord’s help. 5 Jehoshaphat was in the new courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. He stood up in the meeting of the people from Judah and Jerusalem 6 and said,
“Lord God of our ancestors, you are the God in heaven. You rule over all the kingdoms in all the nations. You have power and strength. No one can stand against you. 7 You are our God! You forced the people living in this land to leave. You did this in front of your people Israel. You gave this land to the descendants of Abraham forever. Abraham was your friend. 8 His descendants lived in this land, and built a Temple for your name. 9 They said, ‘If trouble comes to us—the sword, punishment, sicknesses, or famine—we will stand in front of this Temple and in front of you. Your name is on this Temple. We will shout to you when we are in trouble. Then you will hear and save us.’
10 “But now, here are men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir. You would not let the Israelites enter their lands when they came out of Egypt.[b] So the Israelites turned away and didn’t destroy them. 11 But see the kind of reward those people give us for not destroying them. They have come to force us out of your land that you gave to us. 12 Our God, punish those people. We don’t have the strength to stop this large army that is coming against us. We don’t know what to do! We are looking to you for help.”[c]
13 All the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their wives, babies, and children. 14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah. (Zechariah was the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah.) Jahaziel was a Levite from the family of Asaph. In the middle of the meeting, 15 Jahaziel said, “Listen to me King Jehoshaphat and everyone living in Judah and Jerusalem! The Lord says this to you: ‘Don’t be afraid or worry about this large army, because the battle is not your battle. It is God’s battle! 16 Tomorrow, they will come up through the Ziz Pass. You must go down to them. You will find them at the end of the valley on the other side of the desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Just stand there and watch the Lord save you. Judah and Jerusalem, don’t be afraid. Don’t worry, because the Lord is with you. So go out to stand against those people tomorrow.’”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem bowed down before the Lord and worshiped him. 19 The Levites from the Kohath family groups and the Korah family stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. They sang very loudly.
20 Early the next morning, Jehoshaphat’s army went out into the desert of Tekoa. As they marched out, Jehoshaphat stood there saying, “Listen to me, men of Judah and Jerusalem. Have faith in the Lord your God, and you will stand strong! Have faith in his prophets, and you will succeed!”
21 Jehoshaphat encouraged the men and gave them instructions. Then he had the Temple singers stand up in their special clothes to praise the Lord. They marched in front of the army and sang,
“Give thanks to the Lord!
His faithful love will last forever.”
22 As they began to sing and to praise God, the Lord set an ambush for the army from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come to attack Judah. The enemy was defeated! 23 The Ammonites and the Moabites started to fight the men from Mount Seir. After they killed them, the Ammonites and Moabites turned on themselves and killed each other.
24 The men from Judah arrived at the lookout point in the desert. They looked for the enemy’s large army, but all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground. There were no survivors. 25 Jehoshaphat and his army came to take things from the bodies. They found many animals, riches, clothes, and other valuable things. It was more than Jehoshaphat and his men could carry away. There was so much that they spent three days taking everything from the dead bodies. 26 On the fourth day Jehoshaphat and his army met in the Valley of Beracah.[d] They praised the Lord. That is why people still call that place, “The Valley of Beracah.”
27 All the men from Judah and Jerusalem were very happy as they marched back to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat in the front. The Lord made them very happy when he defeated their enemy. 28 They entered Jerusalem with lyres, harps, and trumpets and went to the Temple of the Lord.
29 People in all the surrounding kingdoms became afraid of God when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 That is why there was peace for Jehoshaphat’s kingdom—his God brought him rest from the enemies that were all around him.
Summary of Jehoshaphat’s Rule
31 Jehoshaphat ruled over the country of Judah. He was 35 years old when he became king, and he ruled 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. 32-33 Like his father Asa, Jehoshaphat was good and did everything that the Lord wanted, except he did not destroy the high places. Also, the people did not turn back to the God their ancestors worshiped.
34 Everything else Jehoshaphat did, from beginning to end, is written in The Official Records of Jehu Son of Hanani. It was copied and included in the book, The History of the Kings of Israel.
35 Later on, King Jehoshaphat of Judah made an agreement with King Ahaziah of Israel. Ahaziah was very evil. 36 Jehoshaphat joined with Ahaziah to make ships to go to the town of Tarshish. They built some ships at Ezion Geber. 37 There was a man from the town of Mareshah named Eliezer son of Dodavahu. He spoke against Jehoshaphat and said, “Jehoshaphat, since you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have built.” The ships were wrecked, so Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah were not able to send them to Tarshish.
The Seventh Seal
8 The Lamb opened the seventh seal. Then there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God. They were given seven trumpets.
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar. This angel had a golden holder for incense. The angel was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God’s holy people. The angel put this offering on the golden altar before the throne. 4 The smoke from the incense went up from the angel’s hand to God. The smoke went up with the prayers of God’s people. 5 Then the angel filled the incense holder with fire from the altar and threw it down on the earth. Then there were flashes of lightning, thunder and other noises, and an earthquake.
The First of Seven Trumpet Blasts
6 Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their trumpets.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet. Then hail and fire mixed with blood was poured down on the earth. And a third of the earth and all the green grass and a third of the trees were burned up.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet. Then something that looked like a big mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the created beings in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet. Then a large star, burning like a torch, fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Bitterness.[a] And a third of all the water became bitter. Many people died from drinking this bitter water.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet. Then a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck. So a third of them became dark. A third of the day and night was without light.
13 While I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying high in the air. The eagle said in a loud voice, “Terrible! Terrible! How terrible for those who live on the earth! The terrible trouble will begin after the sounds of the trumpets that the other three angels will blow.”
The Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees
4 Then the angel who was talking to me returned and woke me up. I was like a person waking up from sleep. 2 Then the angel asked me, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a solid gold lampstand. There are seven lamps[a] on the lampstand, and there is a bowl on top of it. There are seven tubes coming from the bowl. One tube goes to each lamp. The tubes bring the oil in the bowl to each of the lamps. 3 There are two olive trees by the bowl, one on the right side and one on the left side. These trees produce the oil for the lamps.” 4 Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Sir, what do these things mean?”
5 The angel speaking with me said, “Don’t you know what these things are?”
“No sir,” I said.
6 He said, “This is the message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says. 7 That tall mountain will be like a flat place for Zerubbabel. He will build the Temple, and when the most important stone is put in place, the people will shout, ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’”
8 The Lord’s message to me also said, 9 “Zerubbabel will lay the foundations for my Temple, and he will finish building it. Then you will know that the Lord All-Powerful sent me to you people. 10 People will not be ashamed of the small beginnings, and they will be very happy when they see Zerubbabel with the plumb line,[b] measuring and checking the finished building. Now the seven sides[c] of the stone you saw represent the eyes of the Lord looking in every direction. They see everything on earth.”
11 Then I said to him, “I saw one olive tree on the right side of the lampstand and one on the left side. What do those two olive trees mean?” 12 I also said to him, “I saw two olive branches by the gold tubes with gold colored oil flowing from them. What do these things mean?”
13 Then the angel said to me, “Don’t you know what these things mean?”
I said, “No, sir.”
14 So he said, “They represent the two men chosen[d] to serve the Lord of the whole world.”
Jesus and His Brothers
7 After this, Jesus traveled around the country of Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jewish leaders there wanted to kill him. 2 It was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters. 3 So his brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to the festival in Judea. Then your followers there can see the miracles you do. 4 If you want to be well known, you must not hide what you do. So, if you can do such amazing things, let the whole world see you do them.” 5 Jesus’ brothers said this because even they did not believe in him.
6 Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come, but any time is right for you to go. 7 The world cannot hate you. But the world hates me, because I tell the people in the world that they do evil things. 8 So you go to the festival. I will not go now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 After Jesus said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10 So his brothers left to go to the festival. After they left, Jesus went too, but he did not let people see him. 11 At the festival the Jewish leaders were looking for him. They said, “Where is that man?”
12 There was a large group of people there. Many of them were talking secretly to each other about Jesus. Some people said, “He is a good man.” But others said, “No, he fools the people.” 13 But no one was brave enough to talk about him openly. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders.
Jesus Teaches in Jerusalem
14 When the festival was about half finished, Jesus went to the Temple area and began to teach. 15 The Jewish leaders were amazed and said, “How did this man learn so much? He never had the kind of teaching we had!”
16 Jesus answered, “What I teach is not my own. My teaching comes from the one who sent me. 17 People who really want to do what God wants will know that my teaching comes from God. They will know that this teaching is not my own. 18 If I taught my own ideas, I would just be trying to get honor for myself. But if I am trying to bring honor to the one who sent me, I can be trusted. Anyone doing that is not going to lie. 19 Moses gave you the law, right? But you don’t obey that law. If you do, then why are you trying to kill me?”
20 The people answered, “A demon is making you crazy! We are not trying to kill you.”
21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle on a Sabbath day, and you were all surprised. 22 But you obey the law Moses gave you about circumcision—and sometimes you do it on a Sabbath day. (Really, Moses is not the one who gave you circumcision. It came from our ancestors who lived before Moses.) Yes, you often circumcise baby boys on a Sabbath day. 23 This shows that someone can be circumcised on a Sabbath day to obey the Law of Moses. So why are you angry with me for healing a person’s whole body on the Sabbath day? 24 Stop judging by the way things look. Be fair and judge by what is really right.”
People Wonder if Jesus Is the Messiah
25 Then some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “This is the man they are trying to kill. 26 But he is teaching where everyone can see and hear him. And no one is trying to stop him from teaching. Maybe the leaders have decided that he really is the Messiah. 27 But when the real Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from. And we know where this man’s home is.”
28 Jesus was still teaching in the Temple area when he said loudly, “Do you really know me and where I am from? I am here, but not by my own decision. I was sent by one who is very real. But you don’t know him. 29 I know him because I am from him. He is the one who sent me.”
30 When Jesus said this, the people tried to grab him. But no one was able even to touch him, because the right time for him had not yet come. 31 But many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, “We are waiting for the Messiah to come. When he comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
The Jewish Leaders Try to Arrest Jesus
32 The Pharisees heard what the people were saying about Jesus. So the leading priests and the Pharisees sent some Temple police to arrest him. 33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer. Then I will go back to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me. And you cannot come where I am.”
35 These Jews said to each other, “Where will this man go that we cannot find him? Will he go to the Greek cities where our people live? Will he teach the Greek people there? 36 He says, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me.’ He also says, ‘You cannot come where I am.’ What does this mean?”
Jesus Talks About the Holy Spirit
37 The last day of the festival came. It was the most important day. On that day Jesus stood up and said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty may come to me and drink. 38 If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from their heart. That is what the Scriptures say.” 39 Jesus was talking about the Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given to people, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.
The People Argue About Jesus
40 When the people heard the things that Jesus said, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet.[a]”
41 Other people said, “He is the Messiah.”
And others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee. 42 The Scriptures say that the Messiah will come from the family of David. And they say that he will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.” 43 So the people did not agree with each other about Jesus. 44 Some of the people wanted to arrest him. But no one tried to do it.
The Jewish Leaders Refuse to Believe
45 The Temple police went back to the leading priests and the Pharisees. The priests and the Pharisees asked, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”
46 The Temple police answered, “We have never heard anyone say such amazing things!”
47 The Pharisees answered, “So he has fooled you too! 48 You don’t see any of the leaders or any of us Pharisees believing in him, do you? 49 But those people out there know nothing about the law. They are under God’s curse!”
50 But Nicodemus was there in that group. He was the one who had gone to see Jesus before.[b] He said, 51 “Our law will not let us judge anyone without first hearing them and finding out what they have done.”
52 The Jewish leaders answered, “You must be from Galilee too! Study the Scriptures. You will find nothing about a prophet[c] coming from Galilee.”
A Woman Caught in Adultery
53 Then they all left and went home.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International