M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
27 Jotham was twenty-five years old at the time he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerushah, daughter of Zadok. 2 He followed the generally good example of his father, Uzziah—who had, however, sinned by invading the Temple—but even so his people became very corrupt.
3 He built the Upper Gate of the Temple and also did extensive rebuilding of the walls on the hill where the Temple was situated. 4 And he built cities in the hill country of Judah and erected fortresses and towers on the wooded hills.
5 His war against the Ammonites was successful so that for the next three years he received from them an annual tribute of $200,000 in silver, 10,000 sacks of wheat, and 10,000 sacks of barley. 6 King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to follow the path of the Lord his God.
7 The remainder of his history, including his wars and other activities, is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 8 In summary, then, he was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 When he died, he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Ahaz became the new king.
28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. But he was an evil king, unlike his ancestor King David. 2 For he followed the example of the kings over in Israel and worshiped the idols of Baal. 3 He even went out to the valley of Hinnom, and it was not just to burn incense to the idols, for he even sacrificed his own children in the fire, just like the heathen nations that were thrown out of the land by the Lord to make room for Israel. 4 Yes, he sacrificed and burned incense at the idol shrines on the hills and under every green tree.
5 That is why the Lord God allowed the king of Syria to defeat him and deport large numbers of his people to Damascus. The armies from Israel also slaughtered great numbers of his troops. 6 On a single day Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 of his bravest soldiers because they had turned away from the Lord God of their fathers. 7 Then Zichri, a great warrior from Ephraim, killed the king’s son Maaseiah, the king’s administrator Azrikam, and the king’s second-in-command Elkanah. 8 The armies from Israel also captured 200,000 Judean women and children and tremendous amounts of booty, which they took to Samaria.
9 But Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there in Samaria, and he went out to meet the returning army.
“Look!” he exclaimed. “The Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah and let you capture them, but you have butchered them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed. 10 And now are you going to make slaves of these people from Judah and Jerusalem? What about your own sins against the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me and return these relatives of yours to their homes, for now the fierce anger of the Lord is upon you.”
12 Some of the top leaders of Ephraim also added their opposition. These men were Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai.
13 “You must not bring the captives here!” they declared. “If you do, the Lord will be angry, and this sin will be added to our many others. We are in enough trouble with God as it is.”
14 So the army officers turned over the captives and booty to the political leaders to decide what to do. 15 Then the four men already mentioned distributed captured stores of clothing to the women and children who needed it and gave them shoes, food, and wine, and put those who were sick and old on donkeys, and took them back to their families in Jericho, the City of Palm Trees. Then their escorts returned to Samaria.
16 About that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria to be his ally in his war against the armies of Edom. For Edom was invading Judah and capturing many people as slaves. 17-18 Meanwhile, the Philistines had invaded the lowland cities and the Negeb and had already captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages, and were living there. 19 For the Lord brought Judah very low on account of the evil deeds of King Ahaz of Israel,[a] for he had destroyed the spiritual fiber of Judah and had been faithless to the Lord. 20 But when Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyria, arrived, he caused trouble for King Ahaz instead of helping him. 21 So even though Ahaz had given him the Temple gold and the palace treasures, it did no good.
22 In this time of deep trial, King Ahaz collapsed spiritually. 23 He sacrificed to the gods of the people of Damascus who had defeated him, for he felt that since these gods had helped the kings of Syria, they would help him too if he sacrificed to them. But instead, they were his ruin, and that of all his people. 24 The king took the gold bowls from the Temple and slashed them to pieces, and nailed the door of the Temple shut so that no one could worship there, and made altars to the heathen gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And he did the same in every city of Judah, thus angering the Lord God of his fathers.
26 The other details of his life and activities are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 When King Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal tombs, and his son Hezekiah became the new king.
14 Then I saw a Lamb standing on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and with him were 144,000 who had his Name and his Father’s Name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roaring of a great waterfall or the rolling of mighty thunder. It was the singing of a choir accompanied by harps.
3 This tremendous choir—144,000 strong—sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four Living Beings and the twenty-four Elders; and no one could sing this song except those 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 For they are spiritually undefiled, pure as virgins,[a] following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the men on the earth as a consecrated offering to God and the Lamb. 5 No falsehood can be charged against them; they are blameless.
6 And I saw another angel flying through the heavens, carrying the everlasting Good News to preach to those on earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
7 “Fear God,” he shouted, “and extol his greatness. For the time has come when he will sit as Judge. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all its sources.”
8 Then another angel followed him through the skies, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen—that great city—because she seduced the nations of the world and made them share the wine of her intense impurity and sin.”
9 Then a third angel followed them shouting, “Anyone worshiping the Creature from the sea[b] and his statue, and accepting his mark on the forehead or the hand 10 must drink the wine of the anger of God; it is poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their torture rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the Creature and his statue, and have been tattooed with the code of his name. 12 Let this encourage God’s people to endure patiently every trial and persecution, for they are his saints who remain firm to the end in obedience to his commands and trust in Jesus.”
13 And I heard a voice in the heavens above me saying, “Write this down: At last the time has come for his martyrs[c] to enter into their full reward. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for now they shall rest from all their toils and trials; for their good deeds follow them to heaven!” 14 Then the scene changed, and I saw a white cloud and someone sitting on it who looked like Jesus, who was called “The Son of Man,”[d] with a crown of solid gold upon his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then an angel came from the temple and called out to him, “Begin to use the sickle, for the time has come for you to reap; the harvest is ripe on the earth.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the harvest was gathered in. 17 After that another angel came from the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
18 Just then the angel who has power to destroy the world with fire,[e] shouted to the angel with the sickle, “Use your sickle now to cut off the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are fully ripe for judgment.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 And the grapes were trodden in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out in a stream 200 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.
10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime, and he will answer with lightning and showers. Every field will become a lush pasture. 2 How foolish to ask the idols for anything like that! Fortune-tellers’ predictions are all a bunch of silly lies; what comfort is there in promises that don’t come true? Judah and Israel have been led astray and wander like lost sheep; everyone attacks them, for they have no shepherd to protect them.
3 “My anger burns against your ‘shepherds’—your leaders—and I will punish them—these goats. For the Lord Almighty has arrived to help his flock of Judah. I will make them strong and glorious like a proud steed in battle. 4 From them will come the Cornerstone, the Peg on which all hope hangs, the Bow that wins the battle, the Ruler over all the earth.[a] 5 They will be mighty warriors for God, grinding their enemies’ faces into the dust beneath their feet. The Lord is with them as they fight; their enemy is doomed.
6 “I will strengthen Judah, yes, and Israel too; I will reestablish them because I love them. It will be as though I had never cast them all away, for I, the Lord their God, will hear their cries. 7 They shall be like mighty warriors. They shall be happy as with wine. Their children, too, shall see the mercies of the Lord and be glad. Their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord. 8 When I whistle to them, they’ll come running, for I have bought them back again. From the few that are left, their population will grow again to former size. 9 Though I have scattered them like seeds among the nations, still they will remember me and return again to God; with all their children, they will come home again to Israel. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and Assyria and resettle them in Israel—in Gilead and Lebanon; there will scarcely be room for all of them! 11 They shall pass safely through the sea of distress,[b] for the waves will be held back. The Nile will become dry—the rule of Assyria and Egypt over my people will end.”
12 The Lord says, “I will make my people strong with power from me! They will go wherever they wish, and wherever they go they will be under my personal care.”
13 1-3 Jesus knew on the evening of Passover Day that it would be his last night on earth before returning to his Father. During supper the devil had already suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that this was the night to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. And how he loved his disciples! 4 So he got up from the supper table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his loins,[a] 5 poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
6 When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Master, you shouldn’t be washing our feet like this!”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now why I am doing it; some day you will.”
8 “No,” Peter protested, “you shall never wash my feet!”
“But if I don’t, you can’t be my partner,” Jesus replied.
9 Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well—not just my feet!”
10 Jesus replied, “One who has bathed all over needs only to have his feet washed to be entirely clean. Now you are clean—but that isn’t true of everyone here.” 11 For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After washing their feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Master’ and ‘Lord,’ and you do well to say it, for it is true. 14 And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow: do as I have done to you. 16 How true it is that a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends him. 17 You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.
18 “I am not saying these things to all of you; I know so well each one of you I chose. The Scripture declares, ‘One who eats supper with me will betray me,’ and this will soon come true. 19 I tell you this now so that when it happens, you will believe on me.
20 “Truly, anyone welcoming my messenger is welcoming me. And to welcome me is to welcome the Father who sent me.”
21 Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit and exclaimed, “Yes, it is true—one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23 Since I[b] was sitting next to Jesus at the table, being his closest friend, 24 Simon Peter motioned to me to ask him who it was who would do this terrible deed.
25 So I turned and[c] asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 He told me, “It is the one I honor by giving the bread dipped in the sauce.”[d]
And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.
27 As soon as Judas had eaten it, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry—do it now.”
28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29 Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30 Judas left at once, going out into the night.
31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “My time has come; the glory of God will soon surround me—and God shall receive great praise because of all that happens to me. 32 And God shall give me his own glory, and this so very soon. 33 Dear, dear children, how brief are these moments before I must go away and leave you! Then, though you search for me, you cannot come to me—just as I told the Jewish leaders.
34 “And so I am giving a new commandment to you now—love each other just as much as I love you. 35 Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
36 Simon Peter said, “Master, where are you going?”
And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now; but you will follow me later.”
37 “But why can’t I come now?” he asked, “for I am ready to die for you.”
38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? No—three times before the cock crows tomorrow morning, you will deny that you even know me!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.