M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah to keep anyone from going to or coming from King Asa of Judah.
2 Then Asa brought out all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of Yahweh’s temple and the royal palace. He sent them to Damascus to Aram’s King Benhadad. 3 He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me as there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”
4 Benhadad did what King Asa requested. He sent his generals and their armies to attack the cities of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities in the territory of Naphtali. 5 When Baasha heard the news, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned his work on it.
6 Then King Asa took everyone in Judah to Ramah. He made them carry the stones and lumber from Ramah. Baasha had been using those to fortify the city. Asa used the materials to fortify Geba in Benjamin and Mizpah.
7 At that time the seer[a] Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you depended on the king of Syria and did not depend on Yahweh your Elohim, the army of the king of Aram has escaped your grasp. 8 Weren’t the Sudanese and Libyans a large army with many chariots and drivers? But when you depended on Yahweh, he handed them over to you. 9 Yahweh’s eyes scan the whole world to find those whose hearts are committed to him and to strengthen them. You acted foolishly in this matter. So from now on, you will have to fight wars.”
10 Asa was furious at the seer. He was so angry with Hanani that he put Hanani in prison. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time in his reign.
11 Everything about Asa from first to last is written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa got a foot disease that became progressively worse. Instead of asking Yahweh for help, he went to doctors.
13 Asa lay down in death with his ancestors. He died in the forty-first year of his reign. 14 They buried him in the tomb that he had prepared for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bed full of spices and blended perfumes. And they burned a bonfire in his honor.
The Lamb Takes the Scroll That Has Seven Seals
5 I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne. It had writing both on the inside and on the outside. It was sealed with seven seals. 2 I saw a powerful angel calling out in a loud voice, “Who deserves to open the scroll and break the seals on it?” 3 No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth could open the scroll or look inside it. 4 I cried bitterly because no one was found who deserved to open the scroll or look inside it.
5 Then one of the leaders said to me, “Stop crying! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory. He can open the scroll and the seven seals on it.”
6 I saw a lamb standing in the center near the throne with the four living creatures and the leaders. The lamb looked like he had been slaughtered. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent all over the world. 7 He took the scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne.
8 When the lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 leaders bowed in front of him. Each held a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, the prayers of God’s holy people. 9 Then they sang a new song,
“You deserve to take the scroll and open the seals on it,
because you were slaughtered.
You bought people with your blood to be God’s own.
They are from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
10 You made them a kingdom and priests for our God.
They will rule as kings on the earth.”
11 Then I heard the voices of many angels, the four living creatures, and the leaders surrounding the throne. They numbered ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands times thousands. 12 In a loud voice they were singing,
“The lamb who was slain deserves to receive
power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise.”
13 I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and on the sea. Every creature in those places was singing,
“To the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb
be praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever.”
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen!” Then the leaders bowed and worshiped.
Turn from Your Evil Ways
1 In the eighth month of Darius’ second year as king, Yahweh spoke his word to the prophet Zechariah, who was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. He said, 2 “Yahweh was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Tell the people, ‘This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: Return to me, declares Yahweh Tsebaoth, and I will return to you, says Yahweh Tsebaoth.’ 4 Don’t be like your ancestors, who heard the earlier prophets preach to them, ‘This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ But they didn’t listen or pay attention to me, declares Yahweh. 5 Your ancestors—where are they now? And the prophets—are they still alive? 6 Didn’t my warnings and my laws, which I’ve commanded my servants the prophets to preach, finally catch up with your ancestors? Then your ancestors turned away from their sins and said, ‘Yahweh Tsebaoth has done to us what he had planned to do. He has dealt with us as our ways and deeds deserve.’”
The Lord Will Comfort Zion
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat) in Darius’ second year as king, Yahweh spoke his word to the prophet Zechariah, who was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo.
8 During that night I saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, chestnut, and white horses.
9 “What do these horses mean, sir?” I asked.
The angel who was speaking with me answered, “I will show you what they mean.”
10 The man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They’re the horses Yahweh has sent to patrol the earth.” 11 Then they reported to the Messenger of Yahweh standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth. The whole world is at rest and in peace.”
12 Then the Messenger of Yahweh said, “Yahweh Tseboath, how much longer until you show compassion to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? You’ve been angry with them for 70 years.” 13 Yahweh responded to the angel who was speaking with me, using kind and comforting words.
14 The angel who was speaking with me said, “Announce: This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: I’m very jealous about Jerusalem and Zion, 15 and I’m very angry with the nations who think they are at ease. I was only a little angry, but they made things worse. 16 This is what Yahweh says: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt in it, declares Yahweh Tsebaoth. A measuring line will be used to rebuild Jerusalem.
17 “Announce again: This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: My cities will overflow with prosperity once more. Yahweh will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.”[a]
Punishment for the Nations That Scattered Judah
18 I looked up and saw four animal horns. 19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What do these horns mean?”
He said to me, “These are the horns of the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, “What are they going to do?”
He answered, “Those horns scattered Judah so widely that no one could lift up his head. But the craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations. The nations raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah.”
A Samaritan Woman Meets Jesus at a Well
4 Yeshua knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. 2 (Actually, Yeshua was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) 3 So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4 Yeshua had to go through Samaria. 5 He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Well was there. Yeshua sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o’clock in the evening.
7 A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)
9 The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)
10 Yeshua replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? 12 You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.”
13 Yeshua answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”
15 The woman told Yeshua, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.”
16 Yeshua told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
Yeshua told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. 18 You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.”
19 The woman said to Yeshua, “I see that you’re a prophet! 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Yeshua told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. 24 God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything.” (Messiah is the one called Christ.)
26 Yeshua told her, “I am he, and I am speaking to you now.”
27 At that time his disciples returned. They were surprised that he was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you talking to her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back into the city. She told the people, 29 “Come with me, and meet a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” 30 The people left the city and went to meet Yeshua.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, have something to eat.”
32 Yeshua told them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him something to eat?”
34 Yeshua told them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do and to finish the work he has given me.
35 “Don’t you say, ‘In four more months the harvest will be here’? I’m telling you to look and see that the fields are ready to be harvested. 36 The person who harvests the crop is already getting paid. He is gathering grain for eternal life. So the person who plants the grain and the person who harvests it are happy together. 37 In this respect the saying is true: ‘One person plants, and another person harvests.’ 38 I have sent you to harvest a crop you have not worked for. Other people have done the hard work, and you have followed them in their work.”
39 Many Samaritans in that city believed in Yeshua because of the woman who said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans went to Yeshua, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed in Samaria for two days. 41 Many more Samaritans believed because of what Yeshua said. 42 They told the woman, “Our faith is no longer based on what you’ve said. We have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the savior of the world.”
A Believing Official(A)
43 After spending two days in Samaria, Yeshua left for Galilee. 44 Yeshua had said that a prophet is not honored in his own country. 45 But when Yeshua arrived in Galilee, the people of Galilee welcomed him. They had seen everything he had done at the festival in Jerusalem, since they, too, had attended the festival.
46 Yeshua returned to the city of Cana in Galilee, where he had changed water into wine. A government official was in Cana. His son was sick in Capernaum. 47 The official heard that Yeshua had returned from Judea to Galilee. So he went to Yeshua and asked him to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son who was about to die.
48 Yeshua told the official, “If people don’t see miracles and amazing things, they won’t believe.”
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come with me before my little boy dies.”
50 Yeshua told him, “Go home. Your son will live.” The man believed what Yeshua told him and left.
51 While the official was on his way to Capernaum, his servants met him and told him that his boy was alive. 52 The official asked them at what time his son got better. His servants told him, “The fever left him yesterday evening at seven o’clock.” 53 Then the boy’s father realized that it was the same time that Yeshua had told him, “Your son will live.” So the official and his entire family became believers.
54 This was the second miracle that Yeshua performed after he had come back from Judea to Galilee.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.