M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat became the new king after him. Jehoshaphat made Judah strong so that they could fight against Israel. ² He put groups of soldiers in all the towns of Judah that were made into fortresses. He built fortresses in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because in his young life he did the good things his ancestor David did. Jehoshaphat did not follow the Baal idols. ⁴ He looked for the God his ancestors followed. He followed God’s commands and did not live the same way the Israelites lived. ⁵ The Lord made Jehoshaphat a strong king over Judah. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. So he had much wealth and honor. ⁶ His heart found pleasure in the ways of the Lord. He removed the high places and the Asherah poles from the country of Judah.

⁷ During the third year of Jehoshaphat’s rule,^[a] he sent his leaders to teach in the towns of Judah. These leaders were Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. ⁸ Jehoshaphat also sent Levites with these leaders. These Levites were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, and Tobijah. He also sent the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ These leaders, Levites, and priests taught the people in Judah. They had the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went through all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

¹⁰ The nations near Judah were afraid of the Lord, so they did not start a war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. They also brought silver to him because they knew he was a very powerful king. Some Arabian people brought flocks to Jehoshaphat. They brought 7700 rams and 7700 goats to him.

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built fortresses and storage towns in the country of Judah. ¹³ He kept many supplies in the storage towns. And Jehoshaphat kept trained soldiers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ These soldiers were listed in their tribes. This is the list of these soldiers in Jerusalem:

¹⁹ All these soldiers served King Jehoshaphat. The king also had other men in the fortresses in all the country of Judah.

The Lamb Opens the Scroll

6 Then I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living beings speak with a voice like thunder. It said, “Come!” ² I looked, and there before me was a white horse. The rider on the horse held a bow and was given a crown. He rode out to defeat the enemy and win the victory.

³ The Lamb opened the second seal. Then I heard the second living being say, “Come!” ⁴ Then another horse came out, a red one. The rider on the horse was given power to take away peace from the earth so that people would kill each other. He was given a big sword.

⁵ The Lamb opened the third seal. Then I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse. The rider on the horse held a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Then I heard something that sounded like a voice. The voice came from where the four living beings were. It said, “A quart^[a] of wheat or three quarts of barley will cost a full day’s pay. But don’t harm the supply of olive oil and wine!”

⁷ The Lamb opened the fourth seal. Then I heard the voice of the fourth living being say, “Come!” ⁸ I looked, and there before me was a pale-colored horse. The rider on the horse was death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth—power to kill people with the sword, by starving, by disease, and with the wild animals of the earth.

⁹ The Lamb opened the fifth seal. Then I saw some souls under the altar. They were the souls of those who had been killed because they were faithful to God’s message and to the truth they had received. ¹⁰ These souls shouted in a loud voice, “Holy and true Lord, how long until you judge the people of the earth and punish them for killing us?” ¹¹ Then each one of them was given a white robe. They were told to wait a short time longer. There were still some of their brothers and sisters in the service of Christ who must be killed as they were. These souls were told to wait until all the killing was finished.

¹² Then I watched while the Lamb opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake, and the sun became as black as sackcloth.^[b] The full moon became red like blood. ¹³ The stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its figs when the wind blows. ¹⁴ The sky was split in the middle and both sides rolled up like a scroll. And every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹⁵ Then all the people—the kings of the world, the rulers, the army commanders, the rich people, the powerful people, every slave, and every free person—hid themselves in caves and behind the rocks on the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us. Hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne. Hide us from the anger of the Lamb! ¹⁷ The great day for their anger has come. No one can stand against it.”

Measuring Jerusalem

2 Then I looked up and saw a man holding a rope for measuring things. ² I asked him, “Where are you going?”

He said to me, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”

³ Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel went out to talk to him. ⁴ He said to him, “Run and tell that young man this:

God Calls His People Home

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish festival. ² In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In Aramaic it is called Bethzatha.^[a] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. ³ Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some of them were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed.^{[b] 4 [c] 5} One of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So he asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

⁷ The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the water when it starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”

⁸ Then Jesus said, “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and started walking.

The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. ¹⁰ So some Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”

¹¹ But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”

¹³ But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people there, and Jesus had left.

¹⁴ Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple and said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”

¹⁵ Then the man left and went back to the Jews who questioned him. He told them that Jesus was the one who made him well.

¹⁶ Jesus was doing all this on the Sabbath day. So these Jews began trying to make him stop. ¹⁷ But he said to them, “My Father never stops working, and so I work too.”

¹⁸ This made them even more determined to kill him. They thought it was bad enough that he was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. And now he was saying that God is his Father, making himself equal with God!

Jesus Has God’s Authority

¹⁹ But Jesus answered, “I assure you that the Son can do nothing alone. He does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does the same things that the Father does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. This man was healed. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. ²¹ The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to.

²² “Also, the Father judges no one. He has given the Son power to do all the judging. ²³ God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same as they respect the Father. Anyone who does not respect the Son does not respect the Father. He is the one who sent the Son.

²⁴ “I assure you, anyone who hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged guilty. They have already left death and have entered into life. ²⁵ Believe me, an important time is coming. That time is already here. People who are dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. ²⁶ Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has also allowed the Son to give life. ²⁷ And the Father has given him the power to judge all people because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸ “Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all people who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. ²⁹ Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good in this life will rise and have eternal life. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.

³⁰ “I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told. And my judgment is right, because I am not trying to please myself. I want only to please the one who sent me.

Jesus Says More to the Jewish Leaders

³¹ “If I tell people about myself, they cannot be sure that what I say is true. ³² But there is someone else who tells people about me, and I know that what he says about me is true.

³³ “You sent men to John, and he told you what is true. ³⁴ I don’t need anyone to tell people about me, but I remind you of what John said so that you can be saved. ³⁵ John was like a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were happy to enjoy his light for a while.

³⁶ “But I have a proof about myself that is greater than anything John said. The things I do are my proof. These are what my Father gave me to do. They show that the Father sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has given proof about me himself. But you have never heard his voice. You have never seen what he looks like. ³⁸ The Father’s teaching does not live in you, because you don’t believe in the one the Father sent. ³⁹ You carefully study the Scriptures. You think that they give you eternal life. These same Scriptures tell about me! ⁴⁰ But you refuse to come to me to have that life.

⁴¹ “I don’t want praise from you or any other human. ⁴² But I know you—I know that you have no love for God. ⁴³ I have come from my Father and speak for him, but you don’t accept me. But when other people come speaking only for themselves, you accept them. ⁴⁴ You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe? ⁴⁵ Don’t think that I will be the one to stand before the Father and accuse you. Moses is the one to accuse you. And he is the one you hoped would save you. ⁴⁶ If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But you don’t believe what he wrote, so you can’t believe what I say.”