M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 21
1 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the City of David. Jehoram, his son, succeeded him as king.(A) 2 He had brothers, Jehoshaphat’s sons: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. 3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold, and precious objects, together with fortified cities in Judah, but the kingship he gave to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
Jehoram’s Evil Deeds. 4 When Jehoram had acceded to his father’s kingdom and was firmly in power, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel. 5 (B)Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, since the daughter of Ahab[a] was his wife; and he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. 7 Even so, the Lord was unwilling to destroy the house of David because of the covenant he had made with David and because of his promise to leave him and his sons a holding for all time.(C)
8 (D)During his time Edom revolted against the rule of Judah and installed its own king. 9 Thereupon Jehoram with his officers and all his chariots crossed over. He arose by night and broke through the Edomites when they had surrounded him and the commanders of his chariots. 10 To this day Edom has been in revolt against the rule of Judah. Libnah also revolted at that time against his rule because he had abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors. 11 He also set up high places in the mountains of Judah, prostituting the inhabitants of Jerusalem, leading Judah astray.
Jehoram Punished. 12 A letter came to him from Elijah[b] the prophet with this message: “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: Because you have not walked in the way of your father Jehoshaphat, nor of Asa, king of Judah, 13 but instead have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, leading Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into prostitution, like the harlotries of the house of Ahab, and because you have killed your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than you, 14 the Lord will strike your people, your children, your wives, and all that is yours with a great plague. 15 You shall have severe pains from a disease in your bowels, which will fall out because of the disease, day after day.”
16 Then the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the animosity of the Philistines and of the Arabians who were neighbors of the Ethiopians. 17 They came up against Judah, breached it, and carried away all the wealth found in the king’s house, along with his sons and his wives. He was left with only one son, Jehoahaz, his youngest. 18 After these events, the Lord afflicted him with a disease of the bowels for which there was no cure. 19 Some time later, after a period of two years had elapsed, his bowels fell out because of the disease and he died in great pain. His people did not make a fire for him as they had for his ancestors.(E) 20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed unloved; and they buried him in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.(F)
Chapter 9
The Fifth Trumpet.[a] 1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star[b] that had fallen from the sky to the earth. It was given the key for the passage to the abyss. 2 It opened the passage to the abyss,(A) and smoke came up out of the passage like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the passage.(B) 3 Locusts came out of the smoke onto the land, and they were given the same power as scorpions[c] of the earth.(C) 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torment them for five months;[d] the torment they inflicted was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 During that time these people will seek death but will not find it, and they will long to die but death will escape them.(D)
7 [e]The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,(E) 8 and they had hair like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth,(F) 9 and they had chests like iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots racing into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, with stingers; with their tails they had power to harm people for five months. 11 They had as their king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon[f] and in Greek Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed, but there are two more to come.
The Sixth Trumpet.[g] 13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the [four][h] horns of the gold altar before God,(G) 14 telling the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels[i] who are bound at the banks of the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels were released, who were prepared for this hour, day, month, and year to kill a third of the human race. 16 The number of cavalry troops was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17 Now in my vision this is how I saw the horses and their riders. They wore red, blue, and yellow breastplates,[j] and the horses’ heads were like heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.(H) 18 By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths a third of the human race was killed. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes, with heads that inflict harm.
20 The rest of the human race, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands,[k] to give up the worship of demons and idols made from gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.(I) 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic potions, their unchastity, or their robberies.
Chapter 5
Fifth Vision: The Flying Scroll. 1 Then I raised my eyes again and saw a flying scroll. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”[a](A) 3 Then he said to me: “This is the curse which is to go forth over the whole land. According to it, every thief and every perjurer[b] will be expelled. 4 I will send it forth—oracle of the Lord of hosts—so that it will come to the house of the thief, and into the house of the one who swears falsely by my name.(B) It shall lodge within each house, consuming it, timber and stones.”
Sixth Vision: The Basket of Wickedness. 5 Then the angel who spoke with me came forward and said to me, “Raise your eyes and look. What is this that comes forth?” 6 I said, “What is it?” And he answered, “This is the basket[c] that is coming.” And he said, “This is their guilt in all the land.” 7 Then a leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.[d] 8 He said, “This is Wickedness,” and he thrust her inside the basket, pushing the leaden weight into the opening.
9 Then I raised my eyes and saw two women coming forth with wind under their wings[e]—they had wings like the wings of a stork—and they lifted the basket into the air. 10 I said to the angel who spoke with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He replied, “To build a temple for it in the land of Shinar.[f] When the temple is constructed, they will set it there on its base.”
Chapter 8
A Woman Caught in Adultery.[a] [53 Then each went to his own house, 1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.[b](A) 2 But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. 4 They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.[c] So what do you say?”(B) 6 They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.[d] 7 [e]But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them,(C) “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. 10 Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”(D) 11 She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”](E)
The Light of the World.[f] 12 Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”(F) 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified.” 14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified,[g] because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.(G) 15 You judge by appearances,[h] but I do not judge anyone.(H) 16 And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid, because I am not alone, but it is I and the Father who sent me.(I) 17 Even in your law[i] it is written that the testimony of two men can be verified.(J) 18 I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.”(K) 19 So they said to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”(L) 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the treasury in the temple area. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.(M)
Jesus, the Father’s Ambassador.[j] 21 He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin.[k] Where I am going you cannot come.”(N) 22 [l]So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.(O) 24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM,[m] you will die in your sins.”(P) 25 [n]So they said to him, “Who are you?”(Q) Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.”(R) 27 They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. 28 So Jesus said [to them], “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.(S) 29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30 Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Jesus and Abraham.[o] 31 Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him,[p] “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(T) 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.[q] How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”(U) 34 Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.(V) 35 A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son[r] always remains.(W) 36 So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. 38 [s]I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”
39 [t]They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them,(X) “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. 40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. 41 You are doing the works of your father!” [So] they said to him, “We are not illegitimate. We have one Father, God.”(Y) 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.(Z) 43 Why do you not understand what I am saying? Because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.(AA) 45 But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Can any of you charge me with sin? If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me?(AB) 47 Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not listen, because you do not belong to God.”(AC)
48 The Jews answered and said to him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan[u] and are possessed?” 49 Jesus answered, “I am not possessed; I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the one who judges.(AD) 51 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”(AE) 52 [So] the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham,[v] who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?”(AF) 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word.(AG) 56 Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it[w] and was glad.(AH) 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”[x] 58 [y]Jesus said to them,(AI) “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.(AJ)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.