M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
King Joash of Judah(A)
24 Joash[a] was 7 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zibiah from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what Yahweh considered right, as long as the priest Jehoiada lived.
3 Jehoiada got Joash two wives, and Joash had sons and daughters.
4 After this, Joash wanted to renovate Yahweh’s temple. 5 He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go to the cities of Judah, and collect money throughout Israel to repair the temple of your Elohim every year. Do it immediately!” But the Levites didn’t do it immediately.
6 So the king called for the chief priest Jehoiada and asked him, “Why didn’t you require the Levites to bring the contributions from Judah and Jerusalem? Yahweh’s servant Moses and the assembly had required Israel to give contributions for the use of the tent containing the words of God’s promise.” 7 (The sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into Elohim’s temple and used all the holy things of Yahweh’s temple to worship other gods—the Baals.)
8 The king issued an order, and they made a box and placed it outside the gate of Yahweh’s temple. 9 Then they issued a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem that the contributions should be brought to Yahweh. (In the desert Elohim’s servant Moses had required Israel to make contributions.) 10 All the officials and all the people were overjoyed. They brought the money and dropped it into the box until it was full. 11 Whenever the Levites brought the box to the king’s officers and they saw a lot of money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer would empty the box and put it back in its place. They would do this every day, so they collected a lot of money. 12 The king and Jehoiada would give the money to the foremen who were working on Yahweh’s temple, and they hired masons and carpenters to renovate Yahweh’s temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair Yahweh’s temple. 13 As the men worked, the project progressed under the foremen’s guidance. They restored Elohim’s temple to its proper condition and reinforced it.
14 When they finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, who used it to make utensils for Yahweh’s temple. They made dishes and gold and silver utensils for the service and for the offerings. As long as Jehoiada lived, they sacrificed burnt offerings in Yahweh’s temple.
Joash’s Sin Leads to His Assassination(B)
15 When Jehoiada was old and had lived out his years, he died. He was 130 years old when he died. 16 He was buried in the City of David with the kings because of the good he had done in Israel for Elohim and the temple.
17 After he died, the officials of Judah bowed in front of the king with their faces touching the ground. Then the king listened to their advice. 18 They abandoned the temple of Yahweh Elohim of their ancestors and worshiped idols and the poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. This offense of theirs brought Elohim’s anger upon Judah and Jerusalem.
19 Yahweh sent them prophets to bring them back to himself. The prophets warned them, but they wouldn’t listen. 20 The Ruach Elohim gave Zechariah, son of the priest Jehoiada, strength. Zechariah stood in front of the people and said to them, “This is what Elohim says: Why are you breaking Yahweh’s commands? You won’t prosper that way! Yahweh has abandoned you because you have abandoned him.” 21 But they plotted against Zechariah, and by the king’s order they stoned him to death in the courtyard of Yahweh’s temple. 22 King Joash did not remember how kind Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, had been to him. Instead, he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah died, he said, “May Yahweh see this and get revenge!”
23 At the end of the year, the Aramean army attacked Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the people’s leaders. The Arameans sent all the loot they took from Judah and Jerusalem to the king of Damascus. 24 The Aramean army had come with a small number of men, but Yahweh handed Joash’s large army over to them because Joash’s soldiers had abandoned Yahweh Elohim of their ancestors. So the Arameans carried out the Lord’s judgment on Joash. 25 When the Arameans withdrew, they left him suffering from many wounds. His own officials plotted against him for murdering the son of the priest Jehoiada. They killed Joash in his bed. When he died, they buried him in the City of David, but they didn’t bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad, son of an Ammonite woman named Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of a Moabite woman named Shimrith. 27 The record about his sons, the many divine revelations against him, and the rebuilding of Elohim’s temple is in the notes made in the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.
God’s Two Witnesses
11 Then I was given a stick like a measuring stick. I was told, “Stand up and measure the temple of God and the altar. Count those who worship there. 2 But do not measure the temple courtyard. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will allow my two witnesses who wear sackcloth to speak what God has revealed. They will speak for 1,260 days.”
4 These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing in the presence of the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wants to hurt them, fire comes out of the witnesses’ mouths and burns up their enemies. If anyone wants to hurt them, he must be killed the same way. 6 These witnesses have authority to shut the sky in order to keep rain from falling during the time they speak what God has revealed. They have authority to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague as often as they want.
7 When the witnesses finish their testimony, the beast which comes from the bottomless pit will fight them, conquer them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the important city where their Lord was crucified. The spiritual names of that city are Sodom and Egypt. 9 For 3½ days some members of the people, tribes, languages, and nations will look at the witnesses’ dead bodies and will not allow anyone to bury them. 10 Those living on earth will gloat over the witnesses’ death. They will celebrate and send gifts to each other because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.
11 After 3½ days the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who watched them. 12 The witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 At that moment a powerful earthquake struck. One-tenth of the city collapsed, 7,000 people were killed by the earthquake, and the rest were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second catastrophe is over. The third catastrophe will soon be here.
15 When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will rule as king forever and ever.”
16 Then the 24 leaders, who were sitting on their thrones in God’s presence, immediately bowed, worshiped God, 17 and said,
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun ruling as king.
18 “The nations were angry, but your anger has come.
The time has come for the dead to be judged:
to reward your servants, the prophets,
your holy people,
and those who fear your name,
no matter if they are important or unimportant,
and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his promise was seen inside his temple. There was lightning, noise, thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
You Should Have Obeyed the Lord’s Prophets
7 On the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Chislev) in Darius’ fourth year as king, Yahweh spoke his word to Zechariah. 2 Now, the people from Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech with their men[a] to ask Yahweh for a blessing. 3 They asked the priests from the house of Yahweh Tsebaoth as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?”
4 Then Yahweh Tsebaoth spoke his word to me. He said, 5 “Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me? 6 When you ate and drank, didn’t you do it to benefit yourselves? 7 Aren’t these the same words that Yahweh announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?’”
8 Then Yahweh spoke his word to Zechariah. He said, 9 “This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other. 10 Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don’t even think of doing evil to each other.
11 “But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn’t hear. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn’t hear the Lord’s teachings, the words that Yahweh Tsebaoth had sent by his Ruach through the earlier prophets. So Yahweh Tsebaoth became very angry.
13 “When I called, they wouldn’t listen. So now when they call, I won’t listen, says Yahweh Tsebaoth. 14 I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations, nations they hadn’t even heard of. They left behind a land so ruined that no one is able to travel through it. They have turned a pleasant land into a wasteland.”
Jesus, the Good Shepherd
10 “I can guarantee this truth: The person who doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs in somewhere else is a thief or a robber. 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out of the pen. 4 After he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger. Instead, they will run away from a stranger because they don’t recognize his voice.” 6 Yeshua used this illustration as he talked to the people, but they didn’t understand what he meant.
7 Yeshua emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before I did were thieves or robbers. However, the sheep didn’t respond to them. 9 I am the gate. Those who enter the sheep pen through me will be saved. They will go in and out of the sheep pen and find food. 10 A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came so that my sheep will have life and so that they will have everything they need.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away. So the wolf drags the sheep away and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand is concerned about what he’s going to get paid and not about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me.[a] My sheep know me as I know the Father. 15 So I give my life for my sheep. 16 I also have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must lead them. They, too, will respond to my voice. So they will be one flock with one shepherd. 17 The Father loves me because I give my life in order to take it back again. 18 No one takes my life from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do.”
19 The Jews were divided because of what Yeshua said. 20 Many of them said, “He’s possessed by a demon! He’s crazy! Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others said, “No one talks like this if he’s possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?”
The Jews Reject Jesus
22 The Festival of the Dedication of the Temple took place in Jerusalem during the winter. 23 Yeshua was walking on Solomon’s porch in the temple courtyard.
24 The Jews surrounded him. They asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Yeshua answered them, “I’ve told you, but you don’t believe me. The things that I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf. 26 However, you don’t believe because you’re not my sheep. 27 My sheep respond to my voice, and I know who they are. They follow me, 28 and I give them eternal life. They will never be lost, and no one will tear them away from me. 29 My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than everyone else, and no one can tear them away from my Father. 30 The Father and I are one.”
31 The Jews had again brought some rocks to stone Yeshua to death. 32 Yeshua replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good things that come from the Father. For which of these good things do you want to stone me to death?”
33 The Jews answered Yeshua, “We’re going to stone you to death, not for any good things you’ve done, but for dishonoring God. You claim to be God, although you’re only a man.”
34 Yeshua said to them, “Don’t your Scriptures say, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 The Scriptures cannot be discredited. So if God calls people gods (and they are the people to whom he gave the Scriptures), 36 why do you say that I’m dishonoring God because I said, ‘I’m the Son of God’? God set me apart for this holy purpose and has sent me into the world. 37 If I’m not doing the things my Father does, don’t believe me. 38 But if I’m doing those things and you refuse to believe me, then at least believe the things that I’m doing. Then you will know and recognize that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.”
39 The Jews tried to arrest Yeshua again, but he got away from them. 40 He went back across the Jordan River and stayed in the place where John first baptized people.
41 Many people went to Yeshua. They said, “John didn’t perform any miracles, but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 Many people there believed in Yeshua.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.