M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

After the Passover

31 The Passover festival finished. Then the Israelites who were there went to all the towns in Judah. They knocked down the stone pillars that people worshipped. They also cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed all the altars and places for worship on the hills. They did that everywhere in Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. After they finished, all the Israelites returned to their homes in their own towns.

Hezekiah helps his people to worship the Lord

² Hezekiah put the priests and the Levites into several groups. Each group had special work to do. Their different jobs were to offer burnt offerings and friendship offerings, and to serve God in other ways. Some of them would thank the Lord and sing songs to praise him at the gates of his temple.

³ The king gave some of his own animals for burnt offerings. The priests offered these sacrifices in the way that the law of the Lord taught. They offered burnt offerings each morning and each evening. They also offered them on Sabbath days, on the days of New Moon festivals and on other special days. ⁴ King Hezekiah told the people who lived in Jerusalem to bring their offerings too. They must provide the proper gifts for the priests and the Levites. Then they would serve the Lord in the way that his law taught them to do.

⁵ As soon as the Israelite people received Hezekiah's message, they brought their gifts to the temple. They brought the first part of their grain, wine, olive oil, honey and all the crops that grew in their fields. They brought one tenth part of all the food that they grew, so there was a lot of it.^{[a] 6} The Israelites and the people of Judah who lived in other towns also brought gifts. They brought one animal from every ten of all their cows, sheep and goats. They also brought one thing from every ten things that they had made holy for the Lord their God. They put these things together in many heaps. ⁷ They started to bring their things in the third month of the year and they finished in the seventh month. ⁸ Hezekiah and his officers went to the temple and they saw all the things. Then they praised the Lord and they asked him to bless his people, the Israelites.

⁹ Hezekiah asked the priests and the Levites about the heaps of gifts from the people. ¹⁰ The leader of the priests, Azariah from Zadok's clan, said, ‘The people have brought a lot of gifts to the Lord's temple. Since they started to do that, we have had enough food to eat. There has been a lot more food than we need. The Lord has blessed his people, so we still have all this extra food.’

¹¹ Hezekiah told them that they must prepare some rooms in the temple to store the things. When they had done that, ¹² they put in there the gifts, the tithes and the holy things. A Levite called Konaniah had to take care of all these things. His brother Shimei helped him. ¹³ Konaniah and Shimei had authority over these people: Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah. King Hezekiah chose all these men to do this work. Azariah was the priest who had authority over the temple.

¹⁴ Imnah's son Kore, a Levite, was the guard who watched the East Gate of the temple. He received the gifts that people offered to the Lord. He had authority to share among the priests and the Levites the gifts that people brought and the holy things. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah helped him. They lived in the towns where the priests lived. They faithfully shared the people's gifts among the other Levites and priests, group by group. They included everyone, young and old. ¹⁶ They gave gifts to all those who were in the lists of men who could serve God in the temple. They had to be three years old or older.^[b] Those men would go into the temple on the right days for their group. They would do the work that their group had to do on those days. ¹⁷ The lists of the priests showed the clans that they belonged to. The list of the Levites showed which group they belonged to. Those who were 20 years old or older had to do the work that was given to their group. ¹⁸ The young children, wives, sons and daughters of all the men in the lists also received gifts. That was because the men faithfully kept themselves clean to serve God in their work.

¹⁹ Some of the priests and Levites lived on the land around the cities that belonged to them. So the king's officers chose honest men to take the gifts to them. They gave them their proper share of the gifts. The priests had to be Aaron's descendants, and the Levites' names had to be on the list of Levite families.

²⁰ Those are the things that King Hezekiah did everywhere in Judah. He did what was good and right to please the Lord his God. ²¹ He served God faithfully with all his strength. He helped the work in the temple and he obeyed God's law and his commands. So he was successful in the things that he did.

The great prostitute

17 One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to me. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I will show you how God will punish the great prostitute.^[a] She sits at a place where there are many rivers.^{[b] 2} It is like the kings who rule on the earth have had sex with that bad woman. She has led the people who live on the earth to do bad things. They have become drunk from the strong wine that she has given to them.’^[c]

³ Again, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a wilderness. There I saw a woman who was sitting on a wild animal that was bright red. All over this wild animal, names were written that insulted God. The animal had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was wearing clothes that were made from expensive cloth. She also wore bright things that made her look beautiful. She shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand. The cup was full of the bad and disgusting things that she had caused people to do. ⁵ A name was written on the front of her head. Only God knows what it means. It was:

Powerful Babylon.

Mother of all prostitutes.

Mother of all the disgusting things on the earth.

⁶ I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised. ⁷ Then the angel asked me, ‘Why are you surprised? I will explain the secret of the woman to you. I will tell you the secret of the wild animal that she rides. The wild animal that you saw has seven heads and ten horns. ⁸ This animal was once alive, but it is not alive now. Soon it will come up out of the deep hole again but then God will destroy it completely.^[d] All these things will surprise many people who live on the earth. Those are the people whose names are not written in God's book of life from the beginning of the world. They will be surprised to see the animal that was alive at one time. It is not alive now, but it will soon appear again.

⁹ If you are wise, think carefully about this. The animal's seven heads are a picture of seven hills in the place where the woman sits.^{[e] 10} They are also a picture of seven kings. Five of these kings have already stopped ruling. Another king is ruling now. The last king has not yet come. When he does come, he must rule only for a short time. ¹¹ The wild animal is a picture of an eighth king. He was alive once, but he is not alive now. He belongs to the group of seven kings, but God will destroy him completely.

¹² The ten horns that you saw are a picture of ten more kings.^[f] They have not yet begun to rule anywhere. But they will receive authority to rule as kings for one hour. They will rule people together with the wild animal. ¹³ They all have the same purpose. They will give their power to the wild animal. They will give him authority to rule people. ¹⁴ Together they will fight a war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will win against them. He is the Lord above all lords. He is the King who rules over all kings. And God's people will be with him. They are the people that the Lamb has chosen to belong to him. They are the people who have continued to trust him.’

¹⁵ Then the angel said to me, ‘You saw the many rivers where the prostitute sits. Those rivers are a picture of people from many nations. They are crowds of people from different countries who speak many different languages. ¹⁶ The wild animal and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. Those rulers will destroy her. They will remove all her clothes. They will eat the meat on her body. Then they will burn her with fire.^{[g] 17} They will decide to do that because God has given them those thoughts. So, they will do what he wants. They will give to the wild animal their authority to rule as king. The animal will continue to rule until everything happens that God has said will happen. ¹⁸ The bad woman that you saw is a picture of the great city. That city has power over all the kings who rule on the earth.’

² The Lord Almighty says, ‘On that day, I will remove the names of false gods from the country. Everyone will forget them. I will remove all the false prophets. And I will remove the bad spirit that is not holy.

³ And if anyone appears as a prophet again, his father and his mother will say to him, “You must die. You do not speak true words. The Lord has not spoken to you.” Then they will kill him.

⁴ On that day, every prophet will be ashamed that he was ever a prophet. He will not put on the clothes of a prophet that they make from hair. Then people will not know that he is a prophet.

⁵ He will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a farmer. From the time that I was a boy, I have worked on the land.”

⁶ If someone asks him, “Who cut your body?” he will answer, “My friends cut me when I was at their house.” ’

Kill the shepherd and the sheep will run away

⁷ ‘Attack my shepherd with a sharp knife.

Attack the man that is next to me,’

says the Lord Almighty.

⁸ In the whole country,’ says the Lord,

⁹ I will bring these people through fire.

As men clean silver in the fire, so I will clean them.

As men test gold in the fire, so I will test them.

16 Jesus then said, ‘I have told you all these things, so that you will not turn away from God. ² People will send you away from their meeting places. There will be a time when people will want to kill you. When they do this, they will even think that they are doing what God wants. ³ They will do these things to you because they have never known either the Father or me. ⁴ But I have told you this so that you will remember. When they begin to do these things, you will remember that I told you about them already.’

The work of God's Spirit

‘I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I will go to the Father who sent me. But none of you asks me, “Where will you go?” ⁶ And now you are very sad, because I have told you these things. ⁷ But what I tell you is true. It will be better for you if I go away. Because, if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will show the people of this world what they are like. He will show clearly that they are wrong. They are wrong about what sin really is. They are wrong about who is right with God. They are wrong about how God judges people. ⁹ They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me. ¹⁰ They are wrong about who is right with God, because I will go to the Father. Then you will not see me again. ¹¹ They are wrong about how God judges people, because God has already judged Satan, the ruler of this world.

¹² I have many more things to tell you. But you are not strong enough to know them now. ¹³ But the Spirit will come. He is the one who shows people true things about God. When he comes, he will be a guide to you. He will help you to understand everything that is true. He will not speak on his own authority. He will tell you only what he hears from the Father. He will tell you about things that will happen after this time. ¹⁴ He will take my message and he will tell it to you. In that way, he will give me honour. ¹⁵ Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, “The Spirit will take what is mine and then he will tell it to you.” ’

The disciples will be sad first but after that they will be happy

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘After a short time, you will not see me any more. But soon after that, you will see me again.’ ¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to each other, ‘What does he mean? He says, “After a short time, you will not see me any more, but soon after that you will see me.” He also says, “It is because I go to the Father.” ¹⁸ What does he mean when he says, “a short time”? We do not know what he is talking about!’

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this. So he said to them, ‘I said, “After a short time, you will not see me. But soon after that, you will see me again.” Perhaps you are asking each other about that. ²⁰ I tell you this: You will be sad and you will cry. But the people who belong to this world will be happy. Yes, you will be sad. But soon after that, you will become happy instead. ²¹ It will be like this. When a woman is soon to give birth to a baby, she is sad. She knows that it will be painful. But after the baby is born, she is happy. She forgets her pain, because now she is so happy. She is happy because her child has been born into the world. ²² It is like that for you. You are sad now. But I will see you again, and then you will be happy. You will be really happy. Nobody will be able to take away your joy.

²³ When that day arrives, you will not ask me for anything. I tell you this: The Father will help you with anything that you ask him for in my name. ²⁴ Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask God, and you will receive what you ask for. Then you will be completely happy.

²⁵ I have spoken to you with words and stories that are like pictures. But there will be a time when I will not speak like that any more. Instead, I will speak clearly to you about the Father. ²⁶ When that day arrives, you yourselves will ask the Father in my name.^[a] I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ I will not need to do that, because the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you love me, and you have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ Yes, I came from the Father, and I came into this world. Now I will leave this world and I will return to the Father.’

²⁹ Jesus' disciples said to him, ‘Now you are speaking clearly. You are not speaking with words that are like pictures! ³⁰ Now we are sure that you know everything. You do not even need to ask people what they are thinking. Because of this, we believe that you came from God.’ ³¹ Jesus answered them, ‘You say that you believe in me now. ³² But it will happen very soon that all of you will run away to your own homes. Yes, that time has already arrived. You will run away and leave me alone. But I will not really be alone, because the Father is always with me. ³³ I have told you these things so that you will have peace. You will be like that because you live together with me. In this world, you will have trouble. But be brave! I have destroyed the power of this world.’