M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elisha helps the woman from Shunem

8 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had made alive again, ‘Go away from here.^[a] The Lord says that there will be a famine in this country for seven years. So you and your family should go to live somewhere else during that time.’ ² The woman had done what the man of God had told her to do. She and her family went to live in the country of the Philistines for seven years. ³ After seven years, she came back from there. She went to the king to ask for her house and her land.^[b]

⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king said to Gehazi, ‘Tell me about all the great things that Elisha has done.’ ⁵ So Gehazi was telling the king that Elisha had made dead people alive again. While Gehazi was saying this, the woman from Shunem came in to ask the king for her house and her fields. It was her son that Elisha had made alive again. Gehazi said, ‘My master the king, this is the woman! And this is her son that Elisha made alive again!’

⁶ The king asked the woman about it. She told him what had happened. Then the king commanded one of his officers to take care of her. The king said to him, ‘This woman must receive back everything that belongs to her. She must also receive the value of all the crops that have grown in her fields since the day that she went away.’

King Ben-Hadad dies

⁷ Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was ill in Damascus. Elisha went to Damascus at that time. Somebody told the king, ‘The man of God has come to the city.’ ⁸ The king said to Hazael, ‘Take a gift with you to go and meet the man of God. Ask him to get a message from the Lord. Ask him, “Will I get well again after this disease?” ’

⁹ So Hazael went to meet Elisha. He took a gift with him. There were 40 camels that carried many kinds of valuable things that came from Damascus. He arrived at Elisha's house and he stood in front of him. Hazael said, ‘Your servant, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, has sent me to you. He asks, “Will I get well again after this disease?” ’

¹⁰ Elisha answered, ‘Go back to the king. Tell him, “Certainly, you will get well again.” But the Lord has shown me that the king will surely die.’ ¹¹ Then Elisha looked at him with open eyes until Hazael became ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep. ¹² So Hazael asked him, ‘Why are you weeping, my master?’ Elisha replied, ‘Because I know that you will cause great trouble for Israel's people. You will destroy their strong cities with fire. You will fight their young men and you will kill them. You will knock down their children to kill them. You will cut open their pregnant women.’

¹³ Hazael said, ‘I am only an ordinary man, sir. I am not more important than a dog! How could I ever do great things like that?’ Elisha answered, ‘The Lord has shown me that you will become the king of Syria.’

¹⁴ Then Hazael left Elisha. He returned to his master, the king. King Ben-Hadad asked him, ‘What did Elisha say to you?’ Hazael replied, ‘He told me that you will surely get well again.’

¹⁵ The next day, Hazael took a thick cloth. He used water to make it wet. Then he put it over the king's face so that he could not breathe. So King Ben-Hadad died. Hazael became king of Syria after him.

Jehoram becomes the king of Judah

¹⁶ When Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for five years, Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram started to rule Judah as king.^{[c] 17} He was 32 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eight years. ¹⁸ He lived in the same bad way that the kings of Israel did. He did what the family of Ahab had done. He married a daughter of King Ahab and he became as wicked as King Ahab's family was. He did things that the Lord said were evil. ¹⁹ But the Lord did not want to destroy the nation of Judah, because of his promise to his servant, David. The Lord had promised that King David would always have descendants who would rule the nation.

²⁰ While Jehoram was king, Edom's people turned against Judah. They would no longer accept the king of Judah's authority over them. They decided to have their own king. ²¹ So King Jehoram travelled to Zair with all his chariots.^[d] The Edomite army came and they were all around him. But that night, Jehoram and his officers attacked the Edomites and they escaped. The Israelite army ran away to go back home. ²² Even today, Edom's people do not obey the rulers of Judah. The people of Libnah city also turned against Judah at the same time.

²³ The other things that happened while Jehoram was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about all the things that Jehoram did. ²⁴ Jehoram died and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Ahaziah became king after him.

Ahaziah becomes the king of Judah

²⁵ When Ahab's son Joram had been king of Israel for 12 years, Jehoram's son Ahaziah started to rule Judah as king. ²⁶ Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.^{[e] 27} Ahaziah lived in the same bad way that Ahab's family had done. He did things that the Lord said were evil, as Ahab's family had done. That was because he had married a woman from Ahab's family.

²⁸ King Ahaziah went with Ahab's son, King Joram of Israel, to fight against Hazael, the king of Syria. They fought a battle at Ramoth Gilead. The Syrian army won the fight and they hurt King Joram. ²⁹ King Joram returned to Jezreel, so that his wounds could get better after the battle. While he was there, King Ahaziah went to visit him, because of his wounds.

How to help people in the church

5 Do not speak strongly to an older man and tell him what he must do. Instead, ask him in a kind way, as you would speak to your father. Speak to younger men as you would speak to your brothers. ² Speak to older women as you would speak to your mother. Speak to younger women as you would speak to your sisters. Always respect them properly.

Widows

³ Respect those widows in the church who are really alone. ⁴ If a widow has children or grandchildren, then they should take care of her. The children must help their parents or grandparents because they belong to the same family. Their parents helped them, so they need to give them something in return. The children need to learn that important lesson. It is what God's message teaches them to do and it makes God happy. ⁵ Some widows are really alone and they have nobody to take care of them. A widow like that trusts God that he will help her. As a result, she prays a lot, at night and during the day, and she asks God to help her. ⁶ But some widows only want to enjoy themselves. For a widow like that, her spirit is already dead, even while she is still alive.

⁷ Teach everyone clearly to do these things. Then nobody can say that the believers are doing anything wrong. ⁸ Every believer must take care of his own family. Certainly, he must do that for the people who live with him in his home. If anyone does not do that, it shows that he has refused God's true message. That person is worse than someone who does not believe in Christ.

⁹ If you want to put a widow's name on the list of widows, this is what she must be like. She must be more than 60 years old. She must have been the wife of one husband. ¹⁰ People should know that she has done good things. For example, she must have been a good mother to her children. She must have received visitors into her home. She must have helped God's people as their servant. She must have taken care of people who had problems. She must have continued to do all kinds of good things like that.

¹¹ But do not put the names of younger widows on the list. They may decide to marry again, because they strongly want to have sex. Then they will no longer choose to serve Christ. ¹² As a result, they will stop doing what they had earlier promised to do for the church. That will make them guilty.^[a]

¹³ Young widows may learn to be lazy. They may go around from house to house. Not only do they become lazy, but they talk too much about silly things. They talk wrongly about other people and what they are doing. They say things that they ought not to say. ¹⁴ So I think that widows who are still young women should marry again. Then they can have children and they can take care of their own homes. If they live well like that, the enemy of God's people will not have a chance to say bad things against us. ¹⁵ Some of the younger widows have already turned away from Christ, so that they can obey Satan.

¹⁶ A woman who believes in Christ should take care of any widows in her own family. Then the church will not have to do that work. Instead, the church will be able to help those widows who are really alone.

Leaders in the church

¹⁷ Everyone should respect leaders of the believers who lead the church well.^[b] The church should also pay them properly for their work. That is certainly true for leaders who teach God's people and speak God's message to them. ¹⁸ The Bible says: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of a bull while it walks on your wheat seeds.’^[c] The Bible also says: ‘You must pay a worker what his work is worth.’

¹⁹ Somebody may tell you that a leader of the believers has done something wrong. But do not accept that as true, unless two or three people say the same thing. ²⁰ If a leader is really guilty and continues to do wrong things, you must warn him. Do that when everyone in the church is there. They will hear what you say, and they will be afraid to do wrong things themselves.

²¹ I say this to you very strongly: Obey what I am telling you to do. Remember that God himself and Christ Jesus, together with their special angels, are all watching what you do. Do not quickly decide if someone has done right or wrong. Be fair and judge everyone in the same way. ²² Do not hurry to put your hands on anyone to choose him as a leader of the church. Perhaps that man has done something wrong. Then people might think that you agree with his sins. You yourself must always be careful to do what is right and good.

²³ I know that you often become ill. So do not drink only water, but drink a little wine. This will help your stomach to keep well.

²⁴ Some people do wrong things that everyone can see clearly. When someone judges those people, everyone already knows that they are guilty. So everybody already knows that it is right to punish those people. But for other people, nobody knows about their sins until later. ²⁵ It is the same with the good things that people do. Many good things are clear for everyone to see. And even the good things that people do secretly will not remain a secret for ever.

This world will come to an end

12 Then the angel said to me, ‘At that time God's great angel Michael will come. He is the leader who takes care of your people. There will be a time of great trouble. It will be worse than any trouble that has happened since God first made your nation. But many of your own people will escape from that trouble. Those are all the people whose names are written in the book.^{[a] 2} Many dead people who lie under the ground will become alive again. Some of them will receive life that continues for ever with God. But other people will receive shame that continues for ever. ³ People who are wise will shine like the bright sky. Those who help many people to do what is right will also shine brightly for ever. They will shine like the stars in the sky at night.

⁴ Daniel, you must now close this message. Put seals on the book so that nobody can open it until it is time for the end of this world. Many people will try to understand about these things. They will travel everywhere to get more knowledge.’^[b]

⁵ After the angel said this, I, Daniel, looked up. I saw two other people. One of them stood on the same side of the river as me. The other one stood on the other side of the river. ⁶ One of them spoke to the man who wore linen clothes and who now stood above the river. He asked that man, ‘How long will it be until these wonderful things finish?’ ⁷ The man who wore linen clothes lifted up both his hands towards the sky. I heard him make a strong promise with the authority of God, who lives for ever. He said, ‘It will continue for three and a half times.^[c] Then the enemies of God's holy people will finally lose their power. That will be the end of all these events.’

⁸ I heard the man's words, but I did not understand. So I said, ‘Sir, how will all these things finally finish?’ ⁹ He said to me, ‘You must go now, Daniel. This message will remain secret until it is time for the end of this world. The seals will keep the book closed. ¹⁰ The time of trouble will cause many people to become clean and pure. But wicked people will continue to do evil things. No wicked people will understand what God is doing. But wise people will understand.

¹¹ People will suffer for 1,290 days during that time of trouble. It will start from the time when people can no longer offer their sacrifices each day in the temple. That is when the enemy will put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the holy place.^{[d] 12} But God will bless all those people who remain faithful until the 1,335 days come to an end.

¹³ You yourself must serve God faithfully until the end of your life. You will die. But at the end of time you will rise to live again. Then you will receive the good things that God has prepared for you.’

ZAYIN

HETH

TETH