M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Groups of temple guards

26 These are the groups of guards for the entrances of the temple:^[a]

From Korah's descendants there was Kore's son Meshelemiah, who was a descendant of Asaph.

² Meshelemiah's seven sons were: Zechariah (his firstborn son), then Jediael (his second son), Zebadiah (his third son), Jathniel (his fourth son), ³ Elam (his fifth son), Jehohanan (his sixth son) and Eliehoenai (his seventh son).

⁴ Obed-Edom's sons were: Shemaiah (his firstborn son), Jehozabad (his second son), Joah (his third son), Sachar (his fourth son), Nethanel (his fifth son), ⁵ Ammiel (his sixth son), Issachar (his seventh son) and Peullethai (his eighth son). God blessed Obed-Edom with those eight sons.

^6-7 Obed-Edom's son Shemaiah had four sons. They were called Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad. They were leaders in their clan, because they were brave men. People respected them very much. People also respected their relatives, Elihu and Semakiah.

⁸ There were 62 descendants of Obed-Edom. People respected them, as well as their sons and their relatives. They could all do their work well.

⁹ Meshelemiah had 18 sons and relatives. People respected them as men who could work well.

¹⁰ From Merari's descendants there was Hosah. He had four sons: Shimri was his firstborn son. His father chose him to be the leader among his sons, but he was not the oldest of them. ¹¹ Hilkiah was Hosah's second son, Tebaliah was his third son and Zechariah was his fourth son. 13 men from among Hosah's sons and relatives worked as guards for the temple.

¹² Each group of guards had a leader. Like the other Levites, each group had a job to do as they served the Lord in his temple. ¹³ They used lots to decide which family group would be the guards for each gate of the temple. They chose the jobs for everyone in the same way, important people and ordinary people.

¹⁴ They chose Shelemiah's group to be guards for the East gate. They chose his son Zechariah's group for the North gate. Zechariah was a wise man who gave good advice. ¹⁵ They chose Obed-Edom's group to be guards at the South gate. They chose his sons to be guards for the rooms where they kept valuable things. ¹⁶ They chose Shuppim's group and Hosah's group to be guards at the West gate, as well as the Shalleketh Gate on the higher road.

They chose the times for each group of guards to work each day. ¹⁷ Six Levites watched the east side of the temple. Four men watched the north side and four men watched the south side. Two guards worked together at each room where they kept valuable things. ¹⁸ There were four guards on the road near the yard at the west side of the temple. And there were two guards in the yard.

¹⁹ That was the work of the different groups of guards who were descendants of Korah and Merari.

Other work for the Levites

²⁰ Other Levites kept the valuable things in the temple safe. That included the money and the gifts that people had offered to God.

²¹ One group of these men were descendants of Ladan, who belonged to Gershon's clan. These were the leaders of those families: Jehieli, ²² and his sons, Zetham and Joel (his younger brother). They had authority for the rooms where they kept the money and other valuable things in the Lord's temple.

²³ The other guards for those rooms were descendants of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁴ Shebuel was a descendant of Moses' son Gershom. He was the leader with authority to keep the money safe. ²⁵ His relatives were descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer. They were: Eliezer's son Rehabiah, Rebaiah's son Jeshaiah, Jeshaiah's son Joram, Joram's son Zikri, and Zikri's son Shelomoth. ²⁶ Shelomoth and his relatives had authority for all the holy things that people had offered as gifts to God. King David, the leaders of clans and army officers had given those things to God. ²⁷ When the Israelites won battles, they took valuable things from their enemies. They brought some of those things to the Lord's temple to make it strong. ²⁸ There were also gifts that Samuel the prophet, Kish's son Saul, Ner's son Abner and Zeruiah's son Joab had offered to the Lord. Shelomoth and his relatives had authority to keep safe everything that had been offered to the Lord.

²⁹ There were also descendants of Izhar: Kenaniah and his sons did not work in the temple. Instead they served as judges and officers in different places in Israel.

³⁰ There were descendants of Hebron: Hashabiah and his relatives served as officers on the west side of the Jordan River. There were 1,700 of those men who could work well. They had authority for the work the people did to serve the Lord and the king. ³¹ Jeriah was the leader among Hebron's descendants. The records of their ancestors showed that this was true. When David had been king for 40 years, people read those records carefully. They realized that there were descendants of Hebron who were living at Jazer in Gilead region, and people respected them very much. ³² There were 2,700 men from Jeriah's clan who were good leaders in their families. King David chose them to be officers with authority for the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.^[b] They had authority for all the work that people did to serve the Lord and the king.

The leaders of Israel's army

27 This is a list of the men from Israel's families who served as soldiers in the army. Some were leaders of their families. Some were officers who led 1,000 soldiers or officers who led 100 soldiers. Other men were officers who served the king in different ways. Each month of the year, a group of 24,000 men served the king as soldiers.

² Zabdiel's son Jashobeam was the leader of the first group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the first month of each year. ³ Jashobeam was a descendant of Perez. He was leader of all the army officers for the first month.

⁴ Dodai was the leader of the second group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the second month. Dodai belonged to Ahoah's clan. Mikloth was the leader who helped him.

⁵ Benaiah was the leader of the third group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the third month. Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the priest. ⁶ Benaiah was the leader of the 30 great soldiers and his whole group. His son was Ammizabad.

⁷ Asahel was the leader of the fourth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the fourth month. Asahel was Joab's brother. His son Zebadiah was the leader of the group after him.

⁸ Shamhuth, from Izrah's clan, was the leader of the fifth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the fifth month.

⁹ Ira was the leader of the sixth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the sixth month. Ira was the son of Ikkesh from Tekoa.

¹⁰ Helez was the leader of the seventh group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the seventh month. He belonged to Pelon's clan, in the tribe of Ephraim.

¹¹ Sibbecai was the leader of the eighth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the eighth month. Sibbecai was a descendant of Zerah, who came from Hushah.

¹² Abiezer was the leader of the ninth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the ninth month. Abiezer came from Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin.

¹³ Maharai was the leader of the tenth group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the tenth month. Maharai was a descendant of Zerah, who came from Netophah.

¹⁴ Benaiah was the leader of the 11th group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the 11th month. Benaiah came from Pirathon, in the tribe of Ephraim.

¹⁵ Heldai was the leader of the 12th group of 24,000 soldiers. They worked in the 12th month. He was a descendant of Othniel, who came from Netophah.

Officers with authority over Israel's tribes

¹⁶ This is a list of the officers who had authority over Israel's tribes:

Those were the officers who led the tribes of Israel.

²³ The Lord had promised to make Israel a nation with as many people as there are stars in the sky. So King David did not count the men who were less than 20 years old. ²⁴ Zeruiah's son Joab had begun to count the men. He did not finish counting them because the Lord started to punish Israel. So nobody wrote the number in the history book about King David's life.

Other officers who served the king

²⁵ Adiel's son Azmaveth had authority over the places in the palace where the king stored his valuable things.

Uzziah's son Jonathan had authority over the places in the different regions of Israel where the king stored his things. Those places were in towns, in villages and in strong towers.

²⁶ Kelub's son Ezri had authority over the men who worked in the king's fields.

²⁷ Shimei from Ramah had authority over the men who worked in the king's vineyards.

Zabdi from Shepham had authority over the men who stored wine in the vineyards.

²⁸ Baal-Hanan from Geder had authority over the trees in the low hills in the west. They were olive trees and fig trees.

Joash had authority over the places where they stored the olive oil.

²⁹ Shitrai from Sharon had authority to take care of the king's cows that were in Sharon.

Adlai's son Shaphat had authority to take care of the king's cows that were in the valleys.

³⁰ Obil, a descendant of Ishmael, had authority for the king's camels.

Jehdeiah from Meronoth had authority for the donkeys.

³¹ Jaziz, a descendant of Hagar, had authority to take care of the king's sheep and goats.

These were the officers who had authority to take care of King David's things.

³² David's uncle, Jonathan, was a wise man who gave good advice. He wrote down records.

Hakmoni's son Jehiel taught the king's sons.

³³ Ahithophel was the king's advisor, and Hushai, from Arki, was also the king's friend. ³⁴ After Ahithophel died, Benaiah's son Jehoiada became the king's advisor. After him, Abiathar became his advisor.

Joab was the captain who led the king's army.

God has given to us everything that we need to be his people

1 This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ's servant and his apostle.

I am writing to you people who believe in Jesus Christ, as we do. That is a valuable gift that God has given to us all. He has done this because Jesus is completely good and right. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the God that we serve.

² I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more. You will grow as believers because you know God and you know Jesus, our Lord.

³ God is very powerful because he is God. He has used that power to help us. He has given us everything that we need to live in a good way. We can do things that make God happy. This is possible because now we know him. God has chosen us to be his people because he is very great and very good. ⁴ Because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things for us. As a result, you can do what is right, like God does. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. Those bad things make them become worse and worse. But God gives you the power to be free from all that.

⁵ God has done all this to help you. So now that you believe in Christ, you must grow as believers. Try very much to do always what is good. Then you should grow to know God more and more. ⁶ Then you should learn to control yourselves properly. That is not all. You should also learn to be patient and brave. And you should live in a way that pleases God. ⁷ You should not only please God, but you should be kind to other believers. You should not only love other believers, but you must also love all people.

⁸ You should continue to grow as believers in all these ways. Then it will show that you really know our Lord Jesus Christ. People will see that your life has good results. ⁹ But some people do not live in these good ways. They do not think that these things are important. They are like blind people. They cannot really see anything properly. They have forgotten that God has made them clean from all the sins that they did in past times.

¹⁰ So, my friends, try very much to live in a way that pleases God. God has chosen you to be his own people. Show that you really do belong to him! If you do these things, you will never turn away from God. ¹¹ Then God will bring you safely into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that continues for ever. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and God will be happy to welcome you into his kingdom.

¹² You already know these things. You know that they are completely true. But because they are important, I will continue to tell you about them again and again. ¹³ While I am still alive on this earth I will continue to make sure that you remember them. I think that it is right for me to do that. ¹⁴ I know that I will die soon. Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that clearly. ¹⁵ After I am no longer with you, I want you still to remember what I have told you. So I will make sure that you have something to help you not to forget.

Peter himself saw how great Christ is

¹⁶ We told you that our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful. We also told you that he will return to earth again. We were not telling you false stories that came from people's clever ideas. Instead, we were telling you what we ourselves had seen. We ourselves saw that the Lord Jesus is very great. ^17-18 We were with him on the holy mountain when his Father God spoke to him.^[a] God gave honour to his Son, Jesus, and he said that Jesus is great. We ourselves heard God's voice speak to Jesus from heaven above where God rules with power. He said: ‘This is my Son and I love him. He makes me very happy.’

God's messages in the Bible are very important

¹⁹ As well as that, we have the prophets' messages from long ago. They also show us very clearly that these things are true. The prophets' words are like a light that shines in a dark place. That light continues to shine in the dark until the dawn comes. So you need to think about those messages carefully. Then the morning star will rise and it will bring light deep inside you.^{[b] 20} It is very important that you should understand this: The prophets' messages in the Bible did not come from their own ideas. That never happens. ²¹ None of the prophets' messages came because any person wanted to say something. Instead, God's Holy Spirit caused people to speak words that came from God.^[c]

God's mountain

God will make Israel and Jerusalem strong again

⁶ The Lord speaks again:

Stop doing wrong things or die

13 At that time, some people were with Jesus. They told him what happened to some people from Galilee. They had been burning animals as a gift for God. Pilate sent some soldiers to kill them.^[a]

² Jesus replied, ‘Think about those people from Galilee. Perhaps you think that they had done more bad things than other people from Galilee. Do you think that is why they had to die? ³ No! But I tell you this. All of you have done many bad things. So you must change how you live and you must turn to God. If you do not, you will also die as they did.

⁴ And you remember what happened to those 18 people in Siloam. A high building fell down and it killed them. Perhaps you think that they had done more bad things than the other people in Jerusalem. ⁵ But I tell you, no, they had not. All of you have also done many bad things. So you must change how you live and you must turn to God. If you do not, you will also die as they did.’

A story about a fig tree

⁶ Then Jesus told this story. ‘A man had a garden where he grew fruit. He had planted a fig tree there. But when he came to look for fruit on it, he could not find any. ⁷ So he said to his gardener, “Look, for three years, I have come to look for fruit on this tree. But I have never found any. So cut the tree down! I do not think that it should be here. It is wasting the ground.”

⁸ “Master,” the gardener replied, “please leave the tree in the ground for one more year. Let me dig round it and let me put some good soil there.^{[b] 9} If I do that, next year, the fig tree may have some fruit on it. If it does not, I will cut it down for you.” ’^[c]

Jesus makes a sick woman well again

¹⁰ One day, Jesus was teaching in a Jewish meeting place. It was the Jewish day of rest.

¹¹ There was a woman there that had a bad spirit inside her. It had lived in her for 18 years and it had made her ill. Her back was bent. She could not stand up straight. ¹² Jesus saw her and he called her to come to him. He said, ‘Woman, you are now better from your illness.’ ¹³ He put his hands on her and immediately she could stand up straight. She praised God.

¹⁴ But the leader of the meeting place was angry because Jesus had made a sick person well on their day of rest. He said to the people there, ‘There are six days each week when we should work. Come on any of those days and get well. But you should not come on our day of rest to get well.’

¹⁵ ‘You are wrong,’ the Lord Jesus said to him. ‘You teach one thing but you do something different yourselves. On the day of rest you will undo the rope on your ox or your donkey and take it outside. You then give it water to drink. Is that not true?^{[d] 16} Now look at this woman. She belongs to the family of Abraham. But a bad spirit from the Devil has made her ill for 18 years. It is like he has tied her up. So it must be right to make her free on our day of rest.’

¹⁷ These words made the leaders of the meeting place feel ashamed. But the other people there were very happy. They were happy because they had seen Jesus do many good and powerful things.

Jesus tells stories about seeds and yeast

¹⁸ Then Jesus said to them, ‘I will tell you a story about the kingdom of God and what it is like. ¹⁹ It is like a very small seed of the plant called mustard. A man took this seed and he planted it in his garden. The seed grew and it became a tree. It was so big that birds came and made their nests among its branches.’

²⁰ Jesus then said, ‘Here is another example of what the kingdom of God is like. ²¹ It is like how yeast works. A woman took some of it and she mixed it into three large bowls of flour. Then the yeast went through all the flour so that it grew big.’

A story about a narrow door

²² Jesus was continuing his journey towards Jerusalem. On the way, he went through towns and villages. In each one, he taught the people. ²³ One day, somebody asked him, ‘Sir, will God only save a small number of people?’

²⁴ Jesus said to the people there, ‘Do your best to go in through the narrow door. I tell you that many people will want to get in there. But they will not be able to go through it. ²⁵ Soon the master of the house will get up and he will shut the door. And then you may still be standing outside the door. You will knock and you will say, “Master, please open the door for us to come in.”

But the master will reply, “I do not know you. I do not know where you come from.” ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, “But Master, we had meals with you. You taught us in the streets of our villages.”

²⁷ But he will tell you, “No! I really do not know you. I do not know where you come from. You have done very bad things, so go away from me, all of you!”

²⁸ Then you will weep very much because you are standing outside. You will bite your teeth together.^[e] You will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the place where God rules. You will also see all God's prophets there. But God will shut you outside. ²⁹ At that time, people will come from everywhere in the world, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They will all come to take their place in the kingdom of God. There they will sit down together to eat a great meal. ³⁰ Listen! At that time, some people that are not important now will become the most important. And some people that are now the most important will not be important then.’

³¹ At that moment, some Pharisees came to Jesus. ‘Go away from here,’ they said to him. ‘Go somewhere else, because Herod wants to kill you.’

³² ‘Herod is a bad man,’ Jesus replied. ‘Tell him this: “I am still causing bad spirits to come out of people. I am still making sick people well again. I will continue to do all these things for some more days. On the third day I will have finished my work.” ³³ Anyway, I need to continue my journey for some more days. If they want to kill a prophet from God, it has to happen in Jerusalem.

³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed God's prophets. And they have thrown stones to kill other people that God has sent to you. Many times, I have wanted to bring all of your people near to me. A female bird covers her babies with her body to make them safe. But you would not let me keep you from danger like that. ³⁵ So listen! Your place will now become like a wilderness where nobody lives.^[f] I tell you this. You will not see me again until the day when you say, “May the Lord God bless the man who comes with his authority!” ’