M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

King Baasha of Israel attacks Judah

16 After Asa had been king of Judah for 36 years, King Baasha of Israel attacked Judah.^[a] He put a group of his soldiers in Ramah and he made it a strong town. As a result, nobody could travel into Judah or out of Judah, where King Asa ruled.^[b]

² Then Asa took all the silver and gold that they had stored in the Lord's temple and in the king's palace. He sent it to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus. ³ He also sent this message to Ben-Hadad: ‘We should make an agreement to be friends, as our fathers did. I am sending you this silver and gold. Please stop being friends with Baasha, king of Israel. If you no longer help him, he will have to take his soldiers out of my country.’

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed to do what King Asa asked him to do. He sent his army with its leaders to attack towns in Israel. They won the battles at Ijon, Dan, Abel-Maim and all the cities of Naphtali's tribe where they stored things. ⁵ When King Baasha heard this news, he stopped the work in Ramah and he went away. ⁶ Then King Asa told all the men in Judah to do some hard work. They had to carry away from Ramah all the big stones and the wood that Baasha had been using there. Then King Asa used those things to make Geba and Mizpah strong towns again.

Hanani warns King Asa

⁷ At that time, the prophet Hanani went to visit Asa, king of Judah. He said to him, ‘You asked the king of Syria to help you. You should have trusted the Lord your God to help you instead. Because of that, the army of Syria's king has escaped from your power. ⁸ The armies of Ethiopia and Libya were very large. They had lots of chariots and soldiers who rode on horses. But you trusted the Lord when they attacked you, and he put them under your power. ⁹ The Lord carefully watches over the whole earth. If people serve him faithfully, he makes them strong. But you have done a foolish thing. As a result, you will now always be fighting wars.’

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the prophet, so he put him in prison. At that time Asa also started to do cruel things to some people.

Asa dies

¹¹ All the things that happened while Asa was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of the kings of Judah and Israel’. ¹² When Asa had been king for 39 years, he had a disease in his feet. He became very ill, but he did not ask the Lord to help him. Instead, he asked doctors to make him better.

¹³ Asa died when he had been king for 41 years. ¹⁴ His people buried him in the grave that he had prepared for himself in the City of David. They put him on a special bed that had spices and different kinds of perfume on it. They burned a large fire to give him honour.

The book and the Lamb

5 Then I looked at the one who was sitting on the throne. I saw that he held a book in his right hand.^[a] Words were written on both sides, the inside and the outside. Seven seals kept the book closed. ² Then I saw a powerful angel. He said with a loud voice, ‘Who is so good that they can break the seals? Who can open the book?’ ³ But nobody in heaven could open the book and look inside it. Neither could anyone on the earth or anyone under the earth open it.^[b]

⁴ I wept much because there was nobody who was good enough. Nobody was so good that they could open the book. Nobody could look inside it. ⁵ Then one of the leaders said to me, ‘Do not weep! Look! There is someone who can break the seven seals and then open the book. His name is the Lion from Judah's tribe. He is called the Root of King David. He has won over all his enemies.’^[c]

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb. He was standing in the middle of the throne. The four beings that are alive and the leaders were around him. The Lamb appeared to be like a lamb that someone had killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes. His eyes are the seven spirits of God, that God has sent into all parts of the world. ⁷ The Lamb came and he took the book. He took it from the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. ⁸ When he had taken the book, the four beings and the 24 leaders fell down to the ground in front of the Lamb. They worshipped him. Each leader had a harp to make music. They were also holding gold bowls which were full of incense. That nice smell shows what it is like when God's people pray to him. ⁹ The beings that are alive and the leaders sang a new song. They sang:

¹¹ Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of many angels. There were thousands and millions of them. They were standing around the throne, with the beings that are alive and the leaders. ¹² They all sang with loud voices:

¹³ Then I heard everything that is alive singing. That was everything in heaven and everything on the earth, and everything under the earth and everything in the sea. They were singing:

¹⁴ The four beings that are alive agreed. They said, ‘Yes, this is true.’ The leaders fell down and they worshipped God and the Lamb.^[d]

Return to the Lord

1 When Darius had been king of Persia for two years, Zechariah the prophet heard a message from the Lord.^[a] It was the eighth month of the year. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah, and Berekiah was the son of Iddo.

² This was the Lord's message:

‘I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. ³ Now I, the Lord Almighty, say this to you: “If you return to me, I will return to you.” ⁴ Do not be like your ancestors. Many years ago the prophets gave them a message from me. The message was, “Stop doing those evil and wicked things.” But they did not listen to me. They did not think that my message was important. ⁵ That was a long time ago. Your ancestors have been dead for a long time. So have the prophets. ⁶ I told my prophets to speak my message and my commands. I punished your ancestors, as I warned them I would do. Then they turned back to me. They said, “The Lord Almighty has punished us for our sins, as he said he would do.” ’

The man on the red horse

⁷ On the 24th day of Shebat, the 11th month of the year, the Lord spoke to Zechariah the prophet. This was when Darius had been king for two years.

⁸ During the night I, Zechariah, had a dream from the Lord. I saw a man on a red horse. The horse was standing among some trees called myrtle trees, in the valley. And behind him were red, brown and white horses.

⁹ I asked him, ‘My lord, what are these horses?’ The angel who talked with me said, ‘I will show you what they are.’

¹⁰ The man who was standing among the trees answered, ‘The Lord has sent these horses to go to all the places on the earth.’

¹¹ And the horses spoke to the angel of the Lord who stood among the trees. They said, ‘We have gone all over the earth. All the earth is without trouble.’

¹² Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you be angry with Jerusalem? How long will you be angry with the cities of Judah? You have already been angry for 70 years.’ ¹³ And the Lord answered the angel with kind words.

¹⁴ The angel said to me, ‘Tell this to the people. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I love Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mine. ¹⁵ I am very angry with the countries that are safe and without danger. Those countries were too cruel to my people, when I was only a little angry with Jerusalem.” ¹⁶ So this is what the Lord says: “I will return to Jerusalem to be kind to the people there. I will build my house again”, says the Lord Almighty, “and I will build the city again.” ’

¹⁷ The angel told me that I must say this: ‘The Lord Almighty says, “My towns will be rich again. I will again speak kind words to Jerusalem. I will choose Jerusalem again as my own city.” ’

Four horns and four workers^[b]

¹⁸ And I looked up and I saw four horns. ¹⁹ And I asked the angel that talked with me, ‘What are these horns?’ Then the angel said to me, ‘These are the strong enemies of my people. They took my people out of Judah, out of Israel and out of Jerusalem.’

²⁰ Then the Lord showed me four workers with hammers. ²¹ I said, ‘What are these men coming to do?’ The Lord answered, ‘The horns are the enemies that destroyed Judah. They destroyed Judah and they made the people ashamed. The workers came to frighten and to destroy the enemies because they killed many of my people. The enemies took many of my people out of Judah.’

Jesus talks to a woman from Samaria

4 The Pharisees heard the news that many people were joining Jesus' group of disciples. They heard that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John was baptizing. ² But really Jesus himself did not baptize anyone. It was only Jesus' disciples who baptized people. ³ Jesus discovered what the Pharisees were thinking, so he left Judea. He returned to Galilee. ⁴ On his way, he had to go through Samaria.

⁵ He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. It was near to the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph, many years earlier. ^6-8 Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired after his journey and he sat down by the well. It was about midday. His disciples had gone to buy food in the town. A woman from Samaria came to the well to get some water. Jesus said to her, ‘Please give a drink to me.’ ⁹ The woman from Samaria said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a woman from Samaria. Why would you ask me to give you a drink?’ (The Jews usually do not talk to people who come from Samaria.)^[a]

¹⁰ Jesus answered the woman, ‘You do not know what God could give to you. I asked you to give a drink to me. But you do not know who I am. If you did know, you would have asked me to give a drink to you. Then I would have given to you water that gives life.’ ¹¹ The woman said, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where can you get this water that gives life? ¹² Jacob, our ancestor, gave this well to us. He, his sons and his sheep, goats and cows all drank its water. Are you saying that you are greater than Jacob?’ ¹³ Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks water from this well will get thirsty again. ¹⁴ But I can give people a different kind of water. Everyone who drinks that kind of water will never get thirsty again. The water that I give them will become like a well inside them. That well will continue to provide water that gives them life for ever with God.’ ¹⁵ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give this water to me. Then I will never get thirsty again. And I will not have to continue to come here so that I can get water.’

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘Go and fetch your husband. Then return here.’ ¹⁷ The woman replied, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say, “I have no husband.” ¹⁸ It is true that you have had five husbands. And now you live with a man who is not your husband. What you have said is completely true.’ ¹⁹ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped God on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the right place to worship.’^[b]

²¹ Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, woman. Soon you will not worship the Father either on this mountain or at Jerusalem. ²² You people from Samaria do not know the one that you worship. But we Jews do know him, because God's salvation comes from among the Jewish people. ²³ But people will soon have a new way to worship the Father. Yes, that time has already come. Those people who really want to worship the Father will worship him in their spirits, in a true way. The Father looks for people who will worship him like that. ²⁴ God is spirit. People who worship him must worship from their spirits in a true way.’

²⁵ The woman said to Jesus, ‘I know that the Messiah will come. He is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ ²⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘I, who am speaking to you, am he.’

The disciples return

²⁷ At this moment, Jesus' disciples returned. They were surprised to see that Jesus was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you talking to her?’ ²⁸ Then the woman left her water pot and she returned to the town. She said to the people there, ²⁹ ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything about myself. He told me all the things that I have ever done! He must be the Messiah!’ ³⁰ So they left the town and they went to find Jesus.

³¹ While that was happening, the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, eat something.’ ³² But he said to them, ‘I have food that I can eat. But you do not know about it.’ ³³ So the disciples asked each other, ‘Could someone have brought food to him?’ ³⁴ Jesus said to them, ‘My Father has sent me. I must do the things he wants me to do. I must finish the work that he has given to me to do. That is my food. ³⁵ You often say, “It is still four more months until the plants in the farmers' fields will be ready for the harvest.” But I say that you should open your eyes. Look at the fields. The plants are ready for the harvest now. ³⁶ The workers are already bringing in the fruit and their master is paying them. As a result, people are receiving life for ever with God. So the person who plants the seeds will be very happy. And the person who brings in the fruit will also be very happy. Both of them will be happy together. ³⁷ You also say, “One person plants the seeds and another person brings in the fruit.” Now you can see that this is true. ³⁸ I have sent you to bring people to me like a harvest of fruit. You did not do the work to prepare that fruit. Other people did that hard work. Now you have brought in the fruit that they worked for. That makes you happy.’

³⁹ Many of the people who lived in that town in Samaria heard the woman's story. She had said to them, ‘He told me all the things that I have ever done!’ Because of this, they believed in Jesus. ⁴⁰ So when these people came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. So he stayed there for two days. ⁴¹ Many more people believed in Jesus when they listened to his own words. ⁴² The people said to the woman, ‘Now we believe in him because we ourselves have heard him. We do not believe only because of what you told us. He really is the man that God has sent to save the world. We know that now.’

Jesus makes an officer's son well

⁴³ After those two days in Samaria, Jesus left there and he went to Galilee. ⁴⁴ Jesus himself had said earlier, ‘When a prophet of God visits his own town, the people there will not accept him.’ ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the people there were happy to see him. They had been in Jerusalem at the Passover festival too. They had seen all the things that Jesus had done there.

⁴⁶ Jesus visited Cana again. This was the town in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. A certain man who was one of the king's officers was there. This officer had a son who was at his home in Capernaum. His son was very ill. ⁴⁷ The officer had heard the news that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea. So he went to Jesus and asked him to go to Capernaum. His son was dying. So he asked Jesus strongly to make his son well again.

⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, ‘You people want me to do great miracles that will surprise you. Unless you see these great miracles, none of you will ever believe my message.’ ⁴⁹ The king's officer said to Jesus, ‘Sir, come with me now before my child dies.’ ⁵⁰ Jesus replied, ‘Go home. Your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said. He started to go home. ⁵¹ While he was on the way, his servants met him. They told him, ‘Your child is now well. He will live.’ ⁵² He asked them, ‘At what time did he start to get well?’ They told him, ‘It was yesterday afternoon, at one o'clock. Then his body was no longer hot.’ ⁵³ Then the father remembered. He knew it was the time when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So the man and all his family believed in Jesus.

⁵⁴ This was the second miracle that Jesus did after he returned from Judea to Galilee.