M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehoshaphat rules Judah as king

17 Asa's son Jehoshaphat became the next king of Judah. He made his kingdom strong to fight against Israel. ² He put soldiers in all Judah's cities that had walls around them and in other places in Judah. He also put soldiers in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken power over.

³ Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord as his ancestor David had done when he first ruled as king. So the Lord was with him to help him. Jehoshaphat did not worship the idols of Baal. ⁴ Instead, he served the God that his father had served. He obeyed the Lord's commands. He did not do the wrong things that Israel's people did. ⁵ The Lord gave Jehoshaphat power over the kingdom of Judah. All Judah's people brought gifts to him. So Jehoshaphat became rich and people respected him. ⁶ He served the Lord with all his strength. He removed from Judah the altars on the hills and the Asherah poles.

⁷ In the third year that Jehoshaphat ruled Judah as king, he sent his officers to teach people in all Judah's towns. The names of those officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. ⁸ He sent these Levites to go with them: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests, Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ These men travelled everywhere in Judah to teach people. They took with them the book which was a copy of the Lord's law. They used it to teach people in all Judah's towns.

Jehoshaphat becomes very strong as king

¹⁰ The people in all the kingdoms around Judah were afraid of the Lord's power. So they did not want to fight a war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some Philistines brought silver and other gifts to Jehoshaphat to make him happy. People from Arabia also brought gifts to him. They brought 7,700 male sheep and 7,700 male goats.

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built strong buildings and places to store things everywhere in Judah. ¹³ He kept lots of things in Judah's towns. He had a big army of strong, brave soldiers in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ These are the groups of the soldiers in each clan:

From Judah's tribe, the officer who led the soldiers was Adnah. He had authority over 300,000 soldiers, in groups of 1,000.

¹⁵ The next officer was Jehohanan. He had authority over 280,000 soldiers.

¹⁶ After him, the next officer was Zikri's son, Amasiah. He himself chose to serve the Lord in this way. He had authority over 200,000 soldiers.

¹⁷ From Benjamin's tribe, the officer who led the soldiers was Eliada, a brave soldier. He had authority over 200,000 soldiers who had bows and arrows, as well as shields.

¹⁸ After him, the next officer was Jehozabad. He had authority over 180,000 soldiers who had their weapons ready to fight.

¹⁹ All these men served as the king's soldiers in Jerusalem. He also had soldiers that he put in Judah's other strong cities.

The Lamb opens the seals

6 Then I watched while the Lamb opened one of the seven seals on the book. I heard one of the four beings say, ‘Come!’ It spoke very loudly with a voice like thunder. ² I looked, and I saw a white horse. The person who was riding the horse held a bow. Someone gave him a crown. He had fought against many people and he had won. Now he rode out on his horse to win against many more people.

³ Then the Lamb opened the second seal. I heard another of the beings say, ‘Come!’ ⁴ Then another horse came out. This horse was bright red, like fire. The person who was riding the horse had authority. He could take peace away from the earth, so that people killed each other. Someone gave him a large sword.

⁵ Then the Lamb opened the third seal. I heard the next being say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and I saw a black horse. The person who was riding the horse held something in his hand. He used it to weigh things. ⁶ Then I heard a sound like somebody speaking among the four beings. The voice said, ‘A litre of wheat is worth one day's work. And three litres of barley is also worth one day's work. But do not destroy the olive oil and the wine.’^[a]

⁷ Then the Lamb opened the fourth seal. I heard the last being say, ‘Come!’ ⁸ I looked, and I saw a grey horse.^[b] The name of the person who was riding the horse was Death. The place for dead people, called Hades, was following near to him. They had authority to kill people in a quarter of the earth. They could kill people in different ways. They could kill them in wars. They could cause people to die because there was no food. They could cause people to become very ill so that they died. They could also cause wild animals to kill people.

⁹ Then the Lamb opened the fifth seal. I saw an altar where people offered gifts to God. I saw the souls of some of God's people under the altar. These people had died because they had believed God's message. They had continued to speak the true message about Jesus Christ. That is why people had killed them. ¹⁰ These believers called out loudly, ‘Lord, you have all authority. You are completely good. You always do what is right. When will you decide to judge the people who live on the earth? Do not wait! You should quickly punish the people who killed us!’

¹¹ Then each believer received white clothes. God told them to wait for a short time more. They must wait until other believers on earth also died. These believers are also servants of God. God will wait until people kill those believers too. Then the number of them will be complete.

¹² I watched again. I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal. Then the ground shook with a great earthquake. The sun became black like thick black cloth. The whole moon became red like blood. ¹³ The stars in the sky fell to the earth. They fell like fruits fall from a tree when a strong wind blows. ¹⁴ The sky divided into two parts. It rolled up like a piece of paper. Every mountain and every island moved away from its place.

¹⁵ Then everyone on the earth hid themselves. They went to the mountains and they hid among the rocks and in holes in the rocks. Everyone tried to hide, even the kings and the rulers. The soldiers' leaders, the rich people and other powerful people all went to hide. Everyone hid, whether they were slaves or free people. ¹⁶ They shouted to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and cover us. Hide us, so that the one who sits on the throne cannot see us. Also hide us from the Lamb who is very angry with us. ¹⁷ Their great day has come. They will punish us because they are so angry. Nobody will be able to escape.’

The vision about Jerusalem that God gave to Zechariah

2 Then I looked up and I saw a man in front of me. He had a line in his hand. The line was to measure something. ² I asked the man, ‘Where are you going?’ He said to me, ‘I am going to measure Jerusalem. I want to see how wide and how long it is.’ ³ The angel that talked with me went away. Another angel came to meet him. ⁴ The second angel said to the first angel, ‘Run to that young man with the line in his hand. Say that Jerusalem will be a city without walls. This is because of the many people and many animals that will live in it. ⁵ The Lord himself promises that he will be like a wall of fire round Jerusalem. He will shine as a beautiful light inside the city.’

The Lord will be among his people

⁶ ‘Come! Come! Run away from the country in the north,’ says the Lord. ‘As the four winds blow in different directions, I sent you to many far countries.

⁷ Come, my people. Run away from Babylon and return to Jerusalem.’ ⁸ Return because the Lord says, ‘Anyone that attacks you is attacking the Lord's people. He is attacking the people that the Lord loves.’ So the Lord Almighty sent me, Zechariah, with this message about the countries that have robbed his people. ⁹ ‘The Lord himself will fight against your enemies and their own slaves will rob them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me, Zechariah, to you.’

¹⁰ ‘Sing and be happy, you people in Jerusalem. This is because I will come. And I will live among you,’ says the Lord. ¹¹ ‘On that day, the people from many countries will come to me, the Lord, and they will become my people. I will live among you. You will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. ¹² The Lord will choose Judah for himself again. Jerusalem will be the city that he loves most of all cities. ¹³ Be quiet, all people, because the Lord has left his home in heaven to come among you.’

Jesus makes a man able to walk

5 Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.

² There is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. Its name in the Jewish language is Bethesda. Round the pool, there is a building with five places that have a roof over them. ³ A large number of sick people were lying in these places. Some of them were blind. Some of them could not walk properly. Some of them could not move their legs or their arms. [^[a] They were waiting for when the water started to move. ⁴ An angel would go down into the pool at certain times and move the water about. When that happened, all the sick people tried to get into the pool. The first person who got into the water became well, whatever his illness was.]

⁵ One man who was lying there had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw this man. He knew that the man had been ill like this for a very long time. So he asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ⁷ The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’ ⁸ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ ⁹ The man became well immediately. He picked up his mat and he walked.

The day when this happened was a Jewish day of rest.^{[b] 10} Because of this, the Jewish leaders spoke to the man that Jesus had made well. They said to him, ‘You must not carry your mat on our day of rest. You are not obeying the rules.’ ¹¹ The man replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Pick up your mat and walk.” ’ ¹² So they asked him, ‘Who is this man? Who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ ¹³ The man did not know who had made him well. Jesus had gone away and joined the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Some time after that, Jesus found the man in the temple. Jesus said to him, ‘See, you have become well. Stop doing wrong things. If you do not stop, something worse may happen to you.’ ¹⁵ Then the man went to the Jewish leaders. He told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ The Jewish leaders were angry because Jesus had made a man well on their day of rest.^[c] As a result, they began to cause a lot of trouble for Jesus. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is still working, and I too must work.’ ¹⁸ Because Jesus said this, the Jewish leaders became really angry. They wanted even more to kill him. Jesus not only worked on the day of rest. He was also calling God his own Father, so he was making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you this: The Son can do nothing by himself. He sees what the Father does, and he can do only those same things. What the Father does, the Son also does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son. He shows the Son all the things that he himself does. And the Father will show the Son even greater things to do than these. Those greater things will surprise you even more than what you have already seen. ²¹ The Father raises dead people to make them alive again. In the same way, the Son gives life to whoever he chooses. ²² More than that, the Father does not judge anyone. He has given authority to the Son, so that the Son will judge all people. ²³ Then all people will respect the Son as a great person. They will respect him in the way that they respect the Father. The Father sent the Son. So if people refuse to respect the Son, it shows that they do not respect the Father either.

²⁴ I tell you this: Everyone who hears my message should believe in the Father who sent me. If they believe in me, they will have life for ever with God. God will not say that they are guilty. They are no longer under the power of death. Instead, they have life with God.

²⁵ I tell you this: A time will soon come when those who are dead in their spirits will hear the voice of the Son of God. Yes, it is that time already. Those people who hear that message will receive true life. ²⁶ The Father himself can give people life. In the same way, he has given authority to the Son to give people life. ²⁷ The Father has also given authority to the Son to judge people. That is because I am the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be surprised by this. There will be a time when all the dead people will hear the Son's voice. ²⁹ They will come out from under the ground. Those people who have done good things will rise from death and they will live with God. Those people who have done evil things will also rise from death. But they will rise so that God can punish them as guilty people.’

The Father shows who Jesus really is

³⁰ Then Jesus said, ‘I can do nothing by myself. I hear what the Father says to me. Then, because of what he says, I judge people. So I judge in a way that is fair. I am not trying to do what I want for myself. The Father sent me, and I want to do what he wants. ³¹ If I say great things about myself, nobody would know that my words are true. ³² But there is someone else who speaks about me. I know that what he says about me is true. ³³ You have sent your people to ask John about me. What he has told you about me is true. ³⁴ I do not need any man to speak on my behalf. But I am telling you this to help you. Then God will be able to save you. ³⁵ John was like a light that shone brightly. For a certain time, you enjoyed the light that he gave.

³⁶ But it is not only John who shows who I am. There are other things that show it more strongly. My Father has given work to me so that I could finish it. These are the things that I do, and they show who I am. They show clearly that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ Also, the Father himself has spoken about me. You have never heard his voice. And you have never seen his shape. ³⁸ I am the one that he has sent. You do not receive his message because you do not believe in me. ³⁹ You study carefully what the Bible teaches. You think that those books will give you life with God. And it is true, those books do speak about who I am. ⁴⁰ But then you refuse to come to me so that you may have life with God!

⁴¹ I do not think that it is important for people to praise me. ⁴² But I know what kind of people you are. I know that you do not really love God. ⁴³ I have come with my Father's authority, but you do not accept me. But if someone else comes with his own authority, then you will accept him. ⁴⁴ You like to praise each other. That makes you happy. But what about God himself? You do not try to do good things so that he will praise you. That is why you will never believe in me.

⁴⁵ But I will not have to tell the Father that you are guilty. No, it is Moses who will do that. You think that Moses is the one who will show that you are right. But he is the one who will show that you are guilty. ⁴⁶ Moses wrote about me. So, if you had really believed Moses, you would believe me. ⁴⁷ But you do not believe what Moses wrote.^[d] So you will never believe what I say.’