M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Passover is Observed Again(A)
35 Josiah observed the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed priests to their offices, encouraging them in their service at the Lord’s Temple. 3 He addressed the descendants of Levi who were teaching all Israel and who had consecrated themselves to the Lord, telling them:
“Put the holy ark in the Temple that Solomon, the son of Israel’s King David, built. It will no longer be a burden on their shoulders. Now go serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by divisions according to your ancestral households, keeping to what King David of Israel and his son Solomon wrote about this.[a] 5 In addition to this, take your place in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the ancestral households of your relatives consistent with the division of the descendants of Levi by their ancestral households. 6 Now slaughter the Passover, consecrate yourselves, and prepare your relatives to obey the command from[b] the Lord given by Moses.”
7 Josiah contributed 30,000 animals from the flocks of lambs and young goats, giving Passover offerings to all of the people who were present, plus an additional 3,000 bulls from the king’s private possessions. 8 His officers contributed a voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the descendants of Levi. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials who supervised God’s Temple, gave 2,600 animals from their flocks to the priests for Passover offerings, along with 300 bulls. 9 Also, Conaniah, and his relatives Shemaiah, and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the officers in charge of the descendants of Levi, contributed 5,000 animals from the flocks to the descendants of Levi for the Passover offerings, along with 500 bulls. 10 As a result, the Passover service was prepared, the priests took their assigned places, and the descendants of Levi stood in their divisions as the king had commanded.
11 They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests poured out the blood that they had received from the lambs[c] while the descendants of Levi flayed the sacrifices. 12 They set aside in reserve the burnt offerings, so they could distribute them in proportion to the divisions of their ancestral households for presentation by the people to the Lord, as is required by the book of Moses. They did this with respect to the bulls, also. 13 They roasted the Passover in fire, as required by the ordinances, and boiled the holy things in pots, kettles, and pans, and delivered them quickly to all the people. 14 After this, because the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, were busy offering the burnt offerings and fat portions until evening, the descendants of Levi prepared the Passover for themselves and their fellow-descendants of Aaron, the priests. 15 The singers, as descendants of Asaph, remained at their stations as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king’s seer Jeduthun required, and the gatekeepers did not have to leave their posts because their descendant of Levi relatives prepared the Passover for them.
16 That’s how the Lord’s service was prepared that day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the Lord’s altar according to what King Josiah had commanded. 17 The Israelis who were present celebrated the Passover that day, as well as the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 There had not been a Passover celebration like it in Israel since Samuel the prophet was alive, nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated a Passover like Josiah did at that time[d] with the priests, the descendants of Levi, everyone from Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 This Passover celebration was observed during the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
Pharaoh Neco and Josiah’s Death(B)
20 Some time after all of this, after Josiah had finished preparing the Temple, King Neco of Egypt invaded Carchemish on the Euphrates River,[e] and Josiah went out to fight him. 21 But he sent messengers to him, who asked him, “What do we have in common, King of Judah? I am not here today opposing you. I am fighting the dynasty that is fighting me, and God has ordered me to hurry. For your own good, stop interfering with God, who is with me, and he won’t destroy you!”
22 But Josiah wouldn’t turn around. In fact, he put on a disguise so he could fight Neco.[f] He wouldn’t listen to what God told him through what Neco had to say, and as a result, Josiah came to attack Neco[g] on the Megiddo plain. 23 Some archers shot King Josiah, and the king told his servants, “Take me away, because I’m badly wounded.” 24 So his servants removed him from the chariot he was in and carried him away in a backup chariot that he had and took him back to Jerusalem, where he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All of Judah and Jerusalem went into mourning for Josiah.
25 Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers recite that lamentation about Josiah to this day. In fact, they made singing it an ordinance in Israel, and they are recorded in the Lamentations.[h] 26 Now the rest of the accomplishments of Josiah, including his faithful acts of devotion as required in the Law of the Lord, 27 and his other[i] activities from first to last, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
The Vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and the sea was gone. 2 I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say,
“See, the tent of God is among humans!
He will make his home with them,
and they will be his people.
God himself will be with them,
and he will be their God.[a]
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There won’t be death anymore.
There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain,
because the first things have disappeared.”
5 The one sitting on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new!”
He said, “Write this: ‘These words are trustworthy and true.’”
6 Then he told me, “It has happened! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give a drink from the spring of the water of life to the one who is thirsty. 7 The person who overcomes[b] will inherit these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves[c] in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
The Vision of the New Jerusalem
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.” 10 He carried me away in the Spirit to a large, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. 11 The glory of God was its radiance, and its light was like a valuable gem, like jasper, as clear as crystal. 12 It had a large, high wall with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them.
15 The angel who[d] was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 16 The city was cubic in shape: its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with his rod, and it measured at 12,000 stadia:[e]Its length, width, and height were the same. 17 He also measured its wall. According to the human measurement that the angel was using, it was 144 cubits.[f] 18 Its wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
19 The foundations of the city wall were decorated with all kinds of gems: The first foundation[g] was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian,[h] the seventh chrysolite,[i] the eighth beryl,[j] the ninth topaz,[k] the tenth chrysoprase,[l] the eleventh jacinth[m] and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. 23 The city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because the glory of God gave it light, and the lamb was its lamp. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut at the end of the[n] day—because there will be no night there. 26 People[o] will bring the glory and wealth[p] of the nations into it. 27 Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names[q] are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.[r]
The Coming of the Messenger
3 “Watch out! I’m sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the Lord you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
2 But who will survive the day when he comes? Or who can stand when he appears? Because he’s like a refiner’s fire and a launderer’s soap, 3 he will sit refining and purifying silver, purifying the descendants of Levi, refining them like gold and silver. Then they’ll bring a righteous offering to the Lord. 4 Then the offering to the Lord by Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable as it was in the past, even as in former years.
The Judgment of God
5 “I’ll come near to you for judgment. I’ll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud[a] the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don’t fear me,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. 6 “Because I the Lord don’t change; therefore you children of Jacob aren’t destroyed.”
God’s Sixth Complaint: Against His People—Gifts and Offerings
7 “Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and haven’t kept them. Return to me and I’ll return to you,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. “But you ask, ‘How will we return?’ 8 “Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “By the tithe and the offering. 9 You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me!
10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows[b] of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. 11 And I’ll prevent the devourer from harming you,[c] so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
God’s Seventh Complaint: Against His People—Slandering God
13 “You have spoken arrogant words against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What did we say against you?’ 14 You said, ‘It is futile to serve God,’ and, ‘What did we get out of it[d] when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies?’ 15 and, ‘Now we call the arrogant one blessed. Those who do evil prosper and those who challenge God escape the consequences.’”[e]
The Repentance of the Righteous
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other. The Lord listened and took note,[f] and a scroll of remembrance was written in his presence about those who fear the Lord and honor His name. 17 “They’ll be mine,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, “in the day when I prepare my treasured possession. I’ll spare them, just as a man spares his own son who serves him. 18 When you return, you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and between the one who serves God and the one who does not.”
Jesus is Raised from the Dead(A)
20 On the first day of the week,[a] early in the morning and while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene[b] went to the tomb and noticed that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple took off for the tomb. 4 The two of them were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 Bending over to look inside, he noticed the linen cloths lying there, but didn’t go in. 6 At this point Simon Peter arrived, following him, and went straight into the tomb. He observed that the linen cloths were lying there, 7 and that the handkerchief that had been on Jesus’ head was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up in a separate place. 8 Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, went inside, looked, and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that said[c] that Jesus[d] had to rise from the dead. 10 So the disciples went back to their homes.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene(B)
11 Meanwhile, Mary[e] stood crying outside the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked[f] into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white clothes who were sitting down, one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus’ body had been lying. 13 They asked her, “Lady,[g] why are you crying?”
She told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 After she had said this, she turned around and noticed Jesus standing there, without realizing that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus asked her, “Dear lady,[h] why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she told him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.”
16 Jesus told her, “Mary!”
She turned around and told him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me, because I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I’m ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 So Mary Magdalene[i] went and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord!” She also told them what he had told her.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples(C)
19 It was the evening of the first day of the week,[j] and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.[k] Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, “Peace be with you.” 20 After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side, and when they saw the Lord, the disciples were overjoyed. 21 Jesus told them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. If you retain people’s sins, they are retained.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Thomas, one of the Twelve (called the Twin),[l] wasn’t with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples kept telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he told them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into them,[m] and put my hand into his side, I’ll never believe!”
26 A week later, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he told Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, but believe.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus told him, “Is it because you’ve seen me that you have believed? How blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed!”
The Purpose of the Book
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his[n] disciples that are not recorded in this book. 31 But these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah,[o] the Son of God, and so that through believing you may have life in his name.
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