M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Micaiah Warns King Ahab
18 Jehoshaphat had much wealth and honor, and he made an agreement with King Ahab through marriage.[a] 2 A few years later Jehoshaphat went to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab sacrificed many sheep and cattle as a great feast to honor Jehoshaphat and the people with him. He encouraged Jehoshaphat to attack Ramoth in Gilead. 3 Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth in Gilead?”
Jehoshaphat answered, “I will go with you, and my soldiers are yours. We will join you in the battle.” 4 Jehoshaphat also said to Ahab, “But first we should ask if this is the Lord’s will.”
5 So King Ahab called four hundred prophets together and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”
They answered, “Go, because God will hand them over to you.”
6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here? Let’s ask him what we should do.”
7 Then King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one other prophet. We could ask the Lord through him, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything good about me, but always something bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
Jehoshaphat said, “King Ahab, you shouldn’t say that!”
8 So Ahab king of Israel told one of his officers to bring Micaiah to him at once.
9 Ahab king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah had on their royal robes and were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor, near the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were standing before them speaking their messages. 10 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made some iron horns. He said to Ahab, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will use these horns to fight the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”
11 All the other prophets said the same thing, “Attack Ramoth in Gilead and win, because the Lord will hand the Arameans over to you.”
12 The messenger who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, “All the other prophets are saying King Ahab will win. You should agree with them and give the king a good answer.”
13 But Micaiah answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”
14 When Micaiah came to Ahab, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth in Gilead or not?”
Micaiah answered, “Attack and win! They will be handed over to you.”
15 But Ahab said to Micaiah, “How many times do I have to tell you to speak only the truth to me in the name of the Lord?”
16 So Micaiah answered, “I saw the army of Israel scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘They have no leaders. They should go home and not fight.’”
17 Then Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you! He never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad.”
18 But Micaiah said, “Hear the message from the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with his heavenly army standing on his right and on his left. 19 The Lord said, ‘Who will trick King Ahab of Israel into attacking Ramoth in Gilead where he will be killed?’
“Some said one thing; some said another. 20 Then one spirit came and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will trick him.’
“The Lord asked, ‘How will you do it?’
21 “The spirit answered, ‘I will go to Ahab’s prophets and make them tell lies.’
“So the Lord said, ‘You will succeed in tricking him. Go and do it.’”
22 Micaiah said, “Ahab, the Lord has made your prophets lie to you, and the Lord has decided that disaster should come to you.”
23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up to Micaiah and slapped him in the face. Zedekiah said, “Has the Lord’s Spirit left me to speak through you?”
24 Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inside room.”
25 Then Ahab king of Israel ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son. 26 Tell them I said to put this man in prison and give him only bread and water until I return safely from the battle.”
27 Micaiah said, “Ahab, if you come back safely from the battle, the Lord has not spoken through me. Remember my words, all you people!”
Ahab Is Killed
28 So Ahab king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. 29 King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will go into battle, but I will wear other clothes so no one will recognize me. But you wear your royal clothes.” So Ahab wore other clothes, and they went into battle.
30 The king of Aram ordered his chariot commanders, “Don’t fight with anyone—important or unimportant—except the king of Israel.” 31 When these commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought he was the king of Israel, so they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat began shouting, and the Lord helped him. God made the chariot commanders turn away from Jehoshaphat. 32 When they saw he was not King Ahab, they stopped chasing him.
33 By chance, a soldier shot an arrow which hit Ahab king of Israel between the pieces of his armor. King Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and get me out of the battle, because I am hurt!” 34 The battle continued all day. King Ahab held himself up in his chariot and faced the Arameans until evening. Then he died at sunset.
The 144,000 People of Israel
7 After the vision of these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. The angels were holding the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east who had the seal of the living God. And he called out in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given power to harm the earth and the sea. 3 He said to them, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we mark with a sign the foreheads of the people who serve our God.” 4 Then I heard how many people were marked with the sign. There were one hundred forty-four thousand from every tribe of the people of Israel.
5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were marked with the sign,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
and from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were marked with the sign.
The Great Crowd Worships God
9 After the vision of these things I looked, and there was a great number of people, so many that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 10 They were shouting in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures. They all bowed down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people dressed in white robes? Where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “You know, sir.”
And the elder said to me, “These are the people who have come out of the great distress. They have washed their robes[a] and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Because of this, they are before the throne of God. They worship him day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will be present with them. 16 Those people will never be hungry again, and they will never be thirsty again. The sun will not hurt them, and no heat will burn them, 17 because the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of water that give life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
The Vision of the High Priest
3 Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing in front of the Lord’s angel. And Satan was standing by Joshua’s right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord says no to you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem says no to you! This man was like a burning stick pulled from the fire.”
3 Joshua was wearing dirty clothes and was standing in front of the angel. 4 The angel said to those standing in front of him, “Take off those dirty clothes.”
Then the angel said to Joshua, “Look, I have taken away your sin from you, and I am giving you beautiful, fine clothes.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and dressed him while the Lord’s angel stood there.
6 Then the Lord’s angel said to Joshua, 7 “This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘If you do as I tell you and serve me, you will be in charge of my Temple and my courtyards. And I will let you be with these angels who are standing here.
8 “‘Listen, Joshua, the high priest, and your friends who are sitting in front of you. They are symbols of what will happen. I am going to bring my servant called the Branch. 9 Look, I put this stone in front of Joshua, a stone with seven sides. I will carve a message on it,’ says the Lord All-Powerful. ‘And in one day I will take away the sin of this land.’
10 “The Lord All-Powerful says, ‘In that day, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your own grapevine and under your own fig tree.’”
More than Five Thousand Fed
6 After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias). 2 Many people followed him because they saw the miracles he did to heal the sick. 3 Jesus went up on a hill and sat down there with his followers. 4 It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover Feast.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” 6 (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what he planned to do.)
7 Philip answered, “Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread for each person to have only a little piece.”
8 Another one of his followers, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, 9 “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, but that is not enough for so many people.”
10 Jesus said, “Tell the people to sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and about five thousand men sat down there. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, thanked God for them, and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves.
14 When the people saw this miracle that Jesus did, they said, “He must truly be the Prophet[a] who is coming into the world.”
15 Jesus knew that the people planned to come and take him by force and make him their king, so he left and went into the hills alone.
Jesus Walks on the Water
16 That evening Jesus’ followers went down to Lake Galilee. 17 It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The followers got into a boat and started across the lake to Capernaum. 18 By now a strong wind was blowing, and the waves on the lake were getting bigger. 19 When they had rowed the boat about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming toward the boat. The followers were afraid, 20 but Jesus said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat. At once the boat came to land at the place where they wanted to go.
The People Seek Jesus
22 The next day the people who had stayed on the other side of the lake knew that Jesus had not gone in the boat with his followers but that they had left without him. And they knew that only one boat had been there. 23 But then some boats came from Tiberias and landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the people saw that Jesus and his followers were not there now, they got into boats and went to Capernaum to find Jesus.
Jesus, the Bread of Life
25 When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?”
26 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you aren’t looking for me because you saw me do miracles. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. 27 Don’t work for the food that spoils. Work for the food that stays good always and gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because on him God the Father has put his power.”
28 The people asked Jesus, “What are the things God wants us to do?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.”
30 So the people asked, “What miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you. What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”[b]
32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33 God’s bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 The people said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. 37 The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. 38 I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. 39 Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. 40 Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.”
41 Some people began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” 42 They said, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 But Jesus answered, “Stop complaining to each other. 44 The Father is the One who sent me. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’[c] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread that gives life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but still they died. 50 Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.”
52 Then the evil people began to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, you must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. Otherwise, you won’t have real life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. 55 My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57 The living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father. So whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 I am not like the bread your ancestors ate. They ate that bread and still died. I am the bread that came down from heaven, and whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When the followers of Jesus heard this, many of them said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”
61 Knowing that his followers were complaining about this, Jesus said, “Does this teaching bother you? 62 Then will it also bother you to see the Son of Man going back to the place where he came from? 63 It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh doesn’t give life. The words I told you are spirit, and they give life. 64 But some of you don’t believe.” (Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would turn against him.) 65 Jesus said, “That is the reason I said, ‘If the Father does not bring a person to me, that one cannot come.’”
66 After Jesus said this, many of his followers left him and stopped following him.
67 Jesus asked the twelve followers, “Do you want to leave, too?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God.”
70 Then Jesus answered, “I chose all twelve of you, but one of you is a devil.”
71 Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was one of the twelve, but later he was going to turn against Jesus.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.