M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ahaziah King of Judah
22 The people of Jerusalem chose Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, to be king in his place. The robbers who had come with the Arabs to attack Jehoram’s camp had killed all of Jehoram’s older sons. So Ahaziah began to rule Judah. 2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri. 3 Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab’s family, because his mother encouraged him to do wrong. 4 Ahaziah did what the Lord said was wrong, as Ahab’s family had done. They gave advice to Ahaziah after his father died, and their bad advice led to his death. 5 Following their advice, Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to Ramoth in Gilead, where they fought against Hazael king of Aram. The Arameans wounded Joram. 6 So Joram returned to Jezreel to heal from the wounds he received at Ramoth when he fought Hazael king of Aram.
Ahaziah son of Jehoram and king of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab at Jezreel because he had been wounded.
7 God caused Ahaziah’s death when he went to visit Joram. Ahaziah arrived and went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had appointed to destroy Ahab’s family. 8 While Jehu was punishing Ahab’s family, he found the leaders of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives who served Ahaziah, and Jehu killed them all. 9 Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah. Jehu’s men caught him hiding in Samaria, so they brought him to Jehu. Then they killed and buried him. They said, “Ahaziah is a descendant of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat obeyed the Lord with all his heart.” No one in Ahaziah’s family had the power to take control of the kingdom of Judah.
Athaliah and Joash
10 When Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she killed all the royal family in Judah. 11 But Jehosheba, King Jehoram’s daughter, took Joash, Ahaziah’s son. She stole him from among the other sons of the king who were going to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister and the wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid Joash so Athaliah could not kill him. 12 He hid with them in the Temple of God for six years. During that time Athaliah ruled the land.
23 In the seventh year Jehoiada decided to do something. He made an agreement with the commanders of the groups of a hundred men: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zicri. 2 They went around in Judah and gathered the Levites from all the towns, and they gathered the leaders of the families of Judah. Then they went to Jerusalem. 3 All the people together made an agreement with the king in the Temple of God.
Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son will rule, as the Lord promised about David’s descendants. 4 Now this is what you must do: You priests and Levites go on duty on the Sabbath. A third of you will guard the doors. 5 A third of you will be at the king’s palace, and a third of you will be at the Foundation Gate. All the other people will stay in the courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. 6 Don’t let anyone come into the Temple of the Lord except the priests and Levites who serve. They may come because they have been made ready to serve the Lord, but all the others must do the job the Lord has given them. 7 The Levites must stay near the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. If anyone tries to enter the Temple, kill him. Stay close to the king when he goes in and when he goes out.”
Joash Becomes King
8 The Levites and all the people of Judah obeyed everything Jehoiada the priest had commanded. He did not excuse anyone from the groups of the priests. So each commander took his men who came on duty on the Sabbath with those who went off duty on the Sabbath. 9 Jehoiada gave the commanders of a hundred men the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were kept in the Temple of God. 10 Then Jehoiada told the soldiers where to stand with weapon in hand. There were guards from the south side of the Temple to the north side. They stood by the altar and the Temple and around the king.
11 Jehoiada and his sons brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him a copy of the agreement. Then they appointed him king and poured olive oil on him and shouted, “Long live the king!”
12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went to them at the Temple of the Lord. 13 She looked, and there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were standing beside him, and all the people of the land were happy and blowing trumpets. The singers were playing musical instruments and leading praises. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Traitors! Traitors!”
14 Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of a hundred men, who led the army. He said, “Surround her with soldiers and take her out of the Temple area. Kill with a sword anyone who follows her.” He had said, “Don’t put Athaliah to death in the Temple of the Lord.” 15 So they caught her when she came to the entrance of the Horse Gate near the palace. There they put her to death.
16 Then Jehoiada made an agreement with the people and the king that they would be the Lord’s special people. 17 All the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down, smashing the altars and idols. They killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars.
18 Then Jehoiada chose the priests, who were Levites, to be responsible for the Temple of the Lord. David had given them duties in the Temple of the Lord. They were to offer the burnt offerings to the Lord as the Teachings of Moses commanded, and they were to offer them with much joy and singing as David had commanded. 19 Jehoiada put guards at the gates of the Temple of the Lord so that anyone who was unclean in any way could not enter.
20 Jehoiada took with him the commanders of a hundred men, the important men, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land to take the king out of the Temple of the Lord. They went through the Upper Gate into the palace, and then they seated the king on the throne. 21 So all the people of the land were very happy, and Jerusalem had peace, because Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.
The Angel and the Small Scroll
10 Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven dressed in a cloud with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 2 The angel was holding a small scroll open in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 Then he shouted loudly like the roaring of a lion. And when he shouted, the voices of seven thunders spoke. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I started to write. But I heard a voice from heaven say, “Keep hidden what the seven thunders said, and do not write them down.”
5 Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, 6 and he made a promise by the power of the One who lives forever and ever. He is the One who made the skies and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it. The angel promised, “There will be no more waiting! 7 In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, God’s secret will be finished. This secret is the Good News God told to his servants, the prophets.”
8 Then I heard the same voice from heaven again, saying to me: “Go and take the open scroll that is in the hand of the angel that is standing on the sea and on the land.”
9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. And he said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will be sour in your stomach, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it tasted sweet as honey, but after I ate it, it was sour in my stomach. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
The Vision of the Four Chariots
6 I looked up again and saw four chariots going out between two mountains, mountains of bronze. 2 Red horses pulled the first chariot. Black horses pulled the second chariot. 3 White horses pulled the third chariot, and strong, spotted horses pulled the fourth chariot. 4 I asked the angel who was talking with me, “What are these, sir?”
5 He said, “These are the four spirits of heaven. They have just come from the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The chariot pulled by the black horses will go to the land of the north. The white horses will go to the land of the west, and the spotted horses will go to the land of the south.”
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were eager to go through all the earth. So he said, “Go through all the earth,” and they did.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, the horses that went north have caused my spirit to rest in the land of the north.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying, 10 “Take silver and gold from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who were captives in Babylon. Go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah, who came from Babylon. 11 Make the silver and gold into a crown, and put it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 Tell him this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘A man whose name is the Branch will branch out from where he is, and he will build the Temple of the Lord. 13 One man[a] will build the Temple of the Lord, and the other[b] will receive honor. One man will sit on his throne and rule, and the other will be a priest on his throne. And these two men will work together in peace.’ 14 The crown will be kept in the Temple of the Lord to remind Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah son of Zephaniah. 15 People living far away will come and build the Temple of the Lord. Then you will know the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you. This will happen if you completely obey the Lord your God.”
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. 2 His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”
3 Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. 4 While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors and some people who had earlier seen this man begging said, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “He is the one,” but others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
The man himself said, “I am the man.”
10 They asked, “How did you get your sight?”
11 He answered, “The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 They asked him, “Where is this man?”
“I don’t know,” he answered.
Pharisees Question the Healing
13 Then the people took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 The day Jesus had made mud and healed his eyes was a Sabbath day. 15 So now the Pharisees asked the man, “How did you get your sight?”
He answered, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”
16 So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man does not keep the Sabbath day, so he is not from God.”
But others said, “A man who is a sinner can’t do miracles like these.” So they could not agree with each other.
17 They asked the man again, “What do you say about him since it was your eyes he opened?”
The man answered, “He is a prophet.”
18 These leaders did not believe that he had been blind and could now see again. So they sent for the man’s parents 19 and asked them, “Is this your son who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how he can now see. We don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the elders, who had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Christ would be avoided. 23 That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind. They said, “You should give God the glory by telling the truth. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26 They asked, “What did he do to you? How did he make you see again?”
27 He answered, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his followers, too?”
28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are his follower, but we are followers of Moses. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”
30 The man answered, “This is a very strange thing. You don’t know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We all know that God does not listen to sinners, but he listens to anyone who worships and obeys him. 32 Nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered, “You were born full of sin! Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 He asked, “Who is the Son of Man, sir, so that I can believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him. The Son of Man is the one talking with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” Then the man worshiped Jesus.
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world so that the world could be judged. I came so that the blind[a] would see and so that those who see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were nearby heard Jesus say this and asked, “Are you saying we are blind, too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you keep saying you see, your guilt remains.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.