M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ben-Hadad and Ahab Go to War
20 Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered together all his army. There were thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots who went with him and surrounded Samaria and attacked it. 2 The king sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel.
This was his message: “Ben-Hadad says, 3 ‘Your silver and gold belong to me, as well as the best of your wives and children.’”
4 Ahab king of Israel answered, “My master and king, I agree to what you say. I and everything I have belong to you.”
5 Then the messengers came to Ahab again. They said, “Ben-Hadad says, ‘I told you before that you must give me your silver and gold, your wives and your children. 6 About this time tomorrow I will send my men, who will search everywhere in your palace and in the homes of your officers. Whatever they want they will take and carry off.’”
7 Then Ahab called a meeting of all the elders of his country. He said, “Ben-Hadad is looking for trouble. First he said I had to give him my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I have not refused him.”
8 The elders and all the people said, “Don’t listen to him or agree to this.”
9 So Ahab said to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my master the king: ‘I will do what you said at first, but I cannot allow this second command.’” And King Ben-Hadad’s men carried the message back to him.
10 Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods punish me terribly if I don’t completely destroy Samaria. There won’t be enough left for each of my men to get a handful of dust!”
11 Ahab answered, “Tell Ben-Hadad, ‘The man who puts on his armor should not brag. It’s the man who lives to take it off who has the right to brag.’”
12 Ben-Hadad was drinking in his tent with the other rulers when the message came from Ahab. Ben-Hadad commanded his men to prepare to attack the city, and they moved into place for battle.
13 At the same time a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel. The prophet said, “Ahab, the Lord says to you, ‘Do you see that big army? I will hand it over to you today so you will know I am the Lord.’”
14 Ahab asked, “Who will you use to defeat them?”
The prophet answered, “The Lord says, ‘The young officers of the district governors will defeat them.’”
Then the king asked, “Who will command the main army?”
The prophet answered, “You will.”
15 So Ahab gathered the young officers of the district governors, two hundred thirty-two of them. Then he called together the army of Israel, about seven thousand people in all.
16 They marched out at noon, while Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two rulers helping him were getting drunk in their tents. 17 The young officers of the district governors attacked first. Ben-Hadad sent out scouts who told him that soldiers were coming from Samaria. 18 Ben-Hadad said, “They may be coming to fight, or they may be coming to ask for peace. In either case capture them alive.”
19 The young officers of the district governors led the attack, followed by the army of Israel. 20 Each officer of Israel killed the man who came against him. The men from Aram ran away as Israel chased them, but Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with some of his horsemen. 21 Ahab king of Israel led the army and destroyed the Arameans’ horses and chariots. King Ahab thoroughly defeated the Aramean army.
22 Then the prophet went to Ahab king of Israel and said, “The king of Aram will attack you again next spring. So go home now and strengthen your army and see what you need to do.”
23 Meanwhile the officers of Ben-Hadad king of Aram said to him, “The gods of Israel are mountain gods. Since we fought in a mountain area, Israel won. Let’s fight them on the flat land, and then we will win. 24 This is what you should do. Don’t allow the thirty-two rulers to command the armies, but put other commanders in their places. 25 Gather an army like the one that was destroyed and as many horses and chariots as before. We will fight the Israelites on flat land, and then we will win.” Ben-Hadad agreed with their advice and did what they said.
26 The next spring Ben-Hadad gathered the army of Aram and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
27 The Israelites also had prepared for war. They marched out to meet the Arameans and camped opposite them. The Israelites looked like two small flocks of goats, but the Arameans covered the area.
28 A man of God came to the king of Israel with this message: “The Lord says, ‘The people of Aram say that I, the Lord, am a god of the mountains, not a god of the valleys. So I will allow you to defeat this huge army, and then you will know I am the Lord.’”
29 The armies were camped across from each other for seven days. On the seventh day the battle began. The Israelites killed one hundred thousand Aramean soldiers in one day. 30 The rest of them ran away to the city of Aphek, where a city wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of them. Ben-Hadad also ran away to the city and hid in a room.
31 His officers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are trustworthy. Let’s dress in rough cloth to show our sadness, and wear ropes on our heads. Then we will go to the king of Israel, and perhaps he will let you live.”
32 So they dressed in rough cloth and wore ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel. They said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’”
Ahab answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
33 Ben-Hadad’s men had wanted a sign from Ahab. So when Ahab called Ben-Hadad his brother, they quickly said, “Yes! Ben-Hadad is your brother.”
Ahab said, “Bring him to me.” When Ben-Hadad came, Ahab asked him to join him in the chariot.
34 Ben-Hadad said to him, “Ahab, I will give you back the cities my father took from your father. And you may put shops in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.”
Ahab said, “If you agree to this, I will allow you to go free.” So the two kings made a peace agreement. Then Ahab let Ben-Hadad go free.
A Prophet Speaks Against Ahab
35 One prophet from one of the groups of prophets told another, “Hit me!” He said this because the Lord had commanded it, but the other man refused. 36 The prophet said, “You did not obey the Lord’s command, so a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” When the man left, a lion found him and killed him.
37 The prophet went to another man and said, “Hit me, please!” So the man hit him and hurt him. 38 The prophet wrapped his face in a cloth so no one could tell who he was. Then he went and waited by the road for the king. 39 As Ahab king of Israel passed by, the prophet called out to him. “I went to fight in the battle,” the prophet said. “One of our men brought an enemy soldier to me. Our man said, ‘Guard this man. If he runs away, you will have to give your life in his place. Or, you will have to pay a fine of seventy-five pounds of silver.’ 40 But I was busy doing other things, so the man ran away.”
The king of Israel answered, “You have already said what the punishment is. You must do what the man said.”
41 Then the prophet quickly took the cloth from his face. When the king of Israel saw him, he knew he was one of the prophets. 42 The prophet said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You freed the man I said should die, so your life will be taken instead of his. The lives of your people will also be taken instead of the lives of his people.’”
43 Then King Ahab went back to his palace in Samaria, angry and upset.
3 When we could not wait any longer, we decided it was best to stay in Athens alone 2 and send Timothy to you. Timothy, our brother, works with us for God and helps us tell people the Good News about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faith 3 so none of you would be upset by these troubles. You yourselves know that we must face these troubles. 4 Even when we were with you, we told you we all would have to suffer, and you know it has happened. 5 Because of this, when I could wait no longer, I sent Timothy to you so I could learn about your faith. I was afraid the devil had tempted you, and perhaps our hard work would have been wasted.
6 But Timothy now has come back to us from you and has brought us good news about your faith and love. He told us that you always remember us in a good way and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you. 7 So, brothers and sisters, while we have much trouble and suffering, we are encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 Our life is really full if you stand strong in the Lord. 9 We have so much joy before our God because of you. We cannot thank him enough for all the joy we feel. 10 Night and day we continue praying with all our heart that we can see you again and give you all the things you need to make your faith strong.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus prepare the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love grow more and multiply for each other and for all people so that you will love others as we love you. 13 May your hearts be made strong so that you will be holy and without fault before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
2 During Nebuchadnezzar’s second year as king, he had dreams that bothered him and kept him awake at night. 2 So the king called for his fortune-tellers, magicians, wizards, and wise men, because he wanted them to tell him what he had dreamed. They came in and stood in front of the king.
3 Then the king said to them, “I had a dream that bothers me, and I want to know what it means.”
4 The wise men answered the king in the Aramaic language, “O king, live forever! Please tell us, your servants, your dream. Then we will tell you what it means.”
5 King Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “I meant what I said. You must tell me the dream and what it means. If you don’t, I will have you torn apart, and I will turn your houses into piles of stones. 6 But if you tell me my dream and its meaning, I will reward you with gifts and great honor. So tell me the dream and what it means.”
7 Again the wise men said to the king, “Tell us, your servants, the dream, and we will tell you what it means.”
8 King Nebuchadnezzar answered, “I know you are trying to get more time, because you know that I meant what I said. 9 If you don’t tell me my dream, you will be punished. You have all agreed to tell me lies and wicked things, hoping things will change. Now, tell me the dream so that I will know you can tell me what it really means!”
10 The wise men answered the king, saying, “No one on earth can do what the king asks! No great and powerful king has ever asked the fortune-tellers, magicians, or wise men to do this; 11 the king is asking something that is too hard. Only the gods could tell the king this, but the gods do not live among people.”
12 When the king heard their answer, he became very angry. He ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be killed. 13 So King Nebuchadnezzar’s order to kill the wise men was announced, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
14 Arioch, the commander of the king’s guards, was going to kill the wise men of Babylon. But Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and skill, 15 saying, “Why did the king order such a terrible punishment?” Then Arioch explained everything to Daniel. 16 So Daniel went to King Nebuchadnezzar and asked for an appointment so that he could tell the king what his dream meant.
17 Then Daniel went to his house and explained the whole story to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 18 Daniel asked his friends to pray that the God of heaven would show them mercy and help them understand this secret so he and his friends would not be killed with the other wise men of Babylon.
19 During the night God explained the secret to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20 Daniel said:
“Praise God forever and ever,
because he has wisdom and power.
21 He changes the times and seasons of the year.
He takes away the power of kings
and gives their power to new kings.
He gives wisdom to those who are wise
and knowledge to those who understand.
22 He makes known secrets that are deep and hidden;
he knows what is hidden in darkness,
and light is all around him.
23 I thank you and praise you, God of my ancestors,
because you have given me wisdom and power.
You told me what we asked of you;
you told us about the king’s dream.”
The Meaning of the Dream
24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, the man King Nebuchadnezzar had chosen to kill the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, “Don’t put the wise men of Babylon to death. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means.”
25 Very quickly Arioch took Daniel to the king and said, “I have found a man among the captives from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”
26 The king asked Daniel, who was also called Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”
27 Daniel answered, “No wise man, magician, or fortune-teller can explain to the king the secret he has asked about. 28 But there is a God in heaven who explains secret things, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at a later time. This is your dream, the vision you saw while lying on your bed: 29 O king, as you were lying there, you thought about things to come. God, who can tell people about secret things, showed you what is going to happen. 30 God also told this secret to me, not because I have greater wisdom than any other living person, but so that you may know what it means. In that way you will understand what went through your mind.
31 “O king, in your dream you saw a huge, shiny, and frightening statue in front of you. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and the upper part of its legs were made of bronze. 33 The lower part of the legs were made of iron, while its feet were made partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were looking at the statue, you saw a rock cut free, but no human being touched the rock. It hit the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold broke to pieces at the same time. They became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summertime; the wind blew them away, and there was nothing left. Then the rock that hit the statue became a very large mountain that filled the whole earth.
36 “That was your dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. 37 O king, you are the greatest king. God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. 38 Wherever people, wild animals, and birds live, God made you ruler over them. King Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold on that statue.
39 “Another kingdom will come after you, but it will not be as great as yours. Next a third kingdom, the bronze part, will rule over the earth. 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron. In the same way that iron crushes and smashes things to pieces, the fourth kingdom will smash and crush all the other kingdoms.
41 “You saw that the statue’s feet and toes were partly baked clay and partly iron. That means the fourth kingdom will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of iron in it, just as you saw iron was mixed with clay. 42 The toes of the statue were partly iron and partly clay. So the fourth kingdom will be partly strong like iron and partly breakable like clay. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay, but iron and clay do not hold together. In the same way the people of the fourth kingdom will be a mixture, but they will not be united as one people.
44 “During the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up another kingdom that will never be destroyed or given to another group of people. This kingdom will crush all the other kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will continue forever.
45 “King Nebuchadnezzar, you saw a rock cut from a mountain, but no human being touched it. The rock broke the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold to pieces. In this way the great God showed you what will happen. The dream is true, and you can trust this explanation.”
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown on the ground in front of Daniel. The king honored him and commanded that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 Then the king said to Daniel, “Truly I know your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord of all the kings. He tells people about things they cannot know. I know this is true, because you were able to tell these secret things to me.”
48 Then the king gave Daniel many gifts plus an important position in his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar made him ruler over the whole area of Babylon and put him in charge of all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel asked the king to make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego leaders over the area of Babylon, so the king did as Daniel asked. Daniel himself became one of the people who stayed at the royal court.
Israel’s Failure to Trust God
106 Praise the Lord!
Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 No one can tell all the mighty things the Lord has done;
no one can speak all his praise.
3 Happy are those who do right,
who do what is fair at all times.
4 Lord, remember me when you are kind to your people;
help me when you save them.
5 Let me see the good things you do for your chosen people.
Let me be happy along with your happy nation;
let me join your own people in praising you.
6 We have sinned just as our ancestors did.
We have done wrong; we have done evil.
7 Our ancestors in Egypt
did not learn from your miracles.
They did not remember all your kindnesses,
so they turned against you at the Red Sea.
8 But the Lord saved them for his own sake,
to show his great power.
9 He commanded the Red Sea, and it dried up.
He led them through the deep sea as if it were a desert.
10 He saved them from those who hated them.
He saved them from their enemies,
11 and the water covered their foes.
Not one of them escaped.
12 Then the people believed what the Lord said,
and they sang praises to him.
13 But they quickly forgot what he had done;
they did not wait for his advice.
14 They became greedy for food in the desert,
and they tested God there.
15 So he gave them what they wanted,
but he also sent a terrible disease among them.
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
and of Aaron, the holy priest of the Lord.
17 Then the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan
and closed over Abiram’s group.
18 A fire burned among their followers,
and flames burned up the wicked.
19 The people made a gold calf at Mount Sinai
and worshiped a metal statue.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
for a statue of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 who had done miracles in Egypt[a]
and amazing things by the Red Sea.
23 So God said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stood before him
and stopped God’s anger from destroying them.
24 Then they refused to go into the beautiful land of Canaan;
they did not believe what God promised.
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not obey the Lord.
26 So he swore to them
that they would die in the desert.
27 He said their children would be killed by other nations
and that they would be scattered among other countries.
28 They joined in worshiping Baal at Peor
and ate meat that had been sacrificed to lifeless statues.
29 They made the Lord angry by what they did,
so many people became sick with a terrible disease.
30 But Phinehas prayed to the Lord,
and the disease stopped.
31 Phinehas did what was right,
and it will be remembered from now on.
32 The people also made the Lord angry at Meribah,
and Moses was in trouble because of them.
33 The people turned against the Spirit of God,
so Moses spoke without stopping to think.
34 The people did not destroy the other nations
as the Lord had told them to do.
35 Instead, they mixed with the other nations
and learned their customs.
36 They worshiped other nations’ idols
and were trapped by them.
37 They even killed their sons and daughters
as sacrifices to demons.
38 They killed innocent people,
their own sons and daughters,
as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.
So the land was made unholy by their blood.
39 The people became unholy by their sins;
they were unfaithful to God in what they did.
40 So the Lord became angry with his people
and hated his own children.
41 He handed them over to other nations
and let their enemies rule over them.
42 Their enemies were cruel to them
and kept them under their power.
43 The Lord saved his people many times,
but they continued to turn against him.
So they became even more wicked.
44 But God saw their misery
when he heard their cry.
45 He remembered his agreement with them,
and he felt sorry for them because of his great love.
46 He caused them to be pitied
by those who held them captive.
47 Lord our God, save us
and bring us back from other nations.
Then we will thank you
and will gladly praise you.
48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He always was and always will be.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.