M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

A Widow Asks Elisha for Help

4 The wife of a man from a group of the prophets came to Elisha. She said, “Your servant, my husband, is dead! You know he honored the Lord. But now the man he owes money to is coming to take my two boys. He will make them his slaves!”

² Elisha answered, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

The woman said, “I don’t have anything there except a pot of oil.”

³ Then Elisha said, “Go and get empty jars from all your neighbors. Don’t ask for just a few. ⁴ Then you must go into your house and close the door. Only you and your sons will be there. Then pour oil into all the jars. Set the full ones to one side.”

⁵ She left Elisha and shut the door. Only she and her sons were in the house. As they brought the jars to her, she poured the oil. ⁶ When the jars were all full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”

But he said, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

⁷ She went and told Elisha. Elisha said to her, “Go. Sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

The Shunammite Woman

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem. An important woman lived there. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat. ⁹ The woman said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God. He passes by our house all the time. ¹⁰ Let’s make a small room on the roof.^[a] Let’s put a bed in the room for Elisha. And we can put a table, a chair and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there.”

¹¹ One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. He went to his room and rested. ¹² He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.”

When the servant called her, she stood in front of him. ¹³ Elisha told his servant, “Now say to her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’”

The woman answered, “I live among my own people.”

¹⁴ Elisha said, “But what can we do for her?”

Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵ Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”

The woman said, “No, master, man of God. Don’t lie to me!”

¹⁷ But the woman became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son at that time the next year as Elisha had told her.

¹⁸ The child grew. One day he went out to his father, who was with the men harvesting grain. ¹⁹ The boy said to his father, “My head! My head!”

The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother!” ²⁰ The servant took him to his mother. He lay on his mother’s lap until noon. Then he died. ²¹ She took him up and laid him on Elisha’s bed. Then she shut the door and went out.

²² She called to her husband. She said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and come back.”

²³ The woman’s husband said, “Why do you want to go to him today? It isn’t the New Moon or the Sabbath day.”

She said, “It will be all right.”

²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she went to Elisha at Mount Carmel.

He saw her coming from far away. So he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman! ²⁶ Run to meet her! Say to her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?’”

She answered, “Everything is all right.”

²⁷ Then she came to Elisha at the hill. She caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away. But Elisha said to him, “Let her alone. She’s very upset, and the Lord has not told me about it. He has hidden it from me.”

²⁸ She said, “Master, I didn’t tell you I wanted a son. I told you, ‘Don’t fool me.’”

²⁹ Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready. Take my walking stick in your hand and go quickly. If you meet anyone, don’t greet him. If anyone greets you, don’t answer him. Lay my walking stick on the face of the boy.”

³⁰ But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I won’t leave you!” So he got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went on ahead. He laid the walking stick on the child’s face. But the child did not talk or move. Then Gehazi went back to meet Elisha. He told Elisha, “The child has not awakened.”

³² Elisha came into the house. There was the child, lying dead on his bed. ³³ When Elisha entered the room, he shut the door. Only he and the child were in the room. Then Elisha prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ He went to the bed and lay on the child. He put his mouth on the child’s mouth. He put his eyes on the child’s eyes and his hands on the child’s hands. He stretched himself out on top of the child. Then the child’s skin became warm. ³⁵ Elisha turned away and walked around the room. Then he went back and put himself on the child again. Then the child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

³⁶ Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite!” And he did. When she came, Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ She came in and fell at Elisha’s feet. She bowed facedown to the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.

Elisha and the Poison

³⁸ Elisha came to Gilgal again. There was a time of hunger in the land. A group of prophets was sitting in front of him. He said to his servant, “Put the large pot on the fire. Boil some stew for these men.”

³⁹ One of them went out into the field to gather plants. He found a wild vine. He picked fruit from the vine and filled his robe with it. Then he came and cut up the fruit into the pot. But they did not know what kind of fruit it was. ⁴⁰ Then they poured out the stew for the men to eat. But when they began to eat it, they shouted out, “Man of God! There’s death in the pot!” They could not eat it.

⁴¹ Elisha told them to bring some flour. Then he threw it into the pot. He said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Elisha Multiplies Bread

⁴² A man from Baal Shalishah came to Elisha. He brought 20 loaves of barley bread from the first harvest to Elisha. He also brought fresh grain in his sack. Then Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”

⁴³ Elisha’s servant said, “How can I feed 100 men with so little?”

But Elisha said, “Give the bread to the people to eat. This is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and will have food left over.’” ⁴⁴ Then he gave it to them. The people ate and had food left over, as the Lord had said.

Advice to a Young Preacher

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope.

² To Timothy, a true son to me because you believe.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Warning Against False Teaching

³ I want you to stay in Ephesus. I asked you to do that when I went into Macedonia. Some people there in Ephesus are teaching false things. Stay there so that you can command them to stop. ⁴ Tell them not to spend their time on stories that are not true and on long lists of names in family histories. These things only bring arguments; they do not help God’s work. God’s work is done by faith. ⁵ The purpose of this command is for people to have love. To have this love they must have a pure heart, they must do what they know is right, and they must have true faith. ⁶ Some people have wandered away from these things. They talk about things that are worth nothing. ⁷ They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about. They do not even understand what they say they are sure about.

⁸ We know that the law is good if a man uses it right. ⁹ We also know that the law is not made for good men. The law is made for people who are against the law and for those who refuse to follow the law. It is for people who are against God and are sinful, who are unholy and ungodly, who kill their fathers and mothers, who murder, ¹⁰ who take part in sexual sins, men who have physical relations with other men, those who sell slaves, who tell lies, who speak falsely, and who do anything against the true teaching of God. ¹¹ That teaching is part of the Good News that God gave me to tell. That glorious Good News is from the blessed God.

Thanks for God’s Mercy

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord because he trusted me and gave me this work of serving him. And he gives me strength. ¹³ In the past I spoke against Christ and persecuted him and did all kinds of things to hurt him. But God showed mercy to me because I did not know what I was doing. I did those things when I did not believe. ¹⁴ But the grace of our Lord was fully given to me. And with that grace came the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ What I say is true, and you should fully accept it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the worst of those sinners. ¹⁶ But I was given mercy. I was given mercy so that in me Christ Jesus could show that he has patience without limit. And he showed his patience with me, the worst of all sinners. Christ wanted me to be an example for those who would believe in him and have life forever. ¹⁷ Honor and glory to the King that rules forever! He cannot be destroyed and cannot be seen. Honor and glory forever and ever to the only God. Amen.

¹⁸ Timothy, you are like a son to me. I am giving you a command that agrees with the prophecies that were given about you in the past. I tell you this so that you can follow those prophecies and fight the good fight of faith. ¹⁹ Continue to have faith and do what you know is right. Some people have not done this. Their faith has been destroyed. ²⁰ Hymenaeus and Alexander are men who have done that. I have given them to Satan so that they will learn not to speak against God.

Daniel’s Vision

8 During the third year Belshazzar was king, I saw this vision. This was after the other one. ² In this vision I saw myself in the capital city of Susa. Susa is in the area of Elam. I was standing by the Ulai River. ³ I looked up, and I saw a male sheep standing beside the river. It had two long horns. But one horn was longer than the other. The long horn was newer than the other horn. ⁴ I watched the male sheep charge to the west. He also charged to the north and the south. No animal could stand before him. And none could save another animal from his power. He did whatever he wanted. And he became very powerful.

⁵ While I was thinking about this, I saw a male goat come from the west. This goat had one large horn that was easy to see. It was between his eyes. He crossed over the whole earth. But his feet did not touch the ground.

⁶ That goat charged the male sheep with the two horns. This was the male sheep I had seen standing by the river. The goat was very angry. ⁷ I watched the goat attack the male sheep. It broke the sheep’s two horns. The sheep could not stop it. The goat knocked the sheep to the ground. Then the goat walked all over him. No one was able to save the sheep from the goat. ⁸ So the male goat became very great. But when he was strong, his big horn broke off. Then four horns grew in place of the one big horn. Those four horns were easy to see. They pointed in four different directions.

⁹ Then a little horn grew from one of those four horns. It became very big. It grew to the south and the east and toward the beautiful land of Judah. ¹⁰ That little horn grew until it reached to the sky. It even threw some of the army of heaven to the ground. And it walked on them. ¹¹ That little horn became very strong against God, the commander of heaven’s armies. It stopped the daily sacrifices that were offered to the commander. The place where people worshiped the commander was pulled down. ¹² There was a turning away from God. Because of this the people stopped the daily sacrifices. It was like throwing truth down to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

¹³ Then I heard one angel speaking. Another angel asked the first one, “How long will the things in this vision last? The vision is about the daily sacrifices. It is about the turning away from God that brings destruction. It is about the Temple being pulled down. It is about the army of heaven being walked on.”

¹⁴ He said to me, “This will happen for 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the holy place will be repaired.”

¹⁵ I, Daniel, saw this vision. And I tried to understand what it meant. Then someone who looked like a man suddenly stood before me. ¹⁶ And I heard a man’s voice calling from the Ulai River: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

¹⁷ Gabriel came to where I was standing. When he came close to me, I was very afraid. I bowed facedown on the ground. But Gabriel said to me, “Human being, understand that this vision is about the time of the end.”

¹⁸ While Gabriel was speaking, I fell into a deep sleep. My face was on the ground. Then he touched me and lifted me to my feet. ¹⁹ He said, “Now, I will explain the vision to you. I will tell you what will happen later, in the time of God’s anger. Your vision was about the set time of the end.

²⁰ “You saw a male sheep with two horns. Those horns are the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹ The male goat is the king of Greece. The big horn between its eyes is the first king. ²² After that horn broke, four horns grew in its place. Those four horns are four kingdoms. Those four kingdoms will come from the nation of the first king. But they will not be as strong as the first king.

²³ “When the end comes near for those kingdoms, a bold and cruel king will come. This king will tell lies. This will happen when many people have turned against God. ²⁴ This king will be very powerful. But his power will not come from himself. He will cause terrible destruction. He will be successful in everything he does. He will destroy powerful people and even God’s people. ²⁵ This king will use his wisdom to make lies successful. He will think that he is very important. He will destroy many people without warning. He will try to fight even God, the Prince of princes! But that cruel king will be destroyed. And it will not be human power that destroys him.

²⁶ “The vision that has been shown to you about those times is true. But seal up the vision. Those things won’t happen for a long time.”

²⁷ I, Daniel, became very weak. I was sick for several days after that vision. Then I got up and went back to work for the king. But I was very upset about the vision. I didn’t understand what it meant.

Thanksgiving for Escaping Death