M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
21 Then Jehoshaphat died and was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became king in his place. 2 Jehoram’s brothers were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. They were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 3 Jehoshaphat gave his sons many gifts of silver, gold and valuable things. He also gave them strong, walled cities in Judah. But Jehoshaphat gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the first son.
Jehoram King of Judah
4 Jehoram took control of his father’s kingdom. Then he killed all his brothers with a sword. He also killed some of the leaders of Israel. 5 He was 32 years old when he began to rule. And he ruled eight years in Jerusalem. 6 He lived as the kings of Israel had lived. He lived as Ahab’s family had lived. This was because he married Ahab’s daughter. Jehoram did what the Lord said was wrong. 7 But the Lord would not destroy David’s family. This was because of the agreement he had made with David. The Lord had promised that one of David’s descendants would always rule.
8 While Jehoram was king, Edom turned against Judah’s rule. The people of Edom chose their own king. 9 So Jehoram went to Edom with all his commanders and chariots. The Edomite army surrounded Jehoram and his chariot commanders. But Jehoram fought his way out at night. 10 From then until now the country of Edom has fought against Judah.
At the same time the people of Libnah also turned against Jehoram. This happened because Jehoram left the Lord, the God his ancestors followed. 11 Jehoram also had built places to worship false gods on the hills in Judah. He had led the people of Jerusalem into sinning. And he had led the people of Judah away from the Lord. 12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet. The letter said:
This is what the Lord says. He is the God your father David followed. The Lord says, “Jehoram, you have not lived as your father Jehoshaphat lived. You have not lived as Asa king of Judah lived. 13 But you have lived as the kings of Israel lived. You have led the people of Judah and Jerusalem into sinning against God. That is what Ahab and his family did. You have killed your brothers. And they were better than you. 14 So now the Lord is about to punish your people terribly. He will punish your children, wives and everything you own. 15 You will have a terrible disease in your intestines. It will become worse every day. Finally it will cause your intestines to come out.”
16 The Lord caused the Philistines and the Arabs to be angry with Jehoram. They lived near the Cushites. 17 So the Philistines and Arabs attacked Judah. They took away all the wealth of Jehoram’s palace, as well as his sons and wives. Only Jehoram’s youngest son, Ahaziah, was left.
18 After these things happened, the Lord gave Jehoram a disease in his intestines. It could not be cured. 19 After he was sick for two years, Jehoram’s intestines fell out because of the disease. He died in terrible pain. The people did not make a large fire to honor Jehoram as they had done for his ancestors.
20 Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king. And he ruled eight years in Jerusalem. No one was sad when he died. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the graves for the kings.
9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. And I saw a star fall from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the deep hole that leads down to the bottomless pit. 2 Then it opened the bottomless pit. Smoke came up from the hole like smoke from a big furnace. The sun and sky became dark because of the smoke from the hole. 3 Then locusts came down to the earth out of the smoke. They were given the power to sting like scorpions.[a] 4 They were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or tree. They could harm only the people who did not have the sign of God on their foreheads. 5 These locusts were given the power to cause pain to the people for five months. But they were not given the power to kill anyone. And the pain they felt was like the pain that a scorpion gives when it stings a person. 6 During those days people will look for a way to die, but they will not find it. They will want to die, but death will run away from them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore things that looked like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 Their chests looked like iron breastplates. The sound their wings made was like the noise of many horses and chariots hurrying into battle. 10 The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions. The power they had to hurt people for five months was in their tails. 11 The locusts had a king who was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in the Hebrew language is Abaddon. In the Greek language his name is Apollyon.[b]
12 The first great trouble is past. There are still two other great troubles that will come.
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. Then I heard a voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God. 14 The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates.” 15 These four angels had been kept ready for this hour and day and month and year. They were freed to kill a third of all people on the earth. 16 I heard how many troops on horses were in their army. There were 200,000,000.
17 In my vision I saw the horses and their riders. They looked like this: They had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow like sulfur. The heads of the horses looked like heads of lions. The horses had fire, smoke, and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 18 A third of all the people on earth were killed by these three terrible things coming out of the horses’ mouths: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. 19 The horses’ power was in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails were like snakes that have heads to bite and hurt people.
20 The other people on the earth were not killed by these terrible things. But they still did not change their hearts and turn away from what they had made with their own hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 These people did not change their hearts and turn away from murder or evil magic, from their sexual immorality or stealing.
The Vision of the Flying Scroll
5 I looked up again. And I saw a flying scroll.
2 The angel asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll. It is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”
3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that will go all over the land. One side says every thief will be sent away. The other side says everyone who makes false promises will be sent away. 4 The Lord of heaven’s armies says, ‘I will send it to the houses of thieves. I will also send it to those who use my name to make false promises. The scroll will stay in that person’s house. And it will destroy the house with its wood and stones.’”
The Vision of the Woman
5 Then the angel who was talking with me came forward. He said to me, “Look up and see what is coming.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He answered, “It is a measuring basket.” He also said, “It stands for the people’s sins in all the land.”
7 Then the lid made of lead was raised. There was a woman sitting in the basket. 8 The angel said, “The woman stands for wickedness.” Then he pushed her back into the basket. And he put the lid back down.
9 Then I looked up. I saw two women. They had wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork. They lifted up the basket into the sky.
10 I spoke to the angel who was talking with me. I asked, “Where are they taking the basket?”
11 He answered, “They are going to Babylonia. They will build a temple for it. When the temple is ready, they will set the basket there in its place.”
The Woman Caught in Adultery
8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 But early in the morning he went back to the Temple. All the people came to Jesus, and he sat and taught them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman there. She had been caught in adultery. They forced the woman to stand before the people. 4 They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught having physical relations with a man who is not her husband. 5 The law of Moses commands that we kill with stones every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?” 6 They were asking this to trick Jesus so that they could have some charge against him.
But Jesus knelt down and started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 They continued to ask Jesus their question. So he stood up and said, “Is there anyone here who has never sinned? The person without sin can throw the first stone at this woman.” 8 Then Jesus knelt down again and wrote on the ground.
9 Those who heard Jesus began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left there alone with the woman. She was standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up again and asked her, “Woman, all of those people have gone. Has no one judged you guilty?”
11 She answered, “No one has judged me, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “So I also don’t judge you. You may go now, but don’t sin again.”
Jesus Is the Light of the World
12 Later, Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness. He will have the light that gives life.”
13 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say these things are true. We cannot accept these things you say.”
14 Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself, but they are true. I know where I came from. And I know where I am going. You don’t know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You judge me the way you would judge any man. I don’t judge anyone. 16 But if I judge, I judge truthfully. When I judge, I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, then you must accept what they say. 18 I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself. And the Father who sent me is my other witness.”
19 They asked, “Where is your father?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. But if you knew me, then you would know my Father, too.” 20 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple. He was near the place where the money that the people give is kept. But no one arrested him. The right time for Jesus had not yet come.
The People Misunderstand Jesus
21 Again, Jesus said to the people, “I will leave you. You will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going.”
22 So the Jews asked, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he said, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”
23 But Jesus said, “You people are from here below. But I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don’t belong to this world. 24 So I told you that you would die in your sins. Yes, you will die in your sins if you don’t believe that I am he.”
25 They asked, “Then who are you?”
Jesus answered, “I am what I have told you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say about you and to judge you for. But I tell people only the things I have heard from the One who sent me. And he speaks the truth.”
27 The people did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “You will lift up the Son of Man. Then you will know that I am he. You will know that these things I do are not by my own authority. You will know that I say only what the Father has taught me. 29 The One who sent me is with me. I always do what is pleasing to him. So he has not left me alone.” 30 While Jesus was saying these things, many people believed in him.
Freedom from Sin
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “If you continue to obey my teaching, you are truly my followers. 32 Then you will know the truth. And the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered, “We are Abraham’s children. And we have never been slaves. So why do you say that we will be free?”
34 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin. 35 A slave does not stay with a family forever, but a son belongs to the family forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, then you will be truly free. 37 I know you are Abraham’s children. But you want to kill me because you don’t accept my teaching. 38 I am telling you what my Father has shown me. But you do what your father has told you.”
39 They answered, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children, you would do[a] the things that Abraham did. 40 I am a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. But you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. 41 So you are doing the things that your own father did.”
But they said, “We are not like children who never knew who their father was. God is our Father. He is the only Father we have.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me. I came from God and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority. God sent me. 43 You don’t understand what I say because you cannot accept my teaching. 44 Your father is the devil. You belong to him and want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was against the truth, for there is no truth in him. He is a liar, and he is like the lies he tells. He is the father of lies. 45 But I speak the truth. That is why you don’t believe me. 46 Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 He who belongs to God accepts what God says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”
Jesus and Abraham
48 The Jews answered, “We say you are a Samaritan! We say a demon has come into you. Are we not right?”
49 Jesus answered, “I have no demon in me. I give honor to my Father, but you dishonor me. 50 I am not trying to get honor for myself. There is One who wants this honor for me, and he is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth. If anyone obeys my teaching, he will never die.”
52 The Jews said to Jesus, “Now we know that you have a demon in you! Even Abraham and the prophets died. But you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never die.’ 53 Do you think that you are greater than our father Abraham? Abraham died. And the prophets died, too. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I give honor to myself, that honor is worth nothing. The One who gives me honor is my Father. And you say that he is your God. 55 But you don’t really know him. I know him. If I said I did not know him, then I would be a liar as you are liars. But I do know him, and I obey what he says. 56 Your father Abraham was very happy that he would see my day. He saw that day and was glad.”
57 The Jews said to him, “What? You have never seen Abraham! You are not even 50 years old!”
58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 When Jesus said this, the people picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself, and then he left the Temple.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.