M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jotham King of Judah
27 Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. 2 Jotham did what the Lord said was right. He obeyed God just as his father Uzziah had done. But Jotham did not enter the Temple of the Lord to burn incense as his father had. But the people continued doing wrong. 3 Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the Temple of the Lord. He did much building on the wall at the place named Ophel. 4 He also built towns in the hill country of Judah. And he built walled cities and towers in the forests.
5 Jotham also fought the king of the Ammonite people. And Jotham defeated the Ammonites. So each year for three years they gave Jotham about 7,500 pounds of silver. They also gave him about 62,000 bushels of wheat and about 62,000 bushels of barley. 6 Jotham became powerful because he always obeyed the Lord his God.
7 The other things Jotham did while he was king and all his wars are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8 Jotham was 25 years old when he became king. And he ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. 9 Jotham died and was buried in Jerusalem. And Jotham’s son Ahaz became king in his place.
Ahaz King of Judah
28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. And he ruled 16 years in Jerusalem. He was not like his ancestor David. He did not do what the Lord said was right. 2 Ahaz did the same things the kings of Israel had done. He made metal idols to worship Baal. 3 He burned incense in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his own sons by burning them in the fire. He did the same terrible sins as the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites. 4 Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where false gods were worshiped. And he did this on the hills and under every green tree.
5 So the Lord his God let the king of Aram defeat Ahaz. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners. The Arameans took them to Damascus.
The Lord also let Pekah king of Israel defeat Ahaz. Pekah’s army killed many soldiers of Ahaz. 6 Pekah was the son of Remaliah. Pekah’s army killed 120,000 brave soldiers from Judah in one day. Pekah defeated them because they had left the Lord. He is the God their ancestors obeyed. 7 Zicri was a warrior from Ephraim. He killed King Ahaz’s son Maaseiah. He also killed Azrikam, the officer in charge of the palace and Elkanah, second in command to the king. 8 The Israelite army captured 200,000 of their own relatives. They took women, sons and daughters and many valuable things from Judah. Then they carried them back to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He met the Israelite army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “The Lord is the God your ancestors obeyed. He let you defeat Judah because he was angry with those people. But God has seen the cruel way you killed them. 10 Now you plan to make the people of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But you also have sinned against the Lord your God. 11 Now listen to me. Send back your brothers and sisters whom you captured. Do this because the Lord is very angry with you.”
12 Then some of the leaders in Israel met the Israelite soldiers coming home from war. These leaders were Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai. 13 They warned the soldiers, “Don’t bring the prisoners from Judah here. If you do, we will be guilty of sin. That will make our sin and guilt even worse. And our guilt is already so much that the Lord is angry with Israel.”
14 So the soldiers left the prisoners and valuable things in front of the officers and people there. 15 The leaders who were named took the prisoners. These four men got the clothes that the Israelite army had taken. And they gave them to these people who were naked. They gave the prisoners clothes, sandals, food, drink and medicine. They put the weak prisoners on donkeys. Then they took them back to their families in Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned home to Samaria.
16-17 At that same time the Edomites came again. They attacked Judah and carried away prisoners. So King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. 18 The Philistines also robbed the towns in the western mountain slopes and in southern Judah. They captured the towns of Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah and Gimzo. They also captured the villages around them. Then the Philistines lived in those towns. 19 The Lord brought trouble on Judah because of Ahaz their king. Ahaz had caused the people of Judah to sin. And he had been unfaithful to the Lord. 20 Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz. But he gave Ahaz trouble instead of help. 21 Ahaz took some valuable things from the Temple of the Lord. He also took some from the king’s palace and from the princes. Ahaz gave them to the king of Assyria, but it did not help.
22 In Ahaz’s troubles he was even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods the people of Damascus worshiped. These people had defeated him. So he thought, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them. If I offer sacrifices to them, they will help me also.” But this brought ruin to Ahaz and all Israel.
24 Ahaz gathered the things from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. Then he closed the doors of the Temple of the Lord. He made altars and put them on every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah, Ahaz made places for burning sacrifices to worship other gods. He made the Lord, the God his ancestors worshiped, very angry.
26 The other things Ahaz did as king, from the beginning to the end, are written down. They are in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz died and was buried in the city of Jerusalem. But he was not buried in the graves of the kings of Israel. Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king in his place.
The Song of the Saved
14 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb. He was standing on Mount Zion.[a] There were 144,000 people with him. They all had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the noise of flooding water and like the sound of loud thunder. The sound I heard was like people playing harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living things and the elders.[b] The only ones who could learn the new song were the 144,000 who had been saved from the earth. No one else could learn the song. 4 These 144,000 are the ones who did not do sinful things with women. They kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb every place he goes. These 144,000 were saved from among the people of the earth. They are the first people to be offered to God and the Lamb. 5 They were not guilty of telling lies. They are without fault.
The Three Angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying high in the air. The angel had the eternal Good News to preach to those who live on earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 7 The angel said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him praise. The time has come for God to judge all people. Worship God. He made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.”
8 Then the second angel followed the first angel and said, “She is destroyed! The great city of Babylon is destroyed! She made all the nations drink the wine of her adultery and of God’s anger.”
9 A third angel followed the first two angels. This third angel said in a loud voice: “It will be bad for the person who worships the beast and his idol and gets the beast’s mark on the forehead or on the hand. 10 He will drink the wine of God’s anger. This wine is prepared with all its strength in the cup of God’s anger. He will be put in pain with burning sulfur before the holy angels and the Lamb. 11 And the smoke from their burning pain will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest, day or night, for those who worship the beast and his idol or who get the mark of his name.” 12 This means that God’s holy people must be patient. They must obey God’s commands and keep their faith in Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven. It said, “Write this: From now on, the dead who were in the Lord when they died are happy.”
The Spirit says, “Yes, that is true. They will rest from their hard work. The reward of all they have done stays with them.”
The Earth Is Harvested
14 I looked and there before me was a white cloud. Sitting on the white cloud was One who looked like a Son of Man.[c] He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle[d] in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple. This angel called to the One who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and gather from the earth. The time to harvest has come. The fruit of the earth is ripe.” 16 So the One that was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth. And the earth was harvested.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. This angel also had a sharp sickle. 18 And then another angel came from the altar. This angel has power over the fire. This angel called to the angel with the sharp sickle. He said, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the bunches of grapes from the earth’s vine. The earth’s grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle over the earth. He gathered the earth’s grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s anger. 20 The grapes were crushed in the winepress outside the city. And blood flowed out of the winepress. It rose as high as the heads of the horses for a distance of 200 miles.
The Lord’s Promises
10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime.
The Lord makes the clouds.
He sends the showers.
And he gives everyone green fields.
2 Idols tell lies.
Fortune-tellers see false visions.
They tell about false dreams.
The comfort they give is worth nothing.
So the people are like lost sheep.
They are abused because there is no shepherd.
3 The Lord says, “I am angry at my shepherds.
I will punish the leaders.
I, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will care
for my flock, which is the people of Judah.
I will make them like my proud war horses.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone
and the tent peg.
From him will come the battle bow.
From him will come every ruler.
5 They will be like soldiers
marching to battle through muddy streets.
The Lord is with them.
So they will fight and defeat the horsemen.
6 “I will strengthen the people of Judah.
And I will save the people of Joseph.
I will bring them back
because I care for them.
It will be as though
I had never left them.
I am the Lord their God,
and I will answer their calls for help.
7 The people of Ephraim will be strong like soldiers.
They will be glad as when they have drunk wine.
Their children will see it and rejoice.
They will be happy in the Lord.
8 I will call my people
and gather them together.
I will save them.
And there will be as many of them as there used to be.
9 I have scattered them among the nations.
But in those faraway places, they will remember me.
They and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt.
I will gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon.
There won’t be enough room in the land for them all.
11 They will come through their sea of trouble.
The waves of the sea will be calm.
And the Nile River will dry up.
I will defeat Assyria’s pride.
I will destroy Egypt’s power over other countries.
12 I will make my people strong.
And they will live as I say,” says the Lord.
Jesus Washes His Followers’ Feet
13 It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. Jesus knew that it was time for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. He had always loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them all the way to the end.
2 Jesus and his followers were at the evening meal. The devil had already persuaded Judas Iscariot to turn against Jesus. (Judas was the son of Simon.) 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything. He also knew that he had come from God and was going back to God. 4 So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet. He dried them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 Jesus came to Simon Peter. But Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand what I am doing now. But you will understand later.”
8 Peter said, “No! You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, then you are not one of my people.”
9 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, after you wash my feet, wash my hands and my head, too!”
10 Jesus said, “After a person has had a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you men are clean, but not all of you.” 11 Jesus knew who would turn against him. That is why Jesus said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and sat down again. Jesus asked, “Do you understand what I have just done for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ And this is right, because that is what I am. 14 I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet. So you also should wash each other’s feet. 15 I did this as an example for you. So you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth. A servant is not greater than his master. A messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you will be happy if you do them.
18 “I am not talking about all of you. I know those I have chosen. But what the Scripture said must happen: ‘The man who ate at my table has now turned against me.’[a] 19 I am telling you this now before it happens. Then when it happens you will believe that I am he. 20 I tell you the truth. Whoever accepts anyone I send also accepts me. And whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me.”
Jesus Talks About His Death
21 After Jesus said this, he was very troubled. He said openly, “I tell you the truth. One of you will turn against me.”
22 The followers all looked at each other. They did not know whom Jesus was talking about. 23 One of the followers was sitting[b] next to Jesus. This was the follower Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter made signs to him to ask Jesus who it was that he was talking about.
25 That follower leaned closer to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it that will turn against you?”
26 Jesus answered, “I will dip this bread into the dish. The man I give it to is the man who will turn against me.” So Jesus took a piece of bread. He dipped it and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus said to Judas, “The thing that you will do—do it quickly!” 28 None of the men at the table understood why Jesus said this to Judas. 29 He was the one who kept the money box. So some of the followers thought that Jesus was telling Judas to buy what was needed for the feast. Or they thought that Jesus wanted Judas to give something to the poor.
30 Judas accepted the bread Jesus gave him and immediately went out. It was night.
31 When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man receives his glory. And God receives glory through him. 32 If God receives glory through him,[c] then God will give glory to the Son through himself. And God will give him glory quickly.”
33 Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me. And what I told the Jews, I tell you now: Where I am going you cannot come.
34 “I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. 35 All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.”
Peter Will Say He Doesn’t Know Jesus
36 Simon Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow now. But you will follow later.”
37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I am ready to die for you!”
38 Jesus answered, “Will you really die for me? I tell you the truth. Before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.