M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elijah and the widow

17 There was a prophet called Elijah who came from Tishbe in Gilead. He said to King Ahab, ‘I am a servant of the Lord, Israel's God. As surely as God lives, there will be no rain or dew for the next few years. Nothing will make the ground wet until I command it to happen.’

² Then the Lord told Elijah, ³ ‘Leave here! Go to the east. Hide in the Kerith valley, east of the Jordan River.^{[a] 4} You will drink water from the stream. I have also commanded the ravens to feed you there.’ ⁵ Elijah obeyed the Lord's message. He went to live in the Kerith valley, near the Jordan River. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat to eat, every morning and every evening. He drank water from the stream.

⁷ After some time the stream became dry, because there had been no rain in the whole land.

⁸ Then the Lord told Elijah, ⁹ ‘Go now to Zarephath in the region of Sidon. Go and live there. I have told a widow who lives there that she must give you food to eat.’

¹⁰ So Elijah went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the town gate, he met a widow.^[b] She was picking up some sticks. Elijah asked her, ‘Please bring me some water in a jar, so that I can drink it.’ ¹¹ While she went to get it, he said, ‘Please bring me a piece of bread too.’ ¹² She replied, ‘As surely as the Lord your God lives, I do not have any bread. I have only a small amount of flour in a bowl and some olive oil in a small jar. I am now picking up a few sticks to take home. Then I will cook a meal for myself and for my son. We will eat it. Then we will die because there is nothing else to eat.’

¹³ Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid. Go home and do what you have said. But first, use some of your flour to make a small piece of bread for me. Then bring it to me. After that, you should make something for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says: “You will not use all the flour in your bowl. You will not use all the oil in your jar. They will not become empty until the day when the Lord causes rain to fall on the ground again.” ’

¹⁵ Then the widow went home. She did what Elijah had told her to do. After that, there was enough food every day for Elijah and for the widow and her family. ¹⁶ The flour in the bowl and the olive oil in the jar never finished. The Lord had promised Elijah that this would happen.

¹⁷ Some time after that, the widow's son became ill. He became very ill until he could no longer breathe. ¹⁸ The woman said to Elijah, ‘Servant of God, why have you come to hurt me like this? Did you come to kill my son so that I would remember all my sins?’ ¹⁹ Elijah replied, ‘Give your son to me.’ He took her son from her arms. He carried the boy upstairs, to the room where he was staying. He put the boy down to lie on his bed. ²⁰ Then Elijah prayed to the Lord, ‘Lord, my God! Why have you caused such bad trouble to happen to this kind widow? I came to stay with her and now you have killed her son!’ ²¹ Then Elijah lay with his body across the boy. He did that three times. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Lord, my God, please cause this boy's life to return to him!’ ²² The Lord answered Elijah's prayer. The boy started to breathe again. He was alive! ²³ Elijah picked up the boy. He carried him down from his room into the house. He gave the boy to his mother and he said, ‘Look! Your son is alive!’ ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a servant of God. The words that you speak are truly a message from the Lord.’

4 Masters, be fair to your servants. Give them what is right. Remember that you also serve a master, and he is in heaven.

Paul tells the believers to pray

² Continue to pray seriously. Stay awake, like people who watch carefully. And remember to thank God. ³ Also pray for us. Ask God to make it possible for us to tell people his message. We want people to understand the message about Christ that was a secret before. I am now in a prison because I taught people those things. ⁴ Pray that I will be able to tell people this message clearly. That is what I should do.

⁵ When you are with people who do not believe in Christ, be careful how you live. Use every chance to do good things. ⁶ When you speak to people, always speak kind words. Say things that will help them. Then, when someone asks you a question, you will know how to reply.

Paul finishes his letter

⁷ Our Christian friend, Tychicus, will tell you all the news about me. He works hard to serve the Lord. Like me, he is the Lord's servant. ⁸ I want him to tell you what is happening to us, so that you will feel stronger. That is the reason why I am sending him to you. ⁹ Onesimus will travel with him. As you know, he is one of your own people. He is a good Christian friend who serves Christ well. Onesimus and Tychicus will tell you everything that is happening here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus is also here with me in the prison. He says ‘hello’ to you. Barnabas's cousin, Mark also says ‘hello’ to you. I have already told you about him. So, if he comes to you, be kind to him. ¹¹ Jesus, who is also called Justus, says ‘hello’ to you, too. These three men are the only Jewish believers who are serving God with me. We work together to bring people into the kingdom of God. These men have helped me to be strong.

¹² Epaphras says ‘hello’ to you. He is also one of your people, and he is Jesus Christ's servant. He always prays very strongly for you. He prays that you will continue to grow as believers. He prays that you will completely understand everything that God wants you to do. ¹³ I can tell you this about Epaphras: He has worked very hard for you, and also for the people at Laodicea and at Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Our good friend Luke, the doctor, says ‘hello’ to you. Demas also says ‘hello’. ¹⁵ Say ‘hello’ for me to all the believers at Laodicea. Also say ‘hello’ to Nympha and to the group of believers that meet in her house.

¹⁶ After someone has read this letter to all of you, send it to the believers at Laodicea. Tell them to read it aloud to the church there. You must also read my letter that the believers at Laodicea will send to you.

¹⁷ Say to Archippus, ‘As you serve the Lord, be careful to finish the work that he gave you to do.’

¹⁸ I, Paul, am writing these words at the end of this letter with my own hand. Remember to pray for me while I am in prison. I pray that God will continue to be very kind to you.

The river from the temple

47 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw water that was pouring out from under the entrance. It was pouring towards the east. (The front entrance of the temple opened towards the east.) The river of water came from under the south side of the temple. It went past the south side of the altar. ² The man took me out through the north gate of the temple. We went around the outside to the gate that opens towards the east. There I saw a small stream of water. It was coming out from the south side of the gate.

³ The man went towards the east. He measured 500 metres in that direction. He took me through the water there. The water was as high as my ankles. ⁴ Then he measured another 500 metres along the stream. He took me through the water again. Here, the water was as high as my knees. He measured another 500 metres. He took me through the water and it was now as high as my belt. ⁵ Then he measured another 500 metres. Here the water had become a deep river. It was too deep for me to go across. Nobody could walk through it. They would need to swim.

⁶ The man said to me, ‘Son of man, you must remember what you have seen.’

Then he took me back to the river's edge. ⁷ When I got there, I saw very many trees. They were on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, ‘This river of water goes towards the land in the east. It goes into the valley of the Jordan River. Then the water goes into the Salt Sea. When it goes into the sea there, the water becomes pure instead of salty.^{[a] 9} Wherever the river goes, many kinds of animals and fish will live. There will be lots of fish in the Salt Sea because the water that goes in there will make it pure. There will be many living things in places where the river goes. ¹⁰ Men will stand on the edge of the sea to catch fish. They will use their nets to catch fish, all the way from En-Gedi to En-Eglaim. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ But the water in the pools and the wet places around the Salt Sea will not become pure. There will still be salt for people there. ¹² All kinds of fruit trees will live on each side of the river. Their leaves will never become dry. They will always give fruit every month. This is because the water that feeds them comes from the holy temple. The fruit from these trees will provide food. And their leaves will make sick people well.’

The borders of Israel's land

¹³ This is what the Almighty Lord says: ‘This is the land that you will share among Israel's 12 tribes. Give one part to each tribe, but Joseph's descendants will have two parts.^{[b] 14} Share the land in equal parts for each tribe. I promised your ancestors that I would give them this land to live in. So now it will belong to you and your descendants.

¹⁵ These will be the borders of your land:

The north border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Hethlon. It continues to go east, past Lebo-Hamath and to Zedad. ¹⁶ From there, it continues through Berothah and Sibraim. Those towns are on the border between Damascus and Hamath. Then it goes as far as Hazer-Hattikon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ The border goes from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazar-Enan. The border of Hamath is on the north side and the border of Damascus is on the south side. That is the north border of your land.

¹⁸ On the east side, the border of your land is the Jordan River. It starts between Hauran and Damascus. It goes between the region of Gilead and Israel's land, past the Salt Sea as far as Tamar. That is the east border.

¹⁹ On the south side, the border goes from Tamar to the springs of water near Meribath Kadesh. Then it goes along the Stream at Egypt's border to the Mediterranean Sea. That is the south border.

²⁰ On the west side, the Mediterranean Sea is the border of your land. It goes north to a place on the west side of Lebo-Hamath. That is the north border of your land.

²¹ You must share this land among yourselves so that each tribe of Israel receives a part. ²² Each part that you receive will belong to you and to the foreigners who live among you. Those foreigners have given birth to their own children among you. Accept them as if they were born as Israelites. They must receive land for themselves among Israel's tribes. ²³ Give them land among the tribe where they have decided to live.’

That is what the Almighty Lord says.

This is a song that David wrote.

The love of God^[a]