M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Elijah goes up to heaven
2 The Lord was now ready to take Elijah up to heaven in a storm of wind. At this time, Elijah and Elisha were travelling from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you also live.’
So they went down to Bethel together. 3 A group of prophets lived in Bethel. They came out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’
4 Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’
So they went to Jericho together. 5 A group of prophets lived in Jericho. They went out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to the Jordan River.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’
So they continued to travel together. 7 50 men who belonged to the group of prophets went and they stood near the Jordan River. They were standing not far away from Elijah and Elisha. They watched what happened. 8 Elijah took off his coat. He rolled it up and he hit the water with it. The water became separate to the left side and to the right side. Elijah and Elisha went across the river on dry ground.
9 After they had crossed the river, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘The Lord will soon take me away from you. What do you want me to do for you before that happens?’ Elisha replied, ‘Please let me have twice as much of your spirit.’ 10 Elijah said, ‘You have asked a difficult thing. But watch carefully when God takes me from you. If you see it happen, you will receive that spirit. If you do not see me, you will not receive it.’
11 So they walked along and they talked together. Suddenly a chariot that was burning with fire appeared. The horses that pulled it were also burning with fire. The chariot went between Elijah and Elisha. Elijah went up to heaven in a storm of wind. 12 When Elisha saw this, he shouted, ‘My father! My father![a] You are riding in Israel's chariot! Israel's men are riding on the horses!’
After that, Elisha could not see Elijah again. He took hold of his own clothes and he tore them into pieces because he was very upset. 13 He picked up Elijah's coat that had fallen off. He went and he stood on the shore of the Jordan River. 14 He took Elijah's coat and he hit the water with it. He said, ‘Now is the Lord, Elijah's God, with me?’ When he hit the water with Elijah's coat, the water became separate, to the left side and to the right side. Elisha went across the river.
15 The group of prophets from Jericho were standing not far away. They saw what happened. They said, ‘The spirit that gave power to Elijah is now with Elisha.’ They went to meet Elisha. They bent down low to the ground to respect him. 16 They said to him, ‘Please, sir! We are your servants. We have 50 strong men with us. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit[b] of the Lord has carried him away. Maybe it has dropped him somewhere on a mountain or in a valley.’ But Elisha replied, ‘No. Do not send them to look for him.’
17 But the prophets asked him many times to do this. Elisha was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, ‘Send them to look.’ They sent 50 men who looked for Elijah for three days. But they did not find him. 18 When they returned, Elisha was waiting for them in Jericho. He said to them, ‘I told you not to go and look for Elijah.’
Elisha shows that he has God's authority
19 One day, the leaders in Jericho said to Elisha, ‘Please listen to us, sir. You can see that our city is in a good place. But the water here is bad. The land does not give us good crops.’ 20 Elisha said, ‘Bring a new bowl to me with some salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. 21 Then Elisha went out to the city's spring of water. He threw the salt into it. He said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have made this water clean again. It will no longer cause people to die. The land will no longer be useless for crops.” ’
22 Since that time, the water has always been pure. This is what Elisha had said would happen.
23 Elisha went from Jericho to Bethel. While he travelled along the road, some boys came out of the town. They laughed at Elisha. They shouted at him, ‘Bald man, move on! Go away, you bald man!’ 24 Elisha turned around and he looked at them. He asked the Lord to punish them. Two bears came out from the forest. They tore 42 of the boys in pieces.
25 Then Elisha travelled to Mount Carmel. From there, he returned to Samaria.
The day when the Lord Jesus will return
2 Our Christian friends, we must explain something now about the time when our Lord Jesus Christ will return. That is the time when he will bring us all together to be with him. 2 Please do not become easily confused about this. Do not let yourselves become afraid because of false messages about the Lord's return. Some people are telling you that the great day of the Lord's return has already happened.[a] Some of these people say that God's Spirit has shown them a message like that. Other people might say that the message came from us. Or they might say that we wrote it in a letter.[b]
3 Do not let anyone deceive you like that in any way. That day will not happen until certain other things have happened. Before that day, there will be a time when many people will turn against God. Also, the man who is completely against God will appear.[c] God will surely destroy him in the end. 4 This man will be God's great enemy. He will say that he is greater than everything that people call their gods. He will say that he is greater than everything that people worship. As a result, he will even go into the temple. He will sit down there like a king. He will tell everyone that he himself is God.
5 I told you these things when I was with you. I am sure that you remember that.
6 Something makes it impossible for this man to come now. And you know what it is. But this man will appear at the proper time. 7 His power is already working secretly to turn people against God. But there is someone who makes it impossible for him to work freely. That person will continue to make it impossible, until God takes that person away. 8 Then the man who is against God will appear. But the Lord Jesus will come, and he will kill that man. Jesus will blow him away with breath from his mouth. When Jesus appears with great power, that enemy of God will be there no longer![d]
9 When the enemy of God appears, he will be doing Satan's work. Satan will give him the power to do great things and miracles that are false. 10 He will do all kinds of bad things that deceive people. The people that he deceives are people that God will destroy. Those people believe false things because they have refused to accept God's true message. If they had loved that true message, God would have saved them. 11 For this reason, God causes their minds to accept something that is wrong. They believe a false message. 12 As a result, God will punish all of them. They have refused to believe what is true. Instead, they have enjoyed doing very bad things.
The believers must continue to trust God
13 We always thank God for you, our Christian friends that the Lord loves. We ought to thank God, because he has chosen to save you. God chose you to belong to him, as some of the first people that he would save. You believed God's true message. And God's Spirit makes you separate from things that are bad. 14 We told you God's good news. That is how God called you to come to him. He saved you so that you would join with our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
15 Because of that, our Christian friends, you must continue to trust Christ. Continue to believe the true things that we taught you. Those are the things that we told you when we were with you. We also wrote about them in our letter to you.
16 We ask our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, our Father, to help you. God has shown that he loves us very much. He has helped us to be brave and strong for all time. We continue to hope for the good things that will come. Yes, God has been very kind to us! 17 We pray that he will continue to help you and make you strong. Then you will always be able to do good things and to say good things.
Some men speak to the king against Daniel[a]
6 King Darius decided to choose 120 men to rule the regions of his nation. Together, they would rule the whole kingdom. 2 He also chose three other men to be his officers. He gave them authority over the 120 rulers. The king wanted to be sure that they were working well. Daniel was one of the three officers. 3 Daniel did his work much better than the other officers and rulers. He was very good at his job. Daniel was so good that the king wanted to make him ruler over the whole kingdom.
4 The other officers and rulers were jealous. They wanted to find something bad about Daniel so that they could tell the king. They watched how Daniel worked to serve the king. But they could not find that he did any wrong thing. That was because Daniel was good and honest. He always did everything properly. 5 Then these men said to each other, ‘We cannot find anything that Daniel does wrong in his work. We must find something that he does to obey the laws of his God.’
6 So the officers and rulers agreed together what they would do. They went to the king and they said, ‘King Darius, live for ever! 7 All the officers in the kingdom have decided on a good idea. All the rulers, the judges, the wise people, and the leaders in the different regions agree. We think that the king should make a strong law. For 30 days, people must pray only to you, the king. If they pray to any other person or god, you must punish them. Your servants must throw them into the cave where your lions live. 8 You should write down this law and then you should write your name on it, as king. Then it will be a law of the Medes and the Persians which nobody can change.’
9 King Darius agreed. He wrote his name on this new law.[b]
Daniel refuses to obey the king's new law
10 Daniel heard that the king had written this new law. Then he went home. He went upstairs to his room where the windows opened in the direction of Jerusalem. He bent down on his knees and he prayed to God, and he thanked God. He did that three times every day, in the same way that he had always done before.
11 Then the officers and rulers who were jealous of Daniel went to see what he would do. They saw that Daniel was praying to God and he was asking God for help. 12 So they went to tell the king about this. They said, ‘Remember that you wrote a new law. You commanded that for 30 days, nobody must pray to any god or person, except to you, the king. If anyone prays to someone else, your servants must throw them into the cave where your lions live.’
The king answered them, ‘It is true. It is a law of the Medes and the Persians and nobody can change it.’
13 Then the officers said to the king, ‘But Daniel does not obey your new law. He is one of the men that they brought here from Judah. He does not respect you or your law. He still prays three times every day to his God.’
14 When the king heard this, he was very sad. He tried to think of a way to save Daniel. Until sunset, the king thought about what he could do to save Daniel.[c] 15 Then the officers agreed together and they went back to the king. They said, ‘Remember, sir, that nobody can change a law that the king has made. It is a law of the Medes and the Persians.’
16 So the king sent his servants to fetch Daniel. Then they threw Daniel into the cave where the lions lived. The king said to Daniel, ‘You have always continued to serve your God. I am sure that he will save you.’ 17 They took a big stone and they covered the top of the lions' cave. The king put a mark on the stone with his ring of authority. He also marked it with the rings of his important men. This meant that nobody could move the big stone to save Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace. He ate no food. Nobody brought anything to him to give him pleasure. He was unable to sleep.
God shuts the lions' mouths
19 The king got up very early in the morning, at sunrise. He hurried to the cave where the lions were. 20 When he got near to the cave, he was very upset. He shouted to Daniel, ‘Daniel, you have continued to worship the living God, as his servant. Was your God able to save you from the lions?’
21 Then Daniel said to the king, ‘King, live for ever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the lions' mouths. So the lions have not hurt me. God knows that I have done no wrong thing. I have not done anything to hurt you, the king, either.’
23 The king was very happy when he heard Daniel's voice. He told his servants that they must pull Daniel up out of the lions' cave. So they lifted him out. When they looked at him, they saw that the lions had not hurt him at all. Daniel had trusted in his God, so God had kept him safe.
King Darius punishes the jealous men
24 Then the king gave a command to his servants. They brought the jealous men who had said bad things against Daniel. They threw them into the lions' cave, together with their wives and their children. Before they reached the floor of the cave, the lions attacked them. They broke all their bones into pieces.
25 After that, King Darius wrote to all the people of every nation, who spoke all languages. He wrote:
‘I hope that you all have good and happy lives.
26 I have made a law for every part of my kingdom. All people must respect the God that Daniel serves. They must respect him with fear.
He is the God who always lives.
He will continue for ever.
Nobody will ever destroy his kingdom.
He will rule for ever.
27 He rescues his people and he keeps them safe.
He does powerful miracles in the heavens and on the earth.
He has saved Daniel from the lions' power!’
28 So Daniel continued to have authority while Darius was king, and also when Cyrus from Persia became king.[d]
God makes his people strong[a]
112 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
When someone respects the Lord with fear,
God has blessed that person!
He is happy to obey the Lord's commands.
2 His children will become powerful in the land.
God will bless their descendants who serve him.
3 His family will have valuable things,
and they will be rich.
People will always remember
the good things that they have done.
4 God's light shines on those who serve him,
even when they are in a dark place.
God blesses those who are kind to others,
and who do what is right and fair.
5 People who are kind and lend money to others,
and who work in an honest way,
will enjoy a good life.
6 Righteous people will never fail.
People will always remember them.
7 They are not afraid to hear bad news.
They are brave,
because they trust in the Lord.
8 Their thoughts are strong
and they will not be afraid.
They know that they will win against their enemies.
9 They give their things to help poor people.
People will always remember
the good things that they have done.
They will be powerful
and people will respect them.
10 When wicked people see this,
they will be angry.
They will show their teeth in anger,
but then they will disappear.
Whatever wicked people want,
they will never get it.
Hallelujah, God helps weak people[b]
113 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Servants of the Lord, praise him!
Praise the name of the Lord!
2 Everyone should praise the Lord
now and for ever!
3 The Lord deserves that people praise him,
from where the sun rises in the east,
to where it goes down in the west.
4 The Lord rules over all nations.
His glory is great
higher than the heavens!
5 There is nobody like the Lord our God.
He sits on his throne high above us.
6 He bends down to look below,
at the sky and the earth.
7 He lifts poor people out of the dirt.
And he lifts up weak people from the ashes.
8 He gives them a seat with princes,
the princes who rule his own people.
9 He makes the wife who cannot give birth
into a happy mother of children.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
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