M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

5 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man before his master and held favor because by him the Lord had given deliverance to Aram. He was also a mighty warrior, but he had leprosy.

² The Arameans had gone out raiding and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel, and she waited on the wife of Naaman. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would take away his leprosy from him.”

⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” ⁵ The king of Aram said, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and took with him ten talents^[a] of silver, six thousand shekels^[b] of gold, and ten sets of clothes. ⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “Now when this letter comes to you, know that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may take away from him his leprosy.”

⁷ When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends a man to me to take away his leprosy? But consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stood at the entrance to the house of Elisha. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be returned and cleansed.”

¹¹ But Naaman became angry and went away and said to himself, “Surely he could have come out, and stood and called on the name of the Lord his God, and waved his hand over the infected area, and taken away the leprosy. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

¹³ But his servants approached and spoke to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.

¹⁵ Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company. He came and stood before him, and he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the land, except in Israel. Now take a gift from your servant.”

¹⁶ But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will take no gift.” He urged him to take it, but he refused.

¹⁷ Then Naaman said, “If not, let two mule loads of dirt be given to your servant, for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to any god, except the Lord. ¹⁸ But may the Lord pardon your servant on one account: When my master enters the house of Rimmon to worship, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one account.”

¹⁹ He said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a short distance.

Gehazi’s Greed

²⁰ Then Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said, “My master has spared Naaman the Aramean by not taking from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”

²¹ So Gehazi pursued Naaman. Then Naaman saw him running after him, jumped down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is everything all right?”

²² And he said, “Everything is all right. My master has sent me and says, ‘Even now two servants from Ephraim, from the sons of the prophets, have come to me. Give them a talent^[c] of silver and two changes of clothes.’ ”

²³ Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” He urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them before Gehazi. ²⁴ When he came to Ophel, he took them from their hand and put them away in the house. Then he sent the men away, and they departed.

²⁵ Then he entered and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you come from, Gehazi?”

And he said, “Your servant went here and there.”

²⁶ He said to him, “Did my heart not go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to take money, and to take garments, olives and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? ²⁷ The leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence, leprous like snow.

Instructions Concerning Prayer

2 Therefore I exhort first of all that you make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone, ² for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, ³ for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself as a ransom for all. This was the testimony given at the proper time. ⁷ For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ and do not lie), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

⁸ Therefore I desire that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or contentiousness. ⁹ In like manner also, that women clothe themselves in modest clothing, with decency and self-control, not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothing, ¹⁰ but with good works, which is proper for women professing godliness.

¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with all obedience. ¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to usurp authority over a man, but to be silent. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into sin. ¹⁵ Yet she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

The Prayer of Daniel

9 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which were specified by the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, that is, seventy years. ³ I set my face toward the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said,

“Alas, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping His covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments. ⁵ We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and from Your judgments. ⁶ We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our officials, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, who are near and who are far off, through all the countries wherever You have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against You. ⁸ O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, to our officials, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law, even by departing that they might not obey Your voice.

“Therefore the curse has been poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² He has confirmed His words, which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done such as has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the Law of Moses, great calamity has come on us. Yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God so that we might turn from our iniquities and give attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord has kept the disaster in store and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He does, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, even to this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ¹⁶ O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I beseech You, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

¹⁷ “Now therefore, O God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and look at our desolations and the city which is called by Your name, for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousness, but for Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not defer, for Your own sake, O my God. For Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

The Seventy Weeks

²⁰ While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, ²¹ indeed, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. ²² He informed me and talked with me, and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision:

²⁴ “Seventy weeks have been determined for your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

²⁵ “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until the Prince Messiah shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of trouble. ²⁶ After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the troops of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall come with a flood. And until the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”

Psalm 117

Psalm 118