M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

21 Y’hoshafat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and Y’horam his son became king in his place. ² He had brothers who were sons of Y’hoshafat — ‘Azaryah, Yechi’el, Z’kharyahu, ‘Azaryahu, Mikha’el and Sh’fatyahu; all these were sons of Y’hoshafat king of Isra’el. ³ Their father had given them lavish gifts of silver, gold and other items of value, as well as fortified cities in Y’hudah; but he had given the kingdom to Y’horam, because he was the firstborn. ⁴ But when Y’horam had taken control of his father’s kingdom and consolidated his rule, he put to the sword all his brothers and a number of the leading men in Isra’el.

⁵ He was thirty-two years old when he began his reign, and he ruled eight years in Yerushalayim. ⁶ He lived after the example of the kings of Isra’el, as did the house of Ach’av; because he had married Ach’av’s daughter; he did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective. ⁷ However, Adonai was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David; inasmuch as he had promised to give him and his children a lamp that would burn forever.

⁸ During his time Edom revolted against Y’hudah and set up its own king. ⁹ Then Y’horam crossed with his commanders and all his chariots. Under cover of night, he and his chariot commanders attacked and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, since that day Edom has remained free of Y’hudah’s domination. Livnah revolted against him at the same time, because he had abandoned Adonai the God of his ancestors. ¹¹ Moreover, he built high places in the hills of Y’hudah, caused the people living in Yerushalayim to prostitute themselves and drew Y’hudah away.

¹² A letter came to him from Eliyahu the prophet which said, “Here is what Adonai, the God of David your ancestor, says: ‘You have not lived by the examples of Y’hoshafat your father or Asa king of Y’hudah. ¹³ Instead you have lived by the example of the kings of Isra’el and have caused Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ach’av caused [Isra’el] to prostitute themselves. Moreover, you killed your brothers from your father’s house, men better than you. ¹⁴ Because of all this, Adonai is going to strike your people with a terrible disease, also your children, your wives and everything you have. ¹⁵ You will be very ill from a disease in your intestines, until your intestines protrude, because of the effects of this disease, day after day.’”

¹⁶ Then Adonai aroused against Y’horam the spirit of the P’lishtim and of the Arabs near the Ethiopians; ¹⁷ and they came up to attack Y’hudah. They broke in and carried off all the personal property they could find in the royal palace, as well as his children and his wives; so that no son was left to him except Y’ho’achaz his youngest son.

¹⁸ After all this, Adonai struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. ¹⁹ In time, after two years, his intestines protruded because of his disease, and he suffered a most painful death. His people kindled no fire for him, as had been done for his ancestors. ²⁰ He was thirty-two years old when he began his reign, he ruled in Yerushalayim for eight years, and he left without joy. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

9 The fifth angel sounded his shofar; and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven onto the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. ² He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and there went up smoke from the shaft like the smoke of a huge furnace; the sun was darkened, and the sky too, by the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then out of the smoke onto the earth came locusts, and they were given power like the power scorpions have on earth. ⁴ They were instructed not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant or any tree, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not allowed to kill them, only to inflict pain on them for five months; and the pain they caused was like the pain of a scorpion sting. ⁶ In those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

⁷ Now these locusts looked like horses outfitted for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. ⁹ Their chests were like iron breastplates, and the sound their wings made was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like those of scorpions, with stings; and in their tails was their power to hurt people for five months. ¹¹ They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is “Abaddon” and in our language, “Destroyer.”

¹² The first woe has passed, but there are still two woes to come.

¹³ The sixth angel sounded his shofar, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel, the one with the shofar, “Release the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates!” ¹⁵ And they were released. These four angels had been kept ready for this moment, for this day and month and year, to kill a third of mankind; ¹⁶ and the number of cavalry soldiers was two hundred million! — I heard the number.

¹⁷ Here is how the horses looked in the vision: the riders had breastplates that were fire-red, iris-blue and sulfur-yellow; the horses’ heads were like lions’ heads; and from their mouths issued fire, smoke and sulfur. ¹⁸ It was these three plagues that killed a third of mankind — the fire, smoke and sulfur issuing from the horses’ mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses was in their mouths — and also in their tails, for their tails were like snakes with heads, and with them they could cause injury.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, those who were not killed by these plagues, even then did not turn from what they had made with their own hands — they did not stop worshipping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.^{[a] 21} Nor did they turn from their murdering, their involvement with the occult and with drugs, their sexual immorality or their stealing.

5 Again I raised my eyes, and I saw in front of me a flying scroll. ² He said to me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. ³ Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the land; for [according to what is written] on one side, everyone who steals will be swept away; and [according to what is written] on the other side, everyone who swears will be swept away. ⁴ ‘I will release it,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name; it will stay there inside the house and consume it completely, even its timbers and stones.’”

⁵ Then the angel speaking with me went forward and said to me, “Now raise your eyes, and see what this thing is, passing by.” ⁶ I asked, “What is it?” He said, “This is the eifah-measure [a one-bushel dry-measure] passing by.” Then he added, “This is their eye in all the land.” ⁷ Next I saw a lead disc lifted up to reveal a woman sitting in the eifah. ⁸ He said, “This is Evil.” He threw her down into the eifah and pressed the lead weight over its opening. ⁹ I raised my eyes and saw two women coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like those of a stork. They lifted the eifah up between the earth and the sky. ¹⁰ I asked the angel speaking with me, “Where are they taking the eifah?” ¹¹ He answered me, “To build it a shrine in the land of Shin‘ar. When it’s ready, [the eifah] will be set down there on its base.”

8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. ² At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. ⁴ Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” ⁶ They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. ⁷ When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. ⁹ On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. ¹⁰ Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”

¹² Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” ¹³ So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” ¹⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going. ¹⁵ You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one; ¹⁶ but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me. ¹⁷ And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸ I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”

¹⁹ They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” ²⁰ He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹ Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ Yeshua said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ²⁴ This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” Yeshua answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start. ²⁶ There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Yeshua said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [who I say I am], and that of myself I do nothing, but say only what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ Also, the One who sent me is still with me; he did not leave me to myself, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ Many people who heard him say these things trusted in him. ³¹ So Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted him, “If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim, ³² you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered, “We are the seed of Avraham and have never been slaves to anyone; so what do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?” ³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ Now a slave does not remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son frees you, you will really be free! ³⁷ I know you are the seed of Avraham. Yet you are out to kill me, because what I am saying makes no headway in you. ³⁸ I say what my Father has shown me; you do what your father has told you!”

³⁹ They answered him, “Our father is Avraham.” Yeshua replied, “If you are children of Avraham, then do the things Avraham did! ⁴⁰ As it is, you are out to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Avraham did nothing like that! ⁴¹ You are doing the things your father does.” “We’re not illegitimate children!” they said to him. “We have only one Father — God!” ⁴² Yeshua replied to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me; because I came out from God; and now I have arrived here. I did not come on my own; he sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you can’t bear to listen to my message. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie! ⁴⁵ But as for me, because I tell the truth you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you can show me where I’m wrong? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says; the reason you don’t listen is that you don’t belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Judeans answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Yeshua replied, “Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death.”

⁵² The Judeans said to him, “Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Avraham avinu died; you aren’t greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?” ⁵⁴ Yeshua answered, “If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵ Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word. ⁵⁶ Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed.”

⁵⁷ “Why, you’re not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans replied, “and you have seen Avraham?” ⁵⁸ Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!” ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.