M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Uzziah King of Judah

26 All the people of Judah made Uzziah king. He was 16 years old. They made him king in place of his father Amaziah. ² Uzziah rebuilt Elath. He brought it under Judah’s control again. He did it after Amaziah joined the members of his family who had already died.

³ Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jekoliah. She was from Jerusalem. ⁴ Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁵ He tried to obey God during the days of Zechariah. Zechariah taught him to have respect for God. As long as Uzziah obeyed the Lord, God gave him success.

⁶ Uzziah went to war against the Philistines. He broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. Then he rebuilt some towns that were near Ashdod. He also rebuilt some other towns where Philistines lived. ⁷ God helped him fight against the Philistines. He also helped him fight against the Meunites and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal. ⁸ The Ammonites brought to Uzziah the gifts he required of them. He became famous all the way to the border of Egypt. That’s because he had become very powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. They were at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate and the angle of the wall. He made the towers very strong. ¹⁰ He also built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, because he had a lot of livestock. The livestock were in the western hills and on the plains. Uzziah had people working in his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the rich lands. That’s because he loved the soil.

¹¹ Uzziah’s army was well trained. It was ready to march out by military groups according to their numbers. Jeiel and Maaseiah brought them together. Jeiel was the secretary. Maaseiah was the officer. They were under the direction of Hananiah. He was one of the royal officials. ¹² The total number of family leaders who were over the fighting men was 2,600. ¹³ An army of 307,500 men was under their command. The men were trained for war. They were a powerful force. They helped the king against his enemies. ¹⁴ Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and stones for their slings. ¹⁵ In Jerusalem he invented machines to be used on the towers and on the corners of city walls. These machines were used by men who shot arrows from the walls. The machines were also used by men to throw large stones from the walls. Uzziah became famous everywhere. God greatly helped him until he became powerful.

¹⁶ But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride brought him down. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the altar for burning incense. ¹⁷ Azariah the priest followed him in. So did 80 other brave priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ They stood up to Uzziah. They said, “Uzziah, it isn’t right for you to burn incense to the Lord. Only the priests are supposed to do that. They are members of the family line of Aaron. They have been set apart to burn incense. So get out of here. Leave the temple. You haven’t been faithful. The Lord God won’t honor you.”

¹⁹ Uzziah was holding a shallow cup. He was ready to burn incense in it. He became angry. He shouted at the priests in the Lord’s temple. He did it near the altar for burning incense. While he was shouting, a skin disease suddenly broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him. They saw that Uzziah had a skin disease on his forehead. So they hurried him out of the temple. Actually, he himself really wanted to leave. He knew that the Lord was making him suffer.

²¹ King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day he died. He lived in a separate house because he had the disease. And he wasn’t allowed to enter the Lord’s temple. Uzziah’s son Jotham was in charge of the palace. Jotham ruled over the people of the land.

²² The other events of Uzziah’s rule from beginning to end were written down by Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah was the son of Amoz. ²³ Uzziah joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried near them in a royal burial ground. People said, “He had a skin disease.” Uzziah’s son Jotham became the next king after him.

The Beast Who Comes Out of the Sea

13 The dragon stood on the seashore. I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. There were ten crowns on its horns. On each head was an evil name that brought shame to God. ² The beast I saw looked like a leopard. But it had feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. ³ One of the beast’s heads seemed to have had a deadly wound. But the wound had been healed. The whole world was amazed and followed the beast. ⁴ People worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast. They asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against it?”

⁵ The beast was given a mouth to brag and speak evil things against God. The beast was allowed to use its authority for 42 months. ⁶ The beast opened its mouth to speak evil things against God. It told lies about God and about the place where God lives. And it told lies about those who live in heaven with him. ⁷ The beast was allowed to make war against God’s holy people and to overcome them. It was given authority over every tribe, people and nation, no matter what language they spoke. ⁸ Many people who live on the earth will worship the beast. They are the ones whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. The Lamb is the one whose death was planned before the world was created.

⁹ Whoever has ears should listen.

So God’s people must be patient and faithful.

The Beast Who Comes Out of the Earth

¹¹ Then I saw a second beast. This one came out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb. But it spoke like a dragon. ¹² This beast had all the authority of the first beast. It did what the first beast wanted. It made the earth and all who live on it worship the first beast. The first beast was the one whose deadly wound had been healed. ¹³ The second beast performed great signs. It even made fire come from heaven to the earth. And the fire was seen by everyone. ¹⁴ The first beast had given the second beast the power to perform these signs. By these signs, the second beast tricked those who live on the earth. The second beast ordered people to set up a statue to honor the first beast. The first beast was the one who had been wounded by a sword and still lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was allowed to give breath to this statue so it could speak. The statue could kill all who refused to worship it. ¹⁶ It also forced everyone to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. People great or small, rich or poor, free or slave had to receive the mark. ¹⁷ They could not buy or sell anything unless they had the mark. The mark is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

¹⁸ This problem requires wisdom. Anyone who is wise should figure out what the beast’s number means. It is the number of a man. And that number is 666.

The Lord Destroys Israel’s Enemies

9 This is a prophecy.

A King Comes to Zion

The Lord Will Appear

Mary Pours Perfume on Jesus at Bethany

12 It was six days before the Passover Feast. Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived. Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the dead. ² A dinner was given at Bethany to honor Jesus. Martha served the food. Lazarus was among the people at the table with Jesus. ³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard. It was an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the sweet smell of the perfume.

⁴ But Judas Iscariot didn’t like what Mary did. He was one of Jesus’ disciples. Later he was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies. Judas said, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold? Why wasn’t the money given to poor people? It was worth a year’s pay.” ⁶ He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. Judas was in charge of the money bag. He used to help himself to what was in it.

⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “The perfume was meant for the day I am buried. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you. But you won’t always have me.”

⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there, so they came. But they did not come only because of Jesus. They also came to see Lazarus. After all, Jesus had raised him from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too. ¹¹ Because of Lazarus, many of the Jews were starting to follow Jesus. They were believing in him.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches from palm trees and went out to meet him. They shouted,

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. This is just as it is written in Scripture. It says,

¹⁶ At first, Jesus’ disciples did not understand all this. They realized it only after he had received glory. Then they realized that these things had been written about him. They realized that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ A crowd had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. So they continued to tell everyone about what had happened. ¹⁸ Many people went out to meet him. They had heard that he had done this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Look how the whole world is following him!”

Jesus Tells About His Coming Death

²⁰ There were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship during the feast. ²¹ They came to ask Philip for a favor. Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. ²⁴ What I’m about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it. But anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. ²⁶ Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life. ²⁸ Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven. It said, “I have brought glory to my name. I will bring glory to it again.” ²⁹ The crowd there heard the voice. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus.

³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now it is time for the world to be judged. Now the prince of this world will be thrown out. ³² And I am going to be lifted up from the earth. When I am, I will bring all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show them how he was going to die.

³⁴ The crowd spoke up. “The Law tells us that the Messiah will remain forever,” they said. “So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light. Do this before darkness catches up with you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in it. Then you can become children of light.” When Jesus had finished speaking, he left and hid from them.

Some Jews Believe and Some Don’t

³⁷ Jesus had performed so many signs in front of them. But they still would not believe in him. ³⁸ This happened as Isaiah the prophet had said it would. He had said,

³⁹ For this reason, they could not believe. As Isaiah says in another place,

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴² At the same time that Jesus did those signs, many of the Jewish leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly admit they believed. They were afraid they would be thrown out of the synagogue. ⁴³ They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only. They also believe in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ The one who looks at me sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world to be its light. So no one who believes in me will stay in darkness.

⁴⁷ “I don’t judge a person who hears my words but does not obey them. I didn’t come to judge the world. I came to save the world. ⁴⁸ But there is a judge for anyone who does not accept me and my words. These words I have spoken will judge them on the last day. ⁴⁹ I did not speak on my own. The Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have said. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life. So everything I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”