M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Elijah Runs Away from Ahab and Jezebel
19 Ahab told his wife Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had killed the prophets. 2 She sent a message to Elijah: “You killed my prophets. Now I'm going to kill you! I pray that the gods will punish me even more severely if I don't do it by this time tomorrow.”
3 Elijah was afraid when he got her message, and he ran to the town of Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there, 4 (A) then walked another whole day into the desert. Finally, he came to a large bush and sat down in its shade. He begged the Lord, “I've had enough. Just let me die! I'm no better off than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down in the shade and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel woke him up and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 Elijah looked around, and by his head was a jar of water and some baked bread. He sat up, ate and drank, then lay down and went back to sleep.
7 Soon the Lord's angel woke him again and said, “Get up and eat, or else you'll get too tired to travel.” 8 So Elijah sat up and ate and drank.
The food and water made him strong enough to walk 40 more days. At last, he reached Mount Sinai,[a] the mountain of God, 9 and he spent the night there in a cave.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
While Elijah was on Mount Sinai, the Lord asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”
10 (B) He answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I've always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”
11 “Go out and stand on the mountain,” the Lord replied. “I want you to be there when I pass by.”
All at once, a strong wind shook the mountain and shattered the rocks. But the Lord was not in the wind. Next, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 Then there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
Finally, there was a gentle breeze,[b] 13 and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.
A voice asked, “Elijah, why are you here?”
14 Elijah answered, “Lord God All-Powerful, I've always done my best to obey you. But your people have broken their solemn promise to you. They have torn down your altars and killed all your prophets, except me. And now they are even trying to kill me!”
15 (C) The Lord said:
Elijah, you can go back to the desert near Damascus. And when you get there, appoint[c] Hazael to be king of Syria. 16 (D) Then appoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat[d] to take your place as my prophet.
17 Hazael will start killing the people who worship Baal. Jehu will kill those who escape from Hazael, and Elisha will kill those who escape from Jehu.
18 (E) But 7,000 Israelites have refused to worship Baal, and they will live.
Elisha Becomes Elijah's Assistant
19 Elijah left and found Elisha plowing a field with a pair of oxen. There were eleven other men in front of him, and each one was also plowing with a pair of oxen. Elijah went over and put his own coat on Elisha.[e]
20 Elisha stopped plowing and ran after him. “Let me kiss my parents goodbye, then I'll go with you,” he said.
“You can go,” Elijah said. “But remember what I've done for you.”
21 Elisha left and took his oxen with him. He killed them and boiled them over a fire he had made with the wood from his plow. He gave the meat to the people who were with him, and they ate it. Then he left with Elijah and became his assistant.
Paul's Work in Thessalonica
2 My friends, you know our time with you wasn't wasted. 2 (A) As you remember, we had been mistreated and insulted at Philippi. But God gave us the courage to tell you the good news about him, even though many people caused us trouble. 3 We didn't have any hidden motives when we won you over, and we didn't try to fool or trick anyone. 4 God was pleased to trust us with his message. We didn't speak to please people, but to please God who knows our motives.
5 You also know we didn't try to flatter anyone. God himself knows what we did wasn't a cover-up for greed. 6 We were not trying to get you or anyone else to praise us. 7 But as apostles, we could have demanded help from you. After all, Christ is the one who sent us. We chose to be like children or like a mother[a] nursing her baby. 8 We cared so much for you, and you became so dear to us, that we were willing to give our lives for you when we gave you God's message.
9 My dear friends, you surely haven't forgotten our hard work and hardships. You remember how night and day we struggled to make a living, so we could tell you God's message without being a burden to anyone. 10 Both you and God are witnesses that we were pure and honest and innocent in our dealings with you followers of the Lord. 11 You also know we did everything for you that parents would do for their own children. 12 We begged, encouraged, and urged each of you to live in a way that would honor God. He is the one who chose you to share in his own kingdom and glory.
13 We always thank God that you believed the message we preached. It came from him, and it isn't something made up by humans. You accepted it as God's message, and now he is working in you. 14 (B) My friends, you did just like God's churches in Judea and like the other followers of Christ Jesus there. And so, you were mistreated by your own people, in the same way they were mistreated by their people.
15 (C) Those evil people killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and they even chased us away. God doesn't like what they do and neither does anyone else. 16 They keep us from speaking his message to the Gentiles and from leading them to be saved. They have always gone too far with their sins. Now God has finally become angry and will punish them.
Paul Wants To Visit the Church Again
17 My friends, we were kept from coming to you for a while, but we never stopped thinking about you. We were eager to see you and tried our best to visit you in person. 18 We really wanted to come. I myself tried several times, but Satan always stopped us. 19 After all, when the Lord Jesus appears, who else but you will give us hope and joy and be like a glorious crown for us? 20 You alone are our glory and joy!
Daniel and His Friends
1 (A) In the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah,[a] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia attacked Jerusalem. 2 (B) The Lord let Nebuchadnezzar capture Jehoiakim and take away some of the things used in God's temple. And when the king returned to Babylonia,[b] he put these things in the temple of his own god.
3 One day the king ordered Ashpenaz, his highest palace official, to choose some young men from the royal family of Judah and from other leading Jewish families. 4 The king said, “They must be healthy, handsome, smart, wise, educated, and fit to serve in the royal palace. Teach them how to speak and write our language 5 and give them the same food and wine that I am served. Train them for three years, and then they can become court officials.”
6 Four of the young Jews chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all from the tribe of Judah. 7 But the king's chief official gave them Babylonian names: Daniel became Belteshazzar, Hananiah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach, and Azariah became Abednego.
8 Daniel made up his mind to eat and drink only what God had approved for his people to eat. And he asked the king's chief official for permission not to eat the food and wine served in the royal palace. 9 God had made the official friendly and kind to Daniel. 10 But the man still told him, “The king has decided what you must eat and drink. And I am afraid he will kill me, if you eat something else and end up looking worse than the other young men.”
11 The king's official had put a guard in charge of Daniel and his three friends. So Daniel said to the guard, 12 “For the next ten days, let us have only vegetables and water at mealtime. 13 When the ten days are up, compare how we look with the other young men, and decide what to do with us.” 14 The guard agreed to do what Daniel had asked.
15 Ten days later, Daniel and his friends looked healthier and better than the young men who had been served food from the royal palace. 16 After this, the guard let them eat vegetables instead of the rich food and wine.
17 God made the four young men smart and wise. They read a lot of books and became well educated. Daniel could also tell the meaning of dreams and visions.
18 At the end of the three-year period set by King Nebuchadnezzar, his chief palace official brought all the young men to him. 19 The king interviewed them and discovered that none of the others were as outstanding as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they were given positions in the royal court. 20 From then on, whenever the king asked for advice, he found their wisdom was ten times better than that of any of his other advisors and magicians. 21 Daniel served there until the first year of King Cyrus.[c]
The Lord Can Be Trusted
1 (A) Praise the Lord
and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
what he has done.
2 Sing praises to the Lord!
Tell about his miracles.
3 Celebrate and worship
his holy name
with all your heart.
4 Trust the Lord
and his mighty power.
5 Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
and his fair decisions.
6 You belong to the family
of Abraham, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
the descendants of Jacob.
7 The Lord is our God,
bringing justice
everywhere on earth.
8 He will never forget
his agreement or his promises,
not in thousands of years.
* 9 (B) God made an eternal promise
10 (C) to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
11 when he said, “I'll give you
the land of Canaan.”
12 At the time there were
only a few of us,
and we were homeless.
13 We wandered from nation
to nation, from one country
to another.
14 (D) God did not let anyone
mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us
by punishing rulers
15 and telling them,
“Don't touch my chosen leaders
or harm my prophets!”
16 (E) God kept crops from growing
until food was scarce
everywhere in the land.
17 (F) But he had already sent Joseph,
sold as a slave into Egypt,
18 (G) with chains of iron
around his legs and neck.
19 Joseph remained a slave
until his own words
had come true,
and the Lord had finished
testing him.
20 (H) Then the king of Egypt
set Joseph free
21 (I) and put him in charge
of everything he owned.
22 Joseph was in command
of the officials,
and he taught the leaders
how to use wisdom.
23 (J) Jacob and his family
came and settled in Egypt
as foreigners.
24 (K) They were the Lord's people,
so he let them grow stronger
than their enemies.
25 They served the Lord,
and he made the Egyptians plan
hateful things against them.
26 (L) God sent his servant Moses.
He also chose and sent Aaron
27 to his people in Egypt,
and they worked miracles
and wonders there.
28 (M) Moses and Aaron obeyed God,
and he sent darkness
to cover Egypt.
29 (N) God turned their rivers
into streams of blood,
and the fish all died.
30 (O) Frogs were everywhere,
even in the royal palace.
31 (P) When God gave the command,
flies and gnats
swarmed all around.
32 (Q) In place of rain,
God sent hailstones
and flashes of lightning.
33 He destroyed their grapevines
and their fig trees,
and he made splinters
of all the other trees.
34 (R) God gave the command,
and more grasshoppers came
than could be counted.
35 They ate every green plant
and all the crops that grew
in the land of Egypt.
36 (S) Then God took the life
of every first-born son.
37 (T) When God led Israel from Egypt,
they took silver and gold,
and no one was left behind.
38 The Egyptians were afraid
and gladly let them go.
39 (U) God hid them under a cloud
and guided them by fire
during the night.
40 (V) When they asked for food,
he sent more birds
than they could eat.
41 (W) God even split open a rock,
and streams of water
gushed into the desert.
42 God never forgot
his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 When the Lord rescued
his chosen people from Egypt,
they celebrated with songs.
44 (X) The Lord gave them the land
and everything else
the nations had worked for.
45 He did this so that his people
would obey all his laws.
Shout praises to the Lord!
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