M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elisha and the Widow’s Olive Oil

4 One of the wives of a disciple of the prophets called to Elisha, “Sir, my husband is dead! You know how he feared the Lord. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.”

² Elisha asked her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

She answered, “I have nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil.”

³ Elisha said, “Borrow many empty containers from all your neighbors. ⁴ Then close the door behind you and your children, and pour oil into all those containers. When one is full, set it aside.”

⁵ So she left him and closed the door behind her and her children. The children kept bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶ When the containers were full, she told her son, “Bring me another container.”

He told her, “There are no more containers.” So the olive oil stopped flowing. ⁷ She went and told the man of God.

He said, “Sell the oil, and pay your debt. The rest is for you and your children.”

Elisha Brings a Shunem Woman’s Son Back to Life

⁸ One day Elisha was traveling through Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She had invited him to eat ⌞with her⌟. So whenever he was in the area, he stopped in to eat.

⁹ She told her husband, “I know he’s a holy man of God. And he regularly travels past our house. ¹⁰ Let’s make a small room on the roof and put a bed, table, chair, and lamp stand there for him. He can stay there whenever he comes to visit us.”

¹¹ One day he came ⌞to their house⌟, went into the upstairs room, and rested there. ¹² He told his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunem woman.”

Gehazi called her, and she stood in front of him. ¹³ Elisha said to Gehazi, “Ask her what we can do for her, since she has gone to a lot of trouble for us. Maybe she would like us to speak to the king or the commander of the army for her.”

She answered, “I’m already living among my own people.”

¹⁴ “What should we do for her?” Elisha asked.

Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵ Elisha said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Elisha said, “At this time next spring, you will hold a baby boy in your arms.”

She answered, “Don’t say that, sir. Don’t lie to me. You’re a man of God.”

¹⁷ But the woman became pregnant and had a son at that time next year, as Elisha had told her.

¹⁸ Several years later the boy went to his father, who was with the harvest workers. ¹⁹ ⌞Suddenly,⌟ he said to his father, “My head! My head!”

The father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

²⁰ The servant picked him up and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon, when he died. ²¹ She took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God, left ⌞the room⌟, and shut the door behind her. ²² She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. I will go quickly to the man of God and come back again.”

²³ Her husband asked, “Why are you going to him today? It isn’t a New Moon Festival or a day of rest—a holy day.”

But she said goodbye to him.

²⁴ She saddled the donkey. Then she told her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her coming at a distance, he told his servant Gehazi, “There is the woman from Shunem. ²⁶ Run to meet her and ask her how she, her husband, and the boy are doing.”

“Everyone’s fine,” she answered.

²⁷ When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi went to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is bitter. The Lord has hidden the reason from me. He hasn’t told me.”

²⁸ The woman said, “I didn’t ask you for a son. I said, ‘Don’t raise my hopes.’ ”

²⁹ The man of God told Gehazi, “Put on a belt, take my shepherd’s staff in your hand, and go. Whenever you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him. If he greets you, don’t stop to answer him. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

³⁰ The boy’s mother said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, I will not leave without you.” So Elisha got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So Gehazi came back to meet the man of God. Gehazi told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”

³² When Elisha came to the house, the dead boy was lying on Elisha’s bed. ³³ He went into the room, closed the door, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, his hands on the boy’s hands. He crouched over the boy’s body, and it became warm. ³⁵ Elisha got up, walked across the room and came back, and then got back on the bed and crouched over him. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. ³⁶ Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunem woman.” Gehazi called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.”

³⁷ Then she immediately bowed at his feet. She took her son and left.

Elisha and the Poisoned Food

³⁸ When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. ⌞One day,⌟ while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets.”

³⁹ One of them went into the field to gather vegetables and found a wild vine. He filled his clothes with wild gourds. Then he cut them into the pot of stew without knowing what they were. ⁴⁰ They dished out the food for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, “There’s death in the pot, man of God!” So they couldn’t eat it.

⁴¹ Elisha said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Dish it out for the people to eat.” Then there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Elisha Feeds a Hundred People

⁴² A man from Baal Shalisha brought bread made from the first harvested grain, 20 barley loaves, and fresh grain to the man of God. The man of God said, “Give it to the people to eat.”

⁴³ But his servant asked, “How can I set this in front of a hundred people?”

“Give it to the people to eat,” the man of God said. “This is what the Lord says: They will eat and even have some left over.”

⁴⁴ The servant set it in front of them. They ate and had some left over, as the Lord had predicted.

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our confidence.

² To Timothy, a genuine child in faith.

Good will,^[a] mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord are yours!

A Warning about False Teachers

³ When I was going to the province of Macedonia, I encouraged you to stay in the city of Ephesus. That way you could order certain people to stop teaching false doctrine ⁴ and occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These myths and genealogies raise a lot of questions rather than promoting God’s plan, which centers in faith.

⁵ My goal in giving you this order is for love to flow from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶ Some people have left these qualities behind and have turned to useless discussions. ⁷ They want to be experts in Moses’ Teachings. However, they don’t understand what they’re talking about or the things about which they speak so confidently.

⁸ We know that the laws in Moses’ Teachings are good if they are used as they were intended to be used. ⁹ For example, a person must realize that those laws are not intended for people who have God’s approval. Laws are intended for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who think nothing is holy or sacred, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people. ¹⁰ Laws are intended for people involved in sexual sins, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for those who lie when they take an oath, and for whatever else is against accurate teachings. ¹¹ Moses’ Teachings were intended to be used in agreement with the Good News that contains the glory of the blessed God. I was entrusted with that Good News.

God’s Mercy to Paul

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord that he has trusted me and has appointed me to do his work with the strength he has given me. ¹³ In the past I cursed him, persecuted him, and acted arrogantly toward him. However, I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief. ¹⁴ Our Lord was very kind ^[b] to me. Through his kindness he brought me to faith and gave me the love that Christ Jesus shows people.

¹⁵ This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost sinner. ¹⁶ However, I was treated with mercy so that Christ Jesus could use me, the foremost sinner, to demonstrate his patience. This patience serves as an example for those who would believe in him and live forever. ¹⁷ Worship and glory belong forever to the eternal king, the immortal, invisible, and only God. Amen.

Guidelines for the Church

¹⁸ Timothy, my child, I’m giving you this order about the prophecies that are still coming to you: Use these prophecies in faith and with a clear conscience to fight this noble war. ¹⁹ Some have refused to let their faith guide their conscience and their faith has been destroyed like a wrecked ship.^{[c] 20} Among these people are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan in order to teach them not to dishonor God.

Daniel’s Vision about the Ram and the Goat

8 In Belshazzar’s third year as king, I, Daniel, saw a vision. This vision came after the one I saw earlier. ² In my vision I saw myself in the fortress of Susa in the province of Elam. In my vision I saw myself at Ulai Gate. ³ I looked up and saw a single ram standing beside the gate. The ram had two long horns, one longer than the other, though the longer one had grown up later. ⁴ I saw the ram charging west, north, and south. No other animal could stand in front of it, and no one could escape from its power. It did anything it pleased and continued to grow.

⁵ As I was watching closely, I saw a male goat coming from the west. It crossed the whole earth without touching it. This goat had a prominent horn between its eyes. ⁶ The goat was coming toward the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the gate. It furiously ran at the ram. ⁷ I saw it come closer to the ram. The goat was extremely angry with the ram, so it attacked the ram. It broke both of the ram’s horns. The ram didn’t have the strength to stand up against the goat. So the ram was thrown down on the ground and trampled. No one could rescue the ram from the goat’s power.

⁸ The male goat became very important. But when the goat became powerful, his large horn broke off. In its place grew four horns. They corresponded to the four winds of heaven. ⁹ Out of one of the horns came a small horn. It gained power over the south, the east, and the beautiful land. ¹⁰ It continued to gain power until it reached the army of heaven. It threw some of the army of heaven, the stars, down on the ground and trampled them. ¹¹ Then it attacked the commander of the army so that it took the daily burnt offering from him and wrecked his holy place. ¹² In its rebelliousness it was given an army to put a stop to the daily burnt offering. It threw truth on the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.

¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, “How long will the things in this vision—the daily burnt offering, the destructive rebellion, the surrender of the holy place, and the trampling of the army—take place?”

¹⁴ He told me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the holy place will be made acceptable to God.”

¹⁵ Now as I, Daniel, watched the vision and tried to understand it, I saw someone who looked like a man standing in front of me. ¹⁶ I heard a man in Ulai ⌞Gate⌟ call loudly, “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

¹⁷ Gabriel came up beside me, and when he came, I was terrified and immediately knelt down.

He said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision is about the end times.” ¹⁸ As he spoke to me, I fainted facedown on the ground, but he touched me and made me stand up. ¹⁹ He said, “I will tell you what will happen in the last days, ⌞the time of God’s⌟ anger, because the end time has been determined.

²⁰ “The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kingdoms of Media and Persia. ²¹ The hairy male goat is the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is its first king. ²² The horn broke off, and four horns replaced it. Four kingdoms will come out of that nation, but they won’t be as strong as the first king was.

²³ “In the last days of those kingdoms, when rebellions are finished, a stern-looking king who understands mysterious things will rise to power. ²⁴ He will become very strong, but not by his own strength. He will cause astounding destruction and will be successful in everything he does. He will destroy those who are powerful along with some holy people. ²⁵ He will cleverly use his power to deceive others successfully. He will consider himself to be great and destroy many people when they don’t expect it. He will oppose the Commander of Commanders, but he will be defeated, though not by any human power. ²⁶ The vision about the ⌞2,300⌟ evenings and mornings that was explained to you is true. Seal the vision, because it is about things that will happen in the distant future.”

²⁷ I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up and worked for the king. The vision horrified me because I couldn’t understand it.