M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehoshaphat’s Reign

17 His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him and strengthened himself against Israel.^{(A) 2} He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had taken.^{(B) 3} The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father;^[a] he did not seek the Baals ⁴ but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not according to the ways of Israel.^{(C) 5} Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.^{(D) 6} His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the sacred poles^[b] from Judah.^(E)

⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.^{(F) 8} With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; and with these Levites the priests Elishama and Jehoram.^{(G) 9} They taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the Lord with them; they went around through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.^(H)

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.^{(I) 11} Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabs also brought him seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.^{(J) 12} Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. ¹³ He carried out great works in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty warriors, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ This was the muster of them by ancestral houses: Of Judah, the commanders of the thousands: Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty warriors, ¹⁵ and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred eighty thousand, ¹⁶ and next to him Amasiah son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the Lord, with two hundred thousand mighty warriors.^{(K) 17} Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty warrior, with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield, ¹⁸ and next to him Jehozabad with one hundred eighty thousand armed for war. ¹⁹ These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

The Seven Seals

6 Then I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!”^{[a](A) 2} I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.^(B)

³ When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!”^{[b] 4} And out came^[c] another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another, and he was given a great sword.^(C)

⁵ When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!”^[d] I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand,^{(D) 6} and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay^[e] and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay,^[f] but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”

⁷ When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!”^{[g] 8} I looked, and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence and by the wild animals of the earth.^(E)

⁹ When he broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;^{(F) 10} they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”^{(G) 11} They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.^(H)

¹² When he broke the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,^{(I) 13} and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.^{(J) 14} The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.^{(K) 15} Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,^{(L) 16} calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,^{(M) 17} for the great day of their^[h] wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”^(N)

Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line

2 ^[a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.^{(A) 2} Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”^{(B) 3} Then the angel who spoke with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him ⁴ and said to him, “Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the multitude of people and animals in it.^{(C) 5} For I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.”^(D)

Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles

⁶ Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.^{(E) 7} Up! Escape to Zion, you who live with daughter Babylon. ⁸ For thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.^{[b](F) 9} For I am going to raise^[c] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.^{(G) 10} Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.^{(H) 11} Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ¹² The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.^(I)

¹³ Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.^(J)

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^[a] Beth-zatha,^[b] which has five porticoes.^{(A) 3} In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people.^{[c] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The ill man answered him, “Sir,^[d] I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”^{(B) 9} At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.^{(C) 10} So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”^{(D) 11} But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’ ” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in^[e] the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”^{(E) 15} The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”^{(F) 18} For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.^(G)

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father^[f] does, the Son does likewise.^{(H) 20} The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.^{(I) 21} Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.^{(J) 22} The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,^{(K) 23} so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.^{(L) 24} Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.^(M)

²⁵ “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.^{(N) 26} For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, ²⁷ and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.^{(O) 28} Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and will come out: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.^(P)

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.^(Q)

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.^{(R) 32} There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.^{(S) 33} You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.^{(T) 34} Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.^{(U) 36} But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.^{(V) 37} And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,^{(W) 38} and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.^(X)

³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.^{(Y) 40} Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ I do not accept glory from humans. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God in^[g] you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?^{[h](Z) 45} Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.^{(AA) 46} If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.^{(AB) 47} But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”