M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jotham rules
27 Jotham was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah; she was Zadok’s daughter. 2 Jotham did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his father Uzziah had done. Unlike Uzziah, Jotham didn’t enter the Lord’s temple. But the people continued their crooked practices. 3 Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple and did extensive work on the wall of the elevated fortress.[a] 4 He built towns in Judah’s highlands and fortresses and towers in the wooded areas. 5 He fought against the king of the Ammonites and defeated the Ammonites. They paid him one hundred kikkars of silver, ten thousand kors[b] of wheat, and ten thousand kors of barley that year and for the next two years. 6 Jotham was securely established because he maintained a faithful life before the Lord his God. 7 The rest of Jotham’s deeds, including all his wars and accomplishments, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. 8 He was 25 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 Jotham lay down with his ancestors and was buried in David’s City. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.
Ahaz rules
28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what was right in the Lord’s eyes, unlike his ancestor David. 2 Instead, he walked in the ways of Israel’s kings, making images of the Baals 3 and burning incense in the Ben-hinnom Valley. He even burned his own sons alive, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He also sacrificed and burned incense at the shrines on every hill and beneath every shady tree. 5 So the Lord his God handed him over to Aram’s king, who defeated him and carried off many prisoners, bringing them to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to Israel’s king, who defeated him with a severe beating. 6 In Judah, Pekah, Remaliah’s son, killed one hundred twenty thousand warriors in the course of a single day because they had abandoned the Lord, God of their ancestors. 7 An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, the palace administrator Azrikam, and Elkanah, the king’s second in command. 8 The Israelites took captive two hundred thousand women, boys, and girls from their Judean relatives and seized enormous amounts of plunder, which they took back to Samaria.
9 One of the Lord’s prophets named Oded lived in Samaria. When the army arrived there, he went to meet them and said, “Don’t you see that the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah and let you defeat them? But look what you’ve done! Your merciless slaughter of them stinks to high heaven! 10 And now you think you can enslave the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem? What about your own guilt before the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me! Send back the captives you took from your relatives, because the Lord is furious with you.”
12 At this, some of the Ephraimite leaders—Johanan’s son Azariah, Meshillemoth’s son Berechiah, Shallum’s son Jehizkiah, and Hadlai’s son Amasa—confronted those returning from battle. 13 “Don’t bring the captives here,” they told them. “Your plan will only add to our sin and guilt before the Lord. We’re already guilty enough, and great anger is already directed at Israel.” 14 So the warriors released the captives and brought the loot before the officers and the whole assembly. 15 Then people named for this task took charge of the captives and dressed everyone who was naked with items taken from the loot. They gave them clothing, sandals, food and drink, and bandaged their wounds. Everyone who couldn’t walk they placed on donkeys, and they brought them to Jericho, Palm City, near their Judean relatives. Then they returned to Samaria.
16 At that time King Ahaz sent for help from the king[c] of Assyria. 17 Once again, the Edomites had invaded Judah, defeating Judah and carrying off captives. 18 The Philistines had raided the towns in the lowlands and the arid southern plain of Judah, capturing Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, along with Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages, and occupying all of these cities. 19 The Lord was humiliating Judah on account of Israel’s King Ahaz, because he had exercised no restraint in Judah and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord. 20 Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser[d] came to Ahaz, but he brought trouble, not support. 21 Even though Ahaz took items from the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and the officials to buy off the king of Assyria, it was of no help.
22 It was during this troubled time that King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord 23 by sacrificing to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him.
“Since the gods of Aram’s kings are helping them,” he said, “I’ll sacrifice to them too, so that they will help me.”
But they became the ruin of both him and all Israel. 24 Ahaz gathered the objects from God’s temple, cut them up, shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, and made himself altars on every corner in Jerusalem. 25 He made shrines in all the towns of Judah for burning incense to other gods. This made the Lord, the God of his ancestors, very angry.
26 The rest of Ahaz’s deeds, from beginning to end, are written in the official records of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. 27 Ahaz lay down with his ancestors and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery of Israel’s kings. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.
The Lamb and the one hundred forty-four thousand
14 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion. With him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 I heard a sound from heaven that was like the sound of rushing water and loud thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 They sing a new song in front of the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 They weren’t defiled with women, for these people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes are virgins. They were purchased from among humankind as early produce for God and the Lamb. 5 No lie came from their mouths; they are blameless.
Messages of three angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying high overhead with eternal good news to proclaim to those who live on earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
8 Another angel, a second one, followed and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She made all the nations drink the wine of her lustful passion.”
9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them and said in a loud voice, “If any worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or their hands, 10 they themselves will also drink the wine of God’s passionate anger, poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will suffer the pain of fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. 11 The smoke of their painful suffering goes up forever and always. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, and those who receive the mark of its name.”
12 This calls for the endurance of the saints, who keep God’s commandments and keep faith with Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Favored are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their labors, because their deeds follow them.”
Two harvests of the earth
14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud. On the cloud was seated someone who looked like the Human One.[a] He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Another angel came out of the temple, calling in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud: “Use your sickle to reap the harvest, for the time to harvest has come, and the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who has power over fire, came out from the altar. He said in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle to cut the clusters in the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle into the earth, and cut the vineyard of the earth, and he put what he reaped into the great winepress of God’s passionate anger. 20 Then the winepress was trampled outside the city, and the blood came out of the winepress as high as the horses’ bridles for almost two hundred miles.[b]
Fate of Judah and Ephraim
10 Ask the Lord for rain when it is time for the spring rain.
The Lord is the one who makes the thunderstorms.
He gives them rain showers.
He gives vegetation in the field to each of them.[a]
2 The household divine images
speak idolatry, and diviners see lies.
They interpret dreams falsely
and provide empty comfort.
Therefore, they wander like sheep,
but they are oppressed because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger burns hot against the shepherds;
I will punish the goats.
The Lord of heavenly forces will take care of his splendor, the house of Judah.
He will make them like his majestic horse in battle.
4 The cornerstone, the tent peg, and the bow used in battle will come from Judah.
Every oppressor will leave Judah simultaneously.
5 Judah will be like warriors,
trampling through the muddy streets during battle.
They will do battle because the Lord is with them.
All the cavalry will be ashamed.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back[b] because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though I hadn’t rejected them, for I am the Lord their God;
I will respond to them.
7 Ephraim will be like a warrior.
They will be as glad as if they were drinking wine.
Their children will watch and be glad.
Their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them and gather them,
because I have ransomed them.
They will be as numerous as they were previously.
9 Though I sowed them among the peoples,
they will remember me in the distant places
where they are living with their children until they return.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt;
I will collect them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon
until there is no more room for them.
11 They[c] will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the sea with waves.[d]
All the depths of the river will dry up.
The pride of Assyria will be brought down;
the scepter of Egypt will turn away.
12 I will strengthen them in the Lord,
and they will walk in his name, says the Lord.
Foot washing
13 Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.
2 Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. 6 When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You don’t understand what I’m doing now, but you will understand later.”
8 “No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.”
9 Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 He knew who would betray him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”
12 After he washed the disciples’ feet, he put on his robes and returned to his place at the table. He said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak correctly, because I am. 14 If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do. 16 I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them. 17 Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them. 18 I’m not speaking about all of you. I know those whom I’ve chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, The one who eats my bread has turned against me.[a]
19 “I’m telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I Am. 20 I assure you that whoever receives someone I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Announcement of the betrayal
21 After he said these things, Jesus was deeply disturbed and testified, “I assure you, one of you will betray me.”
22 His disciples looked at each other, confused about which of them he was talking about. 23 One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was at Jesus’ side. 24 Simon Peter nodded at him to get him to ask Jesus who he was talking about. 25 Leaning back toward Jesus, this disciple asked, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It’s the one to whom I will give this piece of bread once I have dipped into the bowl.”Then he dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. 27 After Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 No one sitting at the table understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Some thought that, since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus told him, “Go, buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So when Judas took the bread, he left immediately. And it was night.
Love commandment
31 When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Human One[b] has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify the Human One[c] in himself and will glorify him immediately. 33 Little children, I’m with you for a little while longer. You will look for me—but, just as I told the Jewish leaders, I also tell you now—‘Where I’m going, you can’t come.’
34 “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. 35 This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
Announcement of Peter’s denial
36 Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you can’t follow me now, but you will follow later.”
37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I’ll give up my life for you.”
38 Jesus replied, “Will you give up your life for me? I assure you that you will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible