M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Israelites ask Rehoboam to make their work easier

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, because all the Israelites had gone there to make him king.^{[a] 2} At this time, Nebat's son Jeroboam was in Egypt. He had been living there since he ran away from King Solomon. When he heard the news about Rehoboam, he returned from Egypt. ³ The Israelites sent a message to Jeroboam to meet with them. Then Jeroboam and all the Israelites went to speak to Rehoboam. They said to him, ⁴ ‘Your father caused us to work too hard. Please make the work easier for us. If you do that, we will serve you as our king.’ ⁵ Rehoboam answered them, ‘Go away for three days. Then come back to me.’ So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam went to talk to the older advisors who had served his father Solomon. He asked them, ‘What answer should I give to these people?’

⁷ They replied, ‘If you agree to be kind to these people and help them, they will always serve you as their king. So do what they are asking you to do.’

⁸ But Rehoboam did not agree with their advice. Instead he talked to some younger men. They had been his friends since they were young and now they were his advisors. ⁹ He asked them, ‘What do you think that I should say to these people? They want me to make their work easier.’

¹⁰ Rehoboam's young advisors said, ‘The people said to you, “Your father made us work too hard. Please make our work easier.” You should tell them, “Even my little finger is thicker than my father's whole body! ¹¹ My father made you work hard. I will make you work even harder! My father punished you with little whips. I will punish you with whips that bite your skin!” ’

Rehoboam refuses to do what the people want

¹² Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam after three days. That was because the king had said, ‘Return to me in three days.’

¹³ King Rehoboam spoke cruel words to the people. He did not agree to say what the older men had told him to say. ¹⁴ Instead, he did what the young men had suggested. He said to the people, ‘My father gave you work that was too hard for you. I will make it even worse! My father punished you with little whips. I will punish you with whips that bite!’

¹⁵ So the king did not agree to do what the people wanted him to do. It was God who caused this to happen. He had already given his message about this to Nebat's son Jeroboam. The prophet Ahijah who came from Shiloh had spoken the Lord's message to Jeroboam.^[b]

Israel and Judah become separate kingdoms

¹⁶ All the Israelites realized that the king refused to listen to them. So they said to the king,

So the Israelites went to their homes. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.^[c]

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent a man called Adoniram to talk to the Israelite people. Adoniram had authority over the men who had to work for Rehoboam. But the Israelites threw stones at Adoniram and they killed him.^[d] So King Rehoboam quickly got into his chariot and he escaped to Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Since that time, the tribes in the north of Israel have not accepted the authority of King David's descendants.

John's message

1 This book describes the things that God showed to Jesus Christ. He wanted Jesus to show these things to his own servants. They are events that must happen soon. Jesus sent his angel to show them to me, his servant John.

² I, John, have written about everything that God showed me. These things are a true message from God. They are the things that Jesus Christ says are true. ³ If anyone reads aloud the words of this prophecy, God will bless that person. God will also bless the people who listen to these words, if they continue to obey them. The things that are written here will soon happen.

John writes to the seven churches

⁴ I am John. I am writing to the seven churches that are in the region of Asia. I pray that God will be very kind to you. I pray that he will give you peace in your minds. God is alive now. He has always been alive. He will continue to be alive for ever.

God will help you, and the seven spirits that are in front of his throne will help you.^[a]

⁵ Jesus Christ will also help you. He always speaks a true message. He is the first person who became alive again after death.^[b] He rules the kings of the earth.

Jesus loves us and he died for us. That is how he made us free. Because of Jesus, God will not punish us for the bad things that we have done. ⁶ Jesus has brought us into his family, so that we belong to God's kingdom. He has made us priests, so that we serve his God and Father.

So we praise Jesus Christ! He will always be very great! He has power for all time. Amen. This is true!

⁸ The Lord God says, ‘I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I have all power and authority. I am alive. I have always been alive. I will continue to be alive for ever.’

Jesus appears to John

⁹ I am John. I am a believer, as you are. I am like your brother and your friend. Because we belong to Jesus' kingdom, we are having trouble and pain. So we all need to be strong and patient, as Jesus helps us. The Roman leaders punished me because I taught God's message. I told people the true message about Jesus. That is why they sent me to Patmos island.^[d]

¹⁰ On the Lord's day, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear things.^[e] I heard a voice speak behind me. The sound was as loud as a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said: ‘When you see these things, write them in a book. Then you must send the book to the seven churches in these cities:

¹² I turned round to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands with their lights. ¹³ In the middle of the lights, I saw someone like a son of man.^[f] He was wearing long clothes that reached down to his feet. He wore a gold belt around the top part of his body. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like sheep's hair. They were very white, like snow. His eyes were like fires that were burning brightly. ¹⁵ His feet shone like a metal that shines brightly in a very hot fire. When he spoke, his voice was very loud. It was like the sound of water that pours along a river very quickly. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sword with two sharp edges came out of his mouth. His face was like the sun when it shines very brightly.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead person. Then he put his right hand on me, and he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the one who is the first and also the last. ¹⁸ I am the one who always lives. I died once. But look! Now I am alive and I will be alive for ever. I have authority over death and over Hades, the place for dead people.^{[g] 19} So write down the things that you have seen. Write about what you see that is happening now. Also write about the things that will happen later.

²⁰ You saw seven stars that I held in my right hand. You saw seven lights in their gold lampstands. Now I will tell you what they mean. The seven stars show what the angels of the seven churches are like.^[h] The seven lights in their lampstands show what the seven churches themselves are like.’

2 Come together!

Yes, you people, come together and think.

You do not know how to be ashamed!

^2-3 The wind takes away the dry parts of a plant that covered the seed.

It will be like that when I punish you.

Before it is the time for me to punish you, look for me.

Before this time is past, look for me.

Look for me, before I become very, very angry with you.

There will be a day when the Lord will be angry. Look for me, before that day.

Yes, look for the Lord, all you people who want to make him happy.

You have done what the Lord wants.

Continue to do what is good.

But do not think that you are great.

Perhaps you will find a safe place

on the day when the Lord is angry.

The Lord will destroy the Philistines

⁴ Then, the people who have lived in Gaza city and Ashkelon city will not be there.

Enemies will also send away the people in Ashdod city at midday. And those enemies will destroy Ekron city.

⁵ Terrible trouble will come to you people who came from Crete,

The Lord has said this against you:

I will kill all you Philistines who live in the land of Canaan!

You will all die. So nobody will live there.

⁶ By the sea, there will be houses for people who feed sheep.

There will be safe places for their sheep.

⁷ Those people in Judah who love God will live there, by the sea.

They will have food there.

They will lie down to sleep in Ashkelon city's houses.

The Lord, their God, will be with them.

He will stop their troubles.

The Lord will destroy the people of other countries

⁸ The Lord of all his armies says, ‘I have heard the cruel people in the countries called Moab and Ammon.

They laugh about you and they say cruel things about you, my people.

They have thought that they were greater than you.

They have come against you.’

⁹ The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says,

‘You can be sure that I live.

In the same way, you can also be sure that my people will take everything for themselves.

God will destroy Moab as he destroyed Sodom.

He will destroy Ammon as he destroyed Gomorrah.

After this, the ground will have lots of salt on it. Weeds will grow there.

Nobody will build anything there again.

My people who are still alive will take for themselves the Ammonites' things and the Moabites' things.’

¹⁰ That will happen to all proud people.

The proud people said cruel words to God's people.

The cruel people thought that they were greater than the people of the Lord Almighty.

¹¹ The Lord will make them afraid.

He will destroy all the false gods.

People will worship him instead. Every person, in his own place, will worship God.

They will also worship him in the places where the people now believe in false gods.

¹² ‘I will also punish you people in the country called Ethiopia.

Other people will kill you with a big knife,’ the Lord says.

¹³ The Lord will go against the north.

There, he will destroy the country called Assyria.

He will also destroy Nineveh city. That place will become as dry as a desert.

¹⁴ Sheep will lie down there.

All the wild animals of that place will live together there.

Vultures and owls will rest on top of the high, thin parts of the buildings.

They will sing in the windows.

Bits of doors will lie on the ground.

The Lord will tear down all the things in the houses that they have made from valuable wood.

¹⁵ All this will happen to that city, the proud city.

That city's people said in their minds,

‘Here we are. We are greater than all the other people.’

But then, other people will destroy their city! Only bits of it will still be there.

Then wild animals will come and they will lie down in it. People will see this.

So any people who pass by the city will make noises with their lips.

And they will hold their fists up. In this way, they will show that they think bad things about the city.

24 Very early on the first day of the week, they went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body. They took with them the spices that they had prepared. ² They arrived there. They found that someone had rolled the big stone away from the hole. ³ They went inside the hole in the rock, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus there. ⁴ They did not understand this at all. But while they were thinking about it, two men appeared. Their clothes shone brightly like lightning. These men came and stood beside them. ⁵ So the women became very afraid and they went down low with their faces on the ground.

The men said to the women, ‘This is a place to bury dead people. You should not be looking here for someone who is alive. ⁶ Jesus is not here. He has become alive again! Remember what he said to you, while he was still with you in Galilee. ⁷ He said, “It is necessary that someone should give the Son of Man into the power of bad men. They will kill him on a cross. But three days later he will become alive again.” ’

⁸ Then the women remembered the words that Jesus had said in Galilee. ⁹ They left the hole where Jesus' body had been. They went to the 11 apostles. They told them what had happened. They also told all the other people who were there. ¹⁰ It was Mary from Magdala, Joanna, James' mother Mary, and other women who were with them that told the news about Jesus to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe what the women said. They thought that it was just a silly story. ¹² But Peter got up and he ran to the hole in the rock. He bent down and he looked inside. He saw only the pieces of linen cloth that they had put around Jesus' body. There was nothing else. So he went home again. He could not understand what might have happened.

Jesus shows himself to two disciples

¹³ Later on that same day, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village. The village was called Emmaus. It was about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking like this, Jesus himself came near to them. He started to walk along with them. ¹⁶ They saw him, but for some reason they did not recognize him. ¹⁷ Jesus asked them, ‘What are you talking about while you walk along the road?’

They stood still and they seemed sad. ¹⁸ One of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘Many things have happened in Jerusalem in the last few days. Are you the only visitor here that does not know about it?’ ¹⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘What things have happened?’

They replied, ‘The things that happened to Jesus who was from Nazareth. He was a prophet from God. He did many great things and he spoke powerful messages. God showed that his message was true. All the people believed him. ²⁰ Then the leaders of the priests and our rulers took hold of him. They gave him to the Roman ruler. They said that he had done bad things and that he ought to die. So they killed him by fixing him to a cross. ²¹ But before that we had hoped that he would save the people of Israel. We hoped that he would make us free again.

There are other things too. Today is the third day since Jesus died. ²² After all this happened, some women in our group surprised us. Early this morning, they went to the place where Joseph had put him. ²³ But they did not find his body there. So they returned to us and said, “Some angels appeared to us. They have told us that Jesus is alive.” ²⁴ So some people from our group went to the place where his body had been. They found everything just the same as the women had said. But they did not see Jesus.’

²⁵ Jesus then said to them, ‘How silly you are! You are very slow to believe everything that God's prophets said long ago. ²⁶ You should have known that the Messiah had to die. Only then would he return to heaven and show how great and powerful he is.’ ²⁷ Jesus then began to explain to them what Moses and all God's prophets had taught. He showed them what they wrote in the Bible about himself.

²⁸ Then they came near to the village that the disciples were going to. It seemed that Jesus would continue his journey. ²⁹ But they wanted him to stop there. They said to him, ‘Please stay in our home with us. It is getting late, and it will soon be night.’

So Jesus went into their house to stay with them. ³⁰ He sat down to eat with them. He took the bread and he thanked God for it. He broke it into pieces and he gave some to them. ³¹ Their eyes became clear and they recognized him. But then he disappeared, and they could no longer see him. ³² They said to each other, ‘When he talked to us, it was like a fire that was burning inside us. We felt it while we were walking along the road. We also felt it when he was explaining God's message in the Bible.’

³³ Immediately they got up and they returned to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 apostles and other people who were with them. ³⁴ The people there told the two disciples, ‘It is true! The Lord Jesus is alive again. He has appeared to Simon!’

³⁵ Then the two disciples spoke to the whole group. They told what had happened to them on the road to their village. They told how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread into pieces in their home.

Jesus appears to the group

³⁶ While they were still speaking like that, Jesus himself stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

³⁷ But the whole group was very surprised and afraid. They thought that they were seeing a spirit. ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You seem to have trouble in your minds about what you are seeing. ³⁹ Now look at my hands and my feet. It is really me! Touch me. Then you will know that I am not a spirit. A spirit does not have a body with skin and bones. You can see that I have a real body.’

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ This was such good news, they were very happy. But they could still not really believe it. So he asked them, ‘Do you have anything that I could eat?’ ⁴² They gave him a piece of fish that they had cooked. ⁴³ While they were watching, he took it and he ate it.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, ‘I told you about these things while I was still with you. Everything that God's servants wrote about me in the Bible had to happen. Moses wrote about me in his book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about me. The book called Psalms also tells about me. And now it has become true.’

⁴⁵ Then he helped them to understand God's message in the Bible. ⁴⁶ He told them, ‘This is what it says there: The Messiah had to die. Then, after three days, he had to rise up and become alive again. ⁴⁷ People in every country of the world must hear God's message. They must stop doing wrong things and change how they live. When they do this, God will forgive them. He will forgive all the bad things that they have done. People need to tell this message about the Messiah in Jerusalem first, then tell people in other countries. ⁴⁸ You are the people who have seen what has happened here. You must tell other people about it. ⁴⁹ Now listen! I will send to you the gift that God my Father has promised to give to you. You must stay here in the city until this happens. Then the power of God will come from heaven and it will cover you.’

Jesus goes up to God in heaven

⁵⁰ Then Jesus led the group of his disciples out of the city. They all went to a place near the village called Bethany. He held up his hands towards them all. He asked God to be good to them. ⁵¹ While he was praying for them like that, he went up away from them. God lifted him up to heaven. ⁵² The disciples praised Jesus for his great power. Then they returned to Jerusalem and they were all very happy. ⁵³ All the time they were in the temple and they were praising God.