M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehoshaphat rules Judah

17 Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king. Jehoshaphat strengthened his position against Israel ² by stationing troops in the fortified cities of Judah and placing soldiers throughout the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured. ³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the earlier ways of his father^[a] by not seeking Baal. ⁴ Instead, he sought the God of his father, and unlike Israel, he followed God’s commandments. ⁵ The Lord gave him firm control over the kingdom, and all Judah brought Jehoshaphat tribute, so that he had abundant riches and honor. ⁶ Jehoshaphat took pride in the Lord’s ways and again removed the shrines and the sacred poles^[b] from Judah.

⁷ In the third year of his rule, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. ⁸ They were accompanied by the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, and by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. ⁹ They taught throughout Judah. They brought with them the Lord’s Instruction scroll as they made their rounds to all the cities of Judah, teaching the people.

¹⁰ All the kingdoms surrounding Judah were afraid of the Lord and didn’t wage war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought a load of silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat. The Arabians also brought flocks to Jehoshaphat: seventy-seven hundred rams and seventy-seven hundred goats. ¹² As Jehoshaphat grew increasingly powerful, he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah ¹³ and had many supplies in the cities of Judah. He also had an army of mighty warriors in Jerusalem, ¹⁴ registered by their clans as follows: Judah’s officers over units of a thousand included Commander Adnah with three hundred thousand soldiers; ¹⁵ next to him was Commander Jehohanan with two hundred eighty thousand soldiers; ¹⁶ at his side was Amasiah, Zichri’s son, who volunteered for the Lord with two hundred thousand soldiers. ¹⁷ From Benjamin came a valiant warrior: Eliada, together with two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸ next to him was Jehozabad, together with one hundred eighty thousand soldiers. ¹⁹ These were the individuals who served the king in addition to those the king placed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Opening the first six seals

6 Then I looked on as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” ² So I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow and was given a crown. And he went forth from victory to victory.

³ When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ Out came another horse, fiery red. Its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth so that people would kill each other. He was given a large sword.

⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” So I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a balance for weighing in his hand. ⁶ I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures. It said, “A quart of wheat for a denarion,^[a] and three quarts of barley for a denarion, but don’t damage the olive oil and the wine.”

⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ So I looked, and there was a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and the Grave was following right behind. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, famine, disease, and the wild animals of the earth.

⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar those who had been slaughtered on account of the word of God and the witness they had given. ¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice, “Holy and true Master, how long will you wait before you pass judgment? How long before you require justice for our blood, which was shed by those who live on earth?” ¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants and brothers and sisters—who were about to be killed as they were—were finished.

¹² I looked on as he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as funeral clothing, and the entire moon turned red as blood. ¹³ The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its fruit when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the officials and the generals, the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the Lamb’s wrath! ¹⁷ The great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Third night vision

2 ^[a] Then I looked up and saw a man.

Sabbath healing

5 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate in the north city wall is a pool with the Aramaic name Bethsaida. It had five covered porches, ³ and a crowd of people who were sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed sat there.^{[a] 5} A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir,^[b] I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me.”

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was well, and he picked up his mat and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

¹⁰ The Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It’s the Sabbath; you aren’t allowed to carry your mat.”

¹¹ He answered, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² They inquired, “Who is this man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” ¹³ The man who had been cured didn’t know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd gathered there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said, “See! You have been made well. Don’t sin anymore in case something worse happens to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and proclaimed to the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the man who had made him well.

¹⁶ As a result, the Jewish leaders were harassing Jesus, since he had done these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “My Father is still working, and I am working too.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jewish leaders wanted even more to kill him—not only because he was doing away with the Sabbath but also because he called God his own Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

Work of the Father and the Son

¹⁹ Jesus responded to the Jewish leaders, “I assure you that the Son can’t do anything by himself except what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he does. He will show him greater works than these so that you will marvel. ²¹ As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so too does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. ²² The Father doesn’t judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son ²³ so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴ “I assure you that whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and won’t come under judgment but has passed from death into life.

²⁵ “I assure you that the time is coming—and is here!—when the dead will hear the voice of God’s Son, and those who hear it will live. ²⁶ Just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷ He gives the Son authority to judge, because he is the Human One.^{[c] 28} Don’t be surprised by this, because the time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice. ²⁹ Those who did good things will come out into the resurrection of life, and those who did wicked things into the resurrection of judgment. ³⁰ I can’t do anything by myself. Whatever I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just. I don’t seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

Witnesses to Jesus

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony isn’t true. ³² There is someone else who testifies about me, and I know his testimony about me is true. ³³ You sent a delegation to John, and he testified to the truth. ³⁴ Although I don’t accept human testimony, I say these things so that you can be saved. ³⁵ John was a burning and shining lamp, and, at least for a while, you were willing to celebrate in his light.

³⁶ “I have a witness greater than John’s testimony. The Father has given me works to do so that I might complete them. These works I do testify about me that the Father sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me testifies about me. You have never even heard his voice or seen his form, ³⁸ and you don’t have his word dwelling with you because you don’t believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹ Examine the scriptures, since you think that in them you have eternal life. They also testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you don’t want to come to me so that you can have life.

⁴¹ “I don’t accept praise from people, ⁴² but I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If others come in their own name, you receive them. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you receive praise from each other but don’t seek the praise that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “Don’t think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, the one in whom your hope rests. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses wrote about me. ⁴⁷ If you don’t believe the writings of Moses, how will you believe my words?”