M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
King Jehoram of Judah(A)
21 Jehoshaphat lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king. 2 He had the following brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All were the sons of King Jehoshaphat of Israel. 3 Their father gave them many gifts: silver, gold, and other expensive things, along with fortified cities in Judah. But Jehoshaphat gave the kingdom to Jehoram, who was the firstborn.
4 After Jehoram had taken over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened his position and then executed all his brothers and some of the officials of Israel. 5 Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for 8 years in Jerusalem. 6 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as Ahab’s family had done, because his wife was Ahab’s daughter. So he did what the Lord considered evil. 7 But the Lord, recalling the promise [a] he had made to David, didn’t want to destroy David’s family. The Lord had told David that he would always give him and his descendants a ⌞shining⌟ lamp.
Edom Wins Independence from Judah(B)
8 During Jehoram’s time Edom rebelled against Judah and chose its own king. 9 Jehoram took all his chariot commanders to attack. The Edomites and their chariot commanders surrounded him, but he got up at night and broke through their lines. 10 So Edom rebelled against Judah’s rule and is still independent today. At the same time Edom rebelled, Libnah rebelled because Jehoram had abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors. 11 Jehoram made illegal places of worship in the hills of Judah. This caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to chase after foreign gods as if they were prostitutes. So he led Judah astray.
12 Then a letter came to him from the prophet Elijah. It read, “This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: You haven’t followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or the ways of King Asa of Judah. 13 Instead, you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel. You, like Ahab’s family, have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to chase after foreign gods as if they were prostitutes. You have killed your brothers, your father’s family. Your brothers were better than you. 14 The Lord will strike a great blow to your people, your sons, your wives, and all your property because you did this. 15 You will suffer from a chronic intestinal disease until your intestines come out.”
16 The Lord prompted the Philistines and the Arabs who lived near the people of Sudan to attack Jehoram. 17 They fought against Judah, broke into the country, and took away everything that could be found in the royal palace. They even took Jehoram’s sons and wives. The only son left was Ahaziah,[b] Jehoram’s youngest son. 18 After this, the Lord struck Jehoram with an incurable intestinal disease. 19 Two years later, as his life was coming to an end, his intestines fell out because of his sickness. He died a painful death.
His people did not make a bonfire in his honor as they had done for his ancestors. 20 He was 32 years old when he became king, and he ruled for 8 years in Jerusalem. No one was sorry to see him die. He was buried in the City of David but not in the tombs of the kings.
The Fifth and Sixth Angels Blow Their Trumpets
9 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The smoke darkened the sun and the air. 3 Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of earthly scorpions. 4 They were told not to harm any grass, green plant, or tree on the earth. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them. They were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion’s sting. 6 At that time people will look for death and never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They seemed to have crowns that looked like gold on their heads. Their faces were like human faces. 8 They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like iron. The noise from their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. 10 They had tails and stingers like scorpions. They had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. 11 The king who ruled them was the angel from the bottomless pit. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first catastrophe is over. After these things there are two more catastrophes yet to come.
13 When the sixth angel blew his trumpet, I heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar in front of God. 14 The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River.” 15 The four angels who were ready for that hour, day, month, and year were released to kill one-third of humanity. 16 The soldiers on horses numbered 20,000 times 10,000. I heard how many there were.
17 In the vision that I had, the horses and their riders looked like this: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, pale blue, and yellow. The horses had heads like lions. Fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 These three plagues—the fire, smoke, and sulfur which came out of their mouths—killed one-third of humanity. 19 The power of these horses is in their mouths and their tails. (Their tails have heads like snakes which they use to hurt people.)
20 The people who survived these plagues still did not turn to me and change the way they were thinking and acting. If they had, they would have stopped worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. 21 They did not turn away from committing murder, practicing witchcraft, sinning sexually, or stealing.
Sinners Will Be Separated from the Lord’s People
5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.
2 The angel asked me, “What do you see?”
“I see a flying scroll,” I answered. “It’s 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”
3 Then he said to me, “This is a curse that will go out all over the earth. The one side of the scroll says that every thief will be forced away. The other side of the scroll says that everyone who takes an oath will be forced away. 4 I will send out a curse, declares the Lord of Armies, and it will enter the houses of thieves and the houses of those who take oaths in my name. It will stay in their houses and destroy the timber and stone.”
Wickedness Will Be Removed from the Land
5 The angel who was speaking with me came forward. He said, “Look up, and see what’s coming.”
6 “What is it?” I asked.
“A basket is coming,” he said. Then he added, “This is what the people’s sins look like all over the earth.” [a] 7 A lead cover ⌞on the basket⌟ was raised, and a woman was sitting in the basket. 8 The angel said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and forced the lead cover down on top of it.
9 I looked up and saw two women coming forward with wind in their wings. They had wings like those of a stork. They carried the basket into the sky.
10 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
11 He answered me, “They are going to build a house for it in Shinar [Babylonia]. When the house is ready, they will set the basket there on a stand.”
A Woman Caught in Adultery
8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early the next morning he returned to the temple courtyard. All the people went to him, so he sat down and began to teach them.
3 The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone 4 and asked Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the act of adultery. 5 In his teachings, Moses ordered us to stone women like this to death. What do you say?” 6 They asked this to test him. They wanted to find a reason to bring charges against him.
Jesus bent down and used his finger to write on the ground. 7 When they persisted in asking him questions, he straightened up and said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground.
9 One by one, beginning with the older men, the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees left. Jesus was left alone with the woman. 10 Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Where did they go? Has anyone condemned you?”
11 The woman answered, “No one, sir.”
Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you either. Go! From now on don’t sin.”
Jesus Speaks with the Pharisees about His Father
12 Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark.”
13 The Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony isn’t true.”
14 Jesus replied to them, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true because I know where I came from and where I’m going. However, you don’t know where I came from or where I’m going. 15 You judge the way humans do. I don’t judge anyone. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is valid because I don’t make it on my own. I make my judgment with the Father who sent me. 17 Your own teachings say that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 The Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?”
Jesus replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
20 Jesus spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury area of the temple courtyard. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I’m going away, and you’ll look for me. But you will die because of your sin. You can’t go where I’m going.”
22 Then the Jews asked, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means when he says, ‘You can’t go where I’m going’?”
23 Jesus said to them, “You’re from below. I’m from above. You’re from this world. I’m not from this world. 24 For this reason I told you that you’ll die because of your sins. If you don’t believe that I am the one, you’ll die because of your sins.”
25 The Jews asked him, “Who did you say you are?”
Jesus told them, “I am who I said I was from the beginning. 26 I have a lot I could say about you and a lot I could condemn you for. But the one who sent me is true. So I tell the world exactly what he has told me.” 27 (The Jews didn’t know that he was talking to them about the Father.)
28 So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you’ll know that I am the one and that I can’t do anything on my own. Instead, I speak as the Father taught me. 29 Besides, the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me by myself. I always do what pleases him.”
30 As Jesus was saying this, many people believed in him. 31 So Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you live by what I say, you are truly my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They replied to Jesus, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. So how can you say that we will be set free?”
34 Jesus answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: Whoever lives a sinful life is a slave to sin. 35 A slave doesn’t live in the home forever, but a son does. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free. 37 I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants. However, you want to kill me because you don’t like what I’m saying. 38 What I’m saying is what I have seen in my Father’s presence. But you do what you’ve heard from your father.”
39 The Jews replied to Jesus, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did. 40 I am a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. But now you want to kill me. Abraham wouldn’t have done that. 41 You’re doing what your father does.”
The Jews said to Jesus, “We’re not illegitimate children. God is our only Father.”
42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me. After all, I’m here, and I came from God. I didn’t come on my own. Instead, God sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand the language I use? Is it because you can’t understand the words I use? 44 You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies. 45 So you don’t believe me because I tell the truth. 46 Can any of you convict me of committing a sin? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The person who belongs to God understands what God says. You don’t understand because you don’t belong to God.”
48 The Jews replied to Jesus, “Aren’t we right when we say that you’re a Samaritan and that you’re possessed by a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I’m not possessed. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. 50 I don’t want my own glory. But there is someone who wants it, and he is the judge. 51 I can guarantee this truth: Whoever obeys what I say will never see death.”
52 The Jews told Jesus, “Now we know that you’re possessed by a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, ‘Whoever does what I say will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets have also died. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus said, “If I bring glory to myself, my glory is nothing. My Father is the one who gives me glory, and you say that he is your God. 55 Yet, you haven’t known him. However, I know him. If I would say that I didn’t know him, I would be a liar like all of you. But I do know him, and I do what he says. 56 Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy.”
57 The Jews said to Jesus, “You’re not even fifty years old. How could you have seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: Before Abraham was ever born, I am.”
59 Then some of the Jews picked up stones to throw at Jesus. However, Jesus was concealed, and he left the temple courtyard.
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