M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Jehoahaz rules Judah as king

36 The people of Judah chose Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, to become king in Jerusalem after his father. ² Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months.

³ The king of Egypt stopped Jehoahaz from ruling in Jerusalem. He made Judah pay tax to him. It was 3,400 kilograms of silver and 34 kilograms of gold. ⁴ The king of Egypt chose Eliakim, Jehoahaz's brother, to rule as king over Judah and Jerusalem. He changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Jehoiakim's brother Jehoahaz away to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king.^[a] He ruled for 11 years as king in Jerusalem. He did things that the Lord his God said were evil. ⁶ While he was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah. He took hold of King Jehoiakim. He tied bronze chains around him and he took him away to Babylon. ⁷ King Nebuchadnezzar took some valuable things from the Lord's temple. He took them to Babylon and he put them in his palace there.

⁸ The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of the kings of Israel and Judah’. It tells about the disgusting sins that he was guilty of.

Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin became king after him.

Jehoiachin rules Judah as king

⁹ Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did things that the Lord said were evil. ¹⁰ In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent his soldiers to bring Jehoiachin to Babylon. They also took to Babylon some valuable things from the Lord's temple. Nebuchadnezzar chose Jehoiachin's relative, Zedekiah, to be king of Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah rules Judah as king

¹¹ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king.^[b] He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. ¹² He did things that the Lord said were evil. The prophet Jeremiah spoke the Lord's message to Zedekiah. But Zedekiah was too proud to listen to him. ¹³ King Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah promise in God's name that he would be faithful to Nebuchadnezzar. But Zedekiah turned against Nebuchadnezzar. He was very proud and he refused to change. He refused to turn back to the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁴ All the leaders of the priests and the people also turned away from the Lord more and more. They did the same disgusting sins that the people in other nations did. They made the Lord's temple an unclean place. That was the place that the Lord himself had chosen as his special home in Jerusalem.

Babylon's army attacks Jerusalem

¹⁵ The Lord sent his servants many times to warn his people. He wanted to be kind to them. He wanted to keep his temple safe. ¹⁶ But they laughed at the men that God sent to them. They did not think that his messages were important. They insulted his prophets. Finally, the Lord became very angry with his people. Nothing could stop him from punishing them.

¹⁷ Then the Lord sent the king of Babylon to attack them.^[c] His soldiers killed Jerusalem's young men in the temple, where they thought that they would be safe. They were not kind to anybody, the young men or women, or even the very old people. God put all the people of Jerusalem under the king of Babylon's power.

¹⁸ The king took away to Babylon all the things that were in God's temple. He took everything, big things and small things. He took all the valuable things that were in the Lord's temple. He also took the valuable things of the king and his officers. He took them all away to Babylon. ¹⁹ Nebuchadnezzar's men destroyed the Lord's temple with fire. They knocked down the walls around Jerusalem. They burned all the important buildings. They destroyed all the valuable things in the city.

²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar took away to Babylon all the people in Jerusalem who were still alive. They worked as slaves for him and for his sons until the kingdom of Persia became powerful. ²¹ In this way, the Lord's message that his prophet Jeremiah had spoken became true. The land of Judah was empty for 70 years. It was finally able to rest, like the rest on a Sabbath day.^[d]

King Cyrus of Persia

²² In the first year that Cyrus, king of Persia, was ruling Babylon, the Lord put a thought in his mind.^[e] King Cyrus decided to send a message to everybody who lived in his kingdom. His message would cause what God had already spoken to his prophet Jeremiah to become true.^[f] The message was written down and people took it all over Cyrus's kingdom. It said:

²³ ‘This is what Cyrus, the king of Persia, says:

The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me power over all the kingdoms of the earth. He has said that I must build a temple for him in Jerusalem, the city that is in Judah. Any of God's people who live among you may now return to Jerusalem. I pray that the Lord their God will be with them.’

The river and the tree that give life

22 Then the angel showed me a river. It had water that gives true life to people. The water shone like clean glass. The river of water started from the throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule. It ran from the throne ² along the middle of the city's biggest street. I saw a tree that was growing on each side of the river. It is the tree that gives people true life. It has 12 different kinds of fruit, a new fruit every month. The tree's leaves are like medicine. They make people of every nation well again.

³ Nothing that is in the city will be under a curse. The throne where God and the Lamb sit to rule will be in the city. God's servants will worship him there. ⁴ They will see his face. His name will be on the front of their heads. ⁵ There will be no more night, so nobody will need a lamp to make light. They will not need light from the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings for ever.

The final message

⁶ Then the angel said to me, ‘All these words are true and everyone should believe them. The Lord God uses his prophets to speak his messages. He has sent his angel to speak to his servants. The angel will now show them what must happen soon.’

⁷ Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come soon.^[a] God will bless everyone who obeys the words of the prophecy that is in this book.’

John finishes his book

⁸ I am John. I myself heard these things and I saw them. When I had heard them and I had seen them, I bent down low at the angel's feet. I wanted to worship him because he had shown these things to me. ⁹ But the angel said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I serve God like all God's prophets, who are believers like you. I serve God like everyone who obeys God's message that is written in this book. God is the one that you must worship!’

¹⁰ Then he said to me, ‘Do not hide the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book. The time is near when these things will happen. ¹¹ Let everybody continue to live as they choose. Everyone who does wrong things will continue to do wrong things. Everyone who is disgusting will continue to be disgusting. Everyone who does right things will continue to do right things. Everyone who belongs to God will continue to be holy.’^[b]

¹² Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come quickly! I know what each person has done. I will give each one what they ought to have. I am ready to do that. ¹³ I caused all things to begin and I will cause the end of all things. I am the first and the last. I am the beginning and the end.

¹⁴ Believers who keep themselves clean will be happy. They are like people who always wash their clothes. I will let them eat the fruit from the tree that causes people to have true life. I will let them go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ But other people must stay outside the city:

¹⁶ I am Jesus. I have sent my angel to tell you this message. You must tell it to all the people in the churches. I am called the Root of King David. I am his descendant. I am the bright morning star.’^[c]

¹⁷ God's Spirit and all God's people answer Jesus. They say, ‘Yes, come!’ God's people are like a bride for Jesus. Everyone who hears this should also say to Jesus, ‘Come!’ Anyone who is thirsty should come to Jesus. Then that person will receive from Jesus the water that gives life. Anyone who wants it may take it. They will not have to pay anything for it.

¹⁸ Now John says this. I say clearly to everyone who hears the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book: If anyone adds any more words than are already in this book, God will punish them. The terrible troubles that this book describes will happen to them. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes away from the words that are in this book, God will punish them too. He will not let them eat the fruit from his tree that gives life. God will not let them live in his holy city either. This book describes all these things.

²⁰ It is Jesus who tells us that all these messages are true. He says, ‘Yes, I will come soon!’

Amen! We agree! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ I pray that the Lord Jesus will continue to be kind to all of you.

4 ‘The great day when I come to judge people will certainly happen. Punishment will come like the great fire of a hot oven. It will destroy all the proud people who do evil things. It will completely destroy them, like a fire that destroys dry grass. Nothing will remain.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

² ‘But it will be different for you who respect my name. My power to make you well again will come to you. It will be like the sun that rises to shine on you. When that happens, you will be very happy. You will jump up and down like young cows when someone lets them go free.^{[a] 3} Then you will walk over the wicked people. They will be like ashes under your feet. That will happen on the day when I do these things.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

⁴ ‘Remember the rules that I gave to my servant Moses at Sinai mountain. Those rules and laws were for all the Israelites to obey.^[b]

⁵ Look! I will send my prophet Elijah to you.^[c] He will come before that great day of the Lord arrives. That will be a day that makes people afraid. ⁶ He will speak my message, so that fathers and their children return together to me.^[d] Then I will not have to come and bring punishment on the land.’

Jesus shows himself to the disciples again

21 After that, Jesus showed himself to the disciples again when they were by Lake Tiberias.^[a] This is how it happened. ² Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin and Nathanael were together. (Nathanael came from Cana in Galilee.) The sons of Zebedee (James and John) and two other disciples were also there. ³ Simon Peter said to the other disciples, ‘I will now go and catch fish.’ They replied, ‘We will come with you.’ So they went out and they got into the boat. But they caught nothing during that night.

⁴ Early in the morning, Jesus was standing on the shore of the lake. But the disciples did not know that it was Jesus who stood there. ⁵ Then Jesus asked them, ‘Friends, have you caught any fish?’ They answered, ‘No!’ ⁶ He said, ‘Throw your net out on the right side of the boat. If you do that, you will catch some fish.’ So they threw the net out into the water. Then they caught so many fish that they could not pull the net back into the boat.

⁷ The disciple that Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord,’ he put on his coat. (He had been wearing only a few clothes.) Then he jumped into the water. ⁸ The other disciples followed him in the boat. They pulled the net that was full of fish behind them. They were not far from the shore. It was about 100 metres away. ⁹ When they came to the shore, they saw that someone had lit a fire. Some fish were cooking on it. There was some bread there, too. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, ‘Bring here some of the fish that you have just caught.’

¹¹ Simon Peter got back into the boat and he pulled the net onto the shore. It was full of 153 big fish. There were so many fish, but the net had not broken. ¹² Jesus said to them, ‘Come here and eat breakfast.’ None of the disciples was brave enough to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew that it was the Lord. ¹³ So Jesus took the bread and he gave it to them. Then he did the same with the fish.

¹⁴ After Jesus died and became alive again, this was now the third time that he showed himself to his disciples.

Jesus talks to Peter

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus spoke to Simon Peter. He said, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these other disciples love me?’ Peter answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’

¹⁶ Jesus asked him a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ ¹⁷ Jesus asked him a third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’^[b] Peter was sad because Jesus asked him a third time, ‘Do you love me?’ So he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, you know everything. You know that I really love you!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my sheep. ¹⁸ I tell you this: When you were young, you put on your own clothes. Then you went to any place that you wanted to visit. But when you are old, it will be different. You will hold out your arms and someone else will tie your clothes for you. Then they will take you to a place where you do not want to go.’ ¹⁹ When Jesus said this, he was showing how Peter would die.^[c] His death would give honour to God. Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Follow me.’

²⁰ Peter turned round and he saw the disciple that Jesus loved. He was the man who had been very near to Jesus at the supper. He had asked Jesus, ‘Lord, who will sell you to your enemies?’ Now this disciple was following behind them. ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, ‘Lord, what will happen to him?’ ²² Jesus answered him, ‘Perhaps I might want him to live until I return to this earth. But that should not matter to you. You must follow me!’

²³ At that time, people began to talk about these words that Jesus had said. Some disciples thought that Jesus meant that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say, ‘He will not die.’ Instead, he said to Peter, ‘Perhaps I might want him to live until I return to this earth. But that should not matter to you.’

²⁴ I am the disciple who saw these things. I am the one who wrote them down. We all know that what I have written about them is true.

²⁵ Jesus also did many other things. If people wrote about all those things, there would be very many books. I do not think that the whole world would have enough room for all those books.