M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Joash Repairs the Temple
24 Joash was seven years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 40 years. His mother’s name was Zibiah. She was from Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Joash lived that way as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. 3 Jehoiada chose two wives for Joash. They had sons and daughters by Joash.
4 Some time later Joash decided to make the Lord’s temple look like new again. 5 He called together the priests and Levites. He said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah. Collect the money that the nation of Israel owes every year. Use it to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites didn’t do it right away.
6 So the king sent for Jehoiada the chief priest. He said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in the tax from Judah and Jerusalem? It was set up by the Lord’s servant Moses and the whole community of Israel. It was used for the tent where the tablets of the covenant law were kept.”
7 The children of that evil woman Athaliah had broken into God’s temple. They had used even its sacred objects for the gods that were named Baal.
8 King Joash commanded that a wooden chest be made. It was placed outside near the gate of the Lord’s temple. 9 Then a message went out in Judah and Jerusalem. It said that the people should bring the tax to the Lord. God’s servant Moses had required Israel to pay that tax when they were in the desert. 10 All the officials and people gladly brought their money. They dropped it into the chest until it was full. 11 The chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials. Every time the officials saw there was a large amount of money in the chest, it was emptied out. The royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied it. Then they carried it back to its place. They did it regularly. They collected a great amount of money. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to the people who were doing the work on the Lord’s temple. They hired people who could lay the stones and people who could work with wood. They also hired people who could work with iron and bronze. They hired all of them to repair the temple.
13 The men in charge of the work did their best. The repairs went very well under them. They rebuilt God’s temple. They did it in keeping with its original plans. They made the temple even stronger. 14 So they finished the work. Then they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada. It was used to pay for the objects that were made for the Lord’s temple. The objects were used for serving at the temple. They were also used for the burnt offerings. The objects included dishes and other things made out of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were sacrificed continually at the Lord’s temple.
15 Jehoiada had become very old. He died at the age of 130. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David. That’s because he had done so many good things in Israel for God and his temple.
The Evil Things Joash Did
17 After Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came to King Joash. They bowed down to him. He listened to them. 18 They turned their backs on the temple of the Lord, the God of their people. They worshiped poles made to honor the female god named Asherah. They also worshiped statues of other gods. Because Judah and Jerusalem were guilty of sin, God became angry with them. 19 The Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him. The prophets told the people what they were doing wrong. But the people wouldn’t listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the priest. He was the son of Jehoiada. Zechariah stood in front of the people. He told them, “God says, ‘Why do you refuse to obey my commands? You will not have success. You have deserted me. So I have deserted you.’ ”
21 But the people made evil plans against Zechariah. The king ordered them to kill Zechariah by throwing stones at him. They did it in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash didn’t remember how kind Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had been to him. So he killed Jehoiada’s son. As Zechariah was dying he said, “May the Lord see this. May he hold you responsible.”
23 In the spring, the army of Aram marched into Judah and Jerusalem against Joash. They killed all the leaders of the people. They took a large amount of goods from Judah. They sent it to their king in Damascus. 24 The army of Aram had come with only a few men. But the Lord allowed them to win the battle over a much larger army. Judah had deserted the Lord, the God of their people. That’s why the Lord punished Joash. 25 The army of Aram pulled back. They left Joash badly wounded. His officials planned to do evil things to him. That’s because he murdered the son of Jehoiada the priest. They killed Joash in his bed. So he died. He was buried in the City of David. But he wasn’t placed in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who made the plans against Joash were Zabad and Jehozabad. Zabad was the son of Shimeath. She was from Ammon. Jehozabad was the son of Shimrith. She was from Moab. 27 The story of the sons of Joash is written in the notes on the records of the kings. The many prophecies about him are written there too. So is the record of how he made God’s temple look like new again. Joash’s son Amaziah became the next king after him.
The Two Witnesses
11 I was given a long stick that looked like a measuring rod. I was told, “Go and measure the temple of God. And measure the altar where the people are worshiping. 2 But do not measure the outer courtyard. That’s because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will take over the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will appoint my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for 1,260 days. They will be dressed in the rough clothes people wear when they’re sad.” 4 The witnesses are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands. And “they stand in front of the Lord of the earth.” (Zechariah 4:3,11,14) 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and eats up their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These witnesses have power to close up the sky. Then it will not rain while they are prophesying. They also have power to turn the waters into blood. And they can strike the earth with every kind of plague. They can do this as often as they want to.
7 When they have finished speaking, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them. He will overpower them and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the main street of the great city. It is also the city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. The city is sometimes compared to Sodom or Egypt. 9 For three and a half days, people will stare at their bodies. These people will be from every tribe and nation, no matter what language they speak. They will refuse to bury them. 10 Those who live on the earth will be happy about this. That’s because those two prophets had made them suffer. The people will celebrate by sending one another gifts.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the witnesses. They both stood up. Terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then the two witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven. It said to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud. Their enemies watched it happen.
13 At that same time there was a powerful earthquake. A tenth of the city crumbled and fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people were killed. Those who lived through it were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second terrible judgment has passed. The third is coming soon.
The Seventh Trumpet
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven. They said,
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.
He will rule for ever and ever.”
16 The 24 elders were sitting on their thrones in front of God. They fell on their faces and worshiped God. 17 They said,
“Lord God who rules over all, we give thanks to you.
You are the God who is and who was.
We give you thanks.
That’s because you have begun to rule with your great power.
18 The nations were angry,
and the time for your anger has come.
The time has come to judge the dead.
It is time to reward your servants the prophets
and your people who honor you.
There is a reward for all your people,
both great and small.
It is time to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened. Inside it the wooden chest called the ark of his covenant could be seen. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings and thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
Have Justice and Mercy
7 During the fourth year that Darius was king, a message from the Lord came to me. It was the fourth day of the ninth month. That’s the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel wanted to ask the Lord for his blessing. So they sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek and their men. 3 They went to the prophets and priests at the Lord’s temple. They asked them, “Should we mourn and go without eating in the fifth month? That’s what we’ve done for many years.”
4 Then the message came to me from the Lord who rules over all. He said, 5 “Ask the priests and all the people in the land a question for me. Say to them, ‘You mourned and fasted in the fifth and seventh months. You did it for the past 70 years. But did you really do it for me? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, weren’t you just enjoying good food for yourselves? 7 Didn’t I tell you the same thing through the earlier prophets? That was when Jerusalem and the towns around it were at rest and enjoyed success. People lived in the Negev Desert and the western hills at that time.’ ”
8 Another message from the Lord came to me. 9 Here is what the Lord who rules over all said to his people. “Treat everyone with justice. Show mercy and tender concern to one another. 10 Do not take advantage of widows. Do not mistreat children whose fathers have died. Do not be mean to outsiders or poor people. Do not make evil plans against one another.”
11 But they refused to pay attention to the Lord. They were stubborn. They turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as the hardest stone. They wouldn’t listen to the law. They wouldn’t pay attention to the Lord’s messages. So the Lord who rules over all was very angry. After all, his Spirit had spoken to his people through the earlier prophets.
13 “When I called, they did not listen,” says the Lord. “So when they called, I would not listen. 14 I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations. They were strangers there. The land they left behind became dry and empty. No one could even travel through it. This is how they turned the pleasant land into a dry and empty desert.”
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
10 “What I’m about to tell you Pharisees is true. What if someone does not enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs in another way? That person is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him. The sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own sheep, he goes on ahead of them. His sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus told this story. But the Pharisees didn’t understand what he was telling them.
7 So Jesus said again, “What I’m about to tell you is true. I am like a gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I’m like a gate. Anyone who enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out. And they will find plenty of food. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so they may have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12 The hired man is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when the hired man sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired man. He does not care about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. 15 They know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I give my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this sheep pen. I must bring them in too. They also will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I give up my life. But I will take it back again. 18 No one takes it from me. I give it up myself. I have the authority to give it up. And I have the authority to take it back again. I received this command from my Father.”
19 The Jews who heard these words could not agree with one another. 20 Many of them said, “He is controlled by a demon. He has gone crazy! Why should we listen to him?”
21 But others said, “A person controlled by a demon does not say things like this. Can a demon open the eyes of someone who is blind?”
Another Challenge to Jesus’ Claims
22 Then came the Feast of Hanukkah at Jerusalem. It was winter. 23 Jesus was in the temple courtyard walking in Solomon’s Porch. 24 The Jews who were gathered there around Jesus spoke to him. They said, “How long will you keep us waiting? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you. But you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name are a witness for me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never die. No one will steal them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than anyone. No one can steal them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again the Jews who had challenged him picked up stones to kill him. 32 But Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. Which good work are you throwing stones at me for?”
33 “We are not throwing stones at you for any good work,” they replied. “We are stoning you for saying a very evil thing. You are only a man. But you claim to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Didn’t God say in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? (Psalm 82:6) 35 We know that Scripture is always true. God spoke to some people and called them ‘gods.’ 36 If that is true, what about the one the Father set apart as his very own? What about this one the Father sent into the world? Why do you charge me with saying a very evil thing? Is it because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Don’t believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But what if I do them? Even if you don’t believe me, believe these works. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to arrest him. But he escaped from them.
40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan River. He went to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed. 41 Many people came to him. They said, “John never performed a sign. But everything he said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.
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