M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

II. The Post-Solomonic Monarchy of Judah

Chapter 10

Division of the Kingdom. ^1 (A)Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel^[a] had come to make him king. ² When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard about it, he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon; and he returned from Egypt. ³ They sent for him; Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam: ⁴ “Your father put on us a heavy yoke. If you now lighten the harsh servitude and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will be your servants.” ⁵ He answered them, “Come back to me in three days,” and the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked advice of the elders who had been in his father Solomon’s service while he was still alive, and asked, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ They replied, “If you will deal kindly with this people and please them, giving them a favorable reply, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he ignored the advice the elders had given him and asked advice of the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service. ⁹ He said to them, “What answer do you advise us to give this people, who have told me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied: “This is what you must say to this people who have told you, ‘Your father laid a heavy yoke on us; lighten it for us.’ You must say, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ My father put a heavy yoke on you; I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips; I will use scorpions!’”

¹² On the third day, Jeroboam and the whole people came back to King Rehoboam as the king had instructed them: “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, King Rehoboam gave the people a harsh answer. ¹⁴ He spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father laid a heavy yoke on you; I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips; I will use scorpions.” ¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God: the Lord fulfilled the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.^(B)

^16 (C)When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king:

So all Israel went off to their tents, ¹⁷ but the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah had Rehoboam as their king. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam then sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

I. Prologue^[a]

Chapter 1

¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show his servants what must happen soon. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,^{(A) 2} who gives witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ by reporting what he saw. ³ Blessed is the one^[b] who reads aloud and blessed are those who listen to this prophetic message and heed what is written in it, for the appointed time is near.^(B)

II. Letters to the Churches of Asia

Greeting.^{[c] 4} John, to the seven churches in Asia:^[d] grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,^{(C) 5} and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us^[e] from our sins by his blood,^{(D) 6} who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever [and ever]. Amen.^(E)

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”^[f] says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”^(G)

The First Vision.^{[g] 9} I, John, your brother, who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus, found myself on the island called Patmos^[h] because I proclaimed God’s word and gave testimony to Jesus. ¹⁰ I was caught up in spirit on the Lord’s day^[i] and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet, ¹¹ which said, “Write on a scroll^[j] what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” ^12 [k]Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,^[l] wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.^{(H) 14} The hair of his head was as white as white wool or as snow,^[m] and his eyes were like a fiery flame. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished brass refined in a furnace,^[n] and his voice was like the sound of rushing water. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars.^[o] A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth, and his face shone like the sun at its brightest.^(I)

¹⁷ When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead.^[p] He touched me with his right hand and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,^{(J) 18} the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.^{[q] 19} Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.^{[r] 20} This is the secret meaning^[s] of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Chapter 2

Judgment on the Nations

VIII. The Resurrection Narrative^[a]

Chapter 24

The Resurrection of Jesus. ^1 (A)But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.^{(B) 5} They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?^{(C) 6} He is not here, but he has been raised.^[b] Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”^{(D) 8} And they remembered his words.^{(E) 9 [c](F)}Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰ The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,^{(G) 11} but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. ^12 [d](H)But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus.^{[e] 13} Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles^[f] from Jerusalem called Emmaus,^{(I) 14} and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. ¹⁵ And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, ^16 [g](J)but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,^{(K) 20} how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. ^21 (L)But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. ^22 (M)Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning ²³ and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. ^24 (N)Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” ^25 (O)And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer^[h] these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.^{(P) 28} As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. ²⁹ But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. ³² Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” ³³ So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them ³⁴ who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”^{(Q) 35} Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Appearance to the Disciples in Jerusalem. ^36 [i]While they were still speaking about this,^(R) he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^{(S) 37} But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.^{(T) 38} Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? ^39 [j]Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” ^40 (U)And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of baked fish;^{(V) 43} he took it and ate it in front of them.

⁴⁴ He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”^{(W) 45} Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.^{(X) 46 [k]}And he said to them,^(Y) “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day ⁴⁷ and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.^{(Z) 48} You are witnesses of these things.^{(AA) 49} And [behold] I am sending the promise of my Father^[l] upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”^(AB)

The Ascension.^{[m] 50 (AC)}Then he led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. ⁵¹ As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. ⁵² They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy,^{(AD) 53} and they were continually in the temple praising God.^[n]