M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 24
Temple Repairs.[a] 1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beer-sheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as long as Jehoiada was alive. 3 Jehoiada selected two wives for him, and he became the father of several sons and daughters.
4 Sometime later, Joash decided to restore the temple of the Lord. 5 After he assembled the priests and the Levites, he said to them: “Go forth to all the towns of Judah and without any delay collect the money that is due each year so that we may make the annual repairs that are necessary. See to it that you act quickly.” However, the Levites did not hasten to proceed immediately.
6 Therefore, the king summoned Jehoiada, the chief priest, and asked him: “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?” 7 For the wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into the house of God and had even given to the Baals the sacred revenues of the temple of the Lord.
8 Therefore, the king ordered that a chest be made and placed outside the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 Then a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring to the Lord the tax which Moses, the servant of God, had imposed on Israel in the desert. 10 As a result, the officials and all the people rejoiced, and they willingly brought their contributions, depositing them in the chest until it was filled.
11 Whenever the chest was brought to the royal officials by the Levites, and it was evident that it contained a large amount of money, the king’s secretary and the representative of the chief priest would come to empty it and then return the chest to its designated place. They did this day after day and collected money in great abundance. 12 Then the king and Jehoiada gave the money to those who were responsible for carrying out the work of the house of the Lord, and they also hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, while workers skilled in iron and bronze devoted themselves to making all the necessary repairs.
13 The laborers concentrated on their labor, and the repairs progressed steadily at their hands. They restored the house of God to its original state and strengthened it. 14 After they had completed their work, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used to make vessels for the house of the Lord, vessels for the services and for burnt offerings, and basins and other gold and silver utensils. They continually offered burnt offerings in the Lord’s temple throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada.
15 Jehoiada lived to a ripe old age. He was one hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16 He was buried with the kings in the City of David because of all the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.
17 Apostasy of King Joash.[b] After the death of Jehoiada, the officials came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to their advice. 18 Then they forsook the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and they began to worship the sacred poles and the idols. Because of their guilt, God’s wrath descended upon Judah and Jerusalem. 19 Although the Lord sent prophets to lead them back to him, they refused to listen.
20 Then the Spirit of God took possession of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Why do you transgress the commands of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’ ”
21 However, they conspired against him, and at the king’s order they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. 22 Thus King Joash, forgetting the loyalty of Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, killed his son. As he was dying, he said: “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
23 Retribution. At the turn of the year the Aramean army advanced against Joash. When they reached Judah and Jerusalem, they massacred all the leaders of the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24 Although the invading Aramean army had come with only a small force, the Lord delivered into their hands a very large army because they had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. Thus they executed judgment against Joash.
25 When the Arameans had withdrawn, leaving Joash severely wounded, his servants conspired against him to avenge the blood of the son of the priest Jehoiada, and they killed him on his bed. Thus he died, and they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith, a Moabite. 27 Accounts of his sons, of the many oracles against him, and of the rebuilding of the house of God are all recorded in the commentary of the book of kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him.
Chapter 11
The Two Witnesses and the Fate of Jerusalem.[a] 1 I was next given a staff to use as a measuring rod, and I was told, “Go forth and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the people who are worshiping there. 2 However, exclude the outer court of the temple from your measurements, because it has been handed over to the Gentiles and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.[b] 3 I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for those twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire pours forth from their mouths and consumes their enemies. Anyone who attempts to harm them will surely be killed in this manner. 6 They have the power to shut up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They also have the power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with every type of plague as often as they desire.
7 When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and overpower and kill them. 8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, known by the symbolic names of Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
9 People of every race, tribe, nation, and language will gaze at their corpses for three and a half days and refuse to allow them to be buried. 10 The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them as they celebrate and exchange gifts, because these two prophets had been a source of torment to them.
11 However, after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and when they rose to their feet, great terror filled those who saw them. 12 Then I heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here,” and while their enemies were watching, they went up to heaven in a cloud.
13 At that very hour there was a violent earthquake, and a tenth of the city was destroyed. Seven thousand people were killed during the earthquake. Those who survived were overcome with fear and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed, but the third will come quickly.
15 The Seventh Trumpet: the Third Woe.[c] The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and voices in heaven were heard crying loudly:
“The kingdom of the world belongs
to our Lord and his Messiah,
and he will reign forever and ever.”
16 Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones in the presence of God prostrated themselves and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were.
For you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
18 The nations rose in rage,
but now your wrath has come.
It is the time for judging the dead
and for rewarding your servants the Prophets,
as well as the saints who revere your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant[d] was seen within his temple. There followed flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.
Chapter 7[a]
Must I Continue to Do Penance? 1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 [b]Bethel-sarezer sent Regem-melech and his men to entreat the favor of the Lord 3 [c]and to ask the priests in the house of the Lord, and the prophets, “Should I continue to mourn and to fast in the fifth month, as I have been doing for these many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 Say to all the people of the country and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh month during these seventy years, was it truly for my sake that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not eating and drinking for yourselves? 7 Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in the past, when Jerusalem was inhabited and enjoying peace, as were her surrounding towns, and when the Negeb and the foothills were inhabited?
8 This word of the Lord came to Zechariah: 9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render fair judgments, and show kindness and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor. Do not plot evil in your heart against one another. 11 But they refused to listen; they defiantly turned their backs and stopped their ears so that they would not hear. 12 They were adamant in their refusal to accept the teaching and the law that the Lord of hosts had transmitted by his Spirit through the former prophets.
Therefore, the wrath of the Lord of hosts was aroused. 13 Since they refused to listen when he called to them, he in turn would not listen when they cried out to the Lord of hosts. 14 Rather, he scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations where they were strangers. Therefore, the land they left was desolate after their departure, and no one came or went. They had turned their pleasant land into a desert.
The Shepherd Who Gives Up His Life[a]
I Am the Good Shepherd[b]
Chapter 10
The Good Shepherd
1 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
anyone who does not enter
the sheepfold through the gate
but climbs in some other way
is a thief and a bandit.
2 The one who enters through the gate
is the shepherd of the flock.
3 The gatekeeper opens for him,
and the sheep hear his voice.
He calls his own sheep by name
and leads them out.
4 “When he has brought out all his own,
he goes on ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him
because they know his voice.
5 However, they will never follow a stranger.
Rather, they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize
the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus used this parable to instruct them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 Therefore, Jesus spoke to them again,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate of the sheepfold.
8 All who came before me
were thieves and bandits,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 “I am the gate.
Anyone who enters through me
will be saved.
He will go in and out
and will find pasture.
10 “A thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come
that they may have life,
and have it in abundance.
11 “I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired hand,
who is not the shepherd
nor the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf approaching,
and he leaves the sheep and runs away,
while the wolf catches and scatters them.
13 He runs away
because he is only a hired hand
and he has no concern for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd.
I know my own,
and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father.
And I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 “I have other sheep too
that do not belong to this fold.
I must lead them as well,
and they will hear my voice.
Thus, there will only be one flock,
one shepherd.
17 “This is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
18 No one takes it away from me.
I lay it down of my own free will.
And as I have the power to lay it down,
I have the power to take it up again.
This command I have received from my Father.”
19 Once again, these words provoked a division among the Jews. 20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed and out of his mind. Why should we listen to him?” 21 But others said, “No one possessed by a demon could speak like this. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”[c]
I and the Father Are One
22 Feast of the Dedication.[d] At that time, the feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple along the Portico of Solomon.[e] 24 The Jews gathered around him and asked, “How much longer will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus replied,
“I have told you,
but you do not believe.
The works that I do in my Father’s name
bear witness to 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 perish.
No one will ever snatch them from my hand.
29 My Father who has given them to me
is greater than all,
and no one can snatch them
out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”[f]
31 Once again, the Jews picked up rocks to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have performed in your presence many good works from my Father. For which of these works are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered, “We are not going to stone you for any good work you have done, but for blasphemy. Even though you are a man, you are claiming to be God.” 34 Jesus replied,
“Is it not written in your Law,[g]
‘I said: You are gods’?
35 If those to whom
the word of God was addressed
are called ‘gods’
—and Scripture cannot be set aside—
36 how can you say, ‘You blaspheme,’
to the one whom the Father has consecrated
and sent into the world
for saying, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 “If I am not performing
the works of my Father,
then do not believe me.
38 However, if I am doing them,
then even if you do not believe me,
at least believe my works,
so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me
and I am in the Father.”
39 They again tried to seize him, but he escaped from their clutches.
40 The Testimony of John the Baptist.[h] He went back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he remained there. 41 Many people came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many there came to believe in him.
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