M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

18 Y’hoshafat had wealth and honor in abundance, and by marriage he allied himself with Ach’av. ² After some years he went down to Ach’av in Shomron. Ach’av slaughtered sheep and oxen in abundance for him and the people with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramot-Gil‘ad. ³ Ach’av king of Isra’el said to Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah, “Will you go with me to Ramot-Gil‘ad?” He answered him, “I’m with you all the way; think of my troops as yours; we will join you in this war.” ⁴ But Y’hoshafat said to the king of Isra’el, “First, we should seek the word of Adonai.”

⁵ So the king of Isra’el assembled the prophets, 400 men. “Should we attack Ramot-Gil‘ad?” he asked them, “Or should I hold off?” They said, “Attack. God will hand it over to the king.” ⁶ But Y’hoshafat said, “Besides these, isn’t there a prophet of Adonai here that we can consult?” ⁷ The king of Isra’el said to Y’hoshafat, “Yes, there is still one man through whom we can consult Adonai; but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good for me, only bad! It’s Mikhay’hu the son of Yimlah.” Y’hoshafat replied, “The king shouldn’t say such a thing.”

⁸ Then the king called an officer and said, “Quickly! Bring Mikhay’hu the son of Yimlah.” ⁹ Now the king of Isra’el and Y’hoshafat the king of Y’hudah were each sitting on his throne, dressed in their royal robes; they were sitting in a threshing-floor at the entrance to the gate of Shomron; and all the prophets were there, prophesying in their presence. ¹⁰ Tzidkiyah the son of Kena‘anah had made himself some horns out of iron and said, “This is what Adonai says: ‘With these you will gore Aram until they are destroyed.’” ¹¹ All the prophets prophesied the same thing: “Go up and attack Ramot-Gil‘ad. You will succeed, because Adonai will hand it over to the king.”

¹² The messenger who had gone to call Mikhay’hu said to him, “Here, now, the prophets are unanimously predicting success for the king. Please let your word be like one of theirs — say something good.” ¹³ But Mikhay’hu answered, “As Adonai lives, whatever my God says is what I will say.”

¹⁴ When he reached the king, the king asked him, “Mikhay’hu, should we go up and attack Ramot-Gil‘ad, or should we hold off?” He answered, “Go up, you will succeed, they will be handed over to you.” ¹⁵ The king said to him, “How many times do I have to warn you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of Adonai?” ¹⁶ Then he said, “I saw all Isra’el scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd; and Adonai said, ‘These men have no leader; let everyone go home in peace.’” ¹⁷ The king of Isra’el said to Y’hoshafat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy good things about me, but bad?”

¹⁸ Mikhay’hu continued: “Therefore, hear the word of Adonai. I saw Adonai sitting on his throne with the whole army of heaven standing on his right and on his left. ¹⁹ Adonai asked, ‘Who will entice Ach’av king of Isra’el to go up to his death at Ramot-Gil‘ad?’ One of them said, ‘Do it this way,’ and another, ‘Do it that way.’ ²⁰ Then a spirit stepped up, stood in front of Adonai and said, ‘I will entice him.’ Adonai asked, ‘How?’ ²¹ He answered, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ Adonai said, ‘You will succeed in enticing him. Go, and do it.’ ²² So now Adonai has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours; meanwhile, Adonai has ordained disaster for you.”

²³ Then Tzidkiyah the son of Kena‘anah came up, slapped Mikhay’hu in the face and said, “And how did the Spirit of Adonai leave me to speak to you?” ²⁴ Mikhay’hu said, “You’ll find out the day you go into an inside room, trying to hide.”

²⁵ The king of Isra’el said, “Seize Mikhay’hu, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and Yo’ash the king’s son. ²⁶ Say, ‘The king says to put this man in prison; and feed him only bread and water, and not much of that, until I come back in peace.’” ²⁷ Mikhay’hu said, “If you return in peace at all, Adonai has not spoken through me!” Then he added, “Did you hear me, you peoples, all of you?”

²⁸ So the king of Isra’el and Y’hoshafat the king of Y’hudah went up to Ramot-Gil‘ad. ²⁹ The king of Isra’el said to Y’hoshafat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you, put on your robes.” So the king of Isra’el disguised himself and went into battle. ³⁰ Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Don’t attack anyone of either high or low rank, only the king of Isra’el.” ³¹ So when the chariot commanders saw Y’hoshafat they said, “This is the king of Isra’el,” and turned to attack him. But Y’hoshafat called out, and Adonai came to his aid — God moved them to leave him alone, ³² so that when the chariot commanders saw that he wasn’t the king of Isra’el, they stopped pursuing him. ³³ However, one soldier shot an arrow at random and struck the king of Isra’el between his lower armor and the breastplate. The king said to his chariot-driver, “Turn the reins and take me out of the fighting; I’m collapsing from my wounds.” ³⁴ But the fighting grew fiercer that day; and although the king of Isra’el propped himself upright in his chariot facing Aram until evening, around sunset he died.

7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the land, on the sea or on any tree. ² I saw another angel coming up from the east with a seal from the living God, and he shouted to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea, ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!” ⁴ I heard how many were sealed — 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Isra’el:

⁹ After this, I looked; and there before me was a huge crowd, too large for anyone to count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. They were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands; ¹⁰ and they shouted,

¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne, the elders and the four living beings; they fell face down before the throne and worshipped God, saying,

¹³ One of the elders asked me, “These people dressed in white robes — who are they, and where are they from?” ¹⁴ “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” Then he told me, “These are the people who have come out of the Great Persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ That is why they are before God’s throne.

3 He showed me Y’hoshua the cohen hagadol standing before the angel of Adonai, with the Accuser ^[a] standing at his right to accuse him. ² Adonai said to the Accuser, “May Adonai rebuke you, Accuser! Indeed, may Adonai, who has made Yerushalayim his choice, rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” ³ Y’hoshua was clothed in garments covered with dung; and he was standing before the angel, ⁴ who said to those standing in front of him, “Take those filthy garments off of him.” Then to him he said, “See, I am taking your guilt away. I will clothe you in fine robes.” ⁵ I said, “They should put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and gave him fine robes to wear, while the angel of Adonai stood by. ⁶ Then the angel of Adonai gave Y’hoshua this warning: ⁷ “Adonai-Tzva’ot says this: ‘If you will walk in my ways, obey my commission, judge my house and guard my courtyards; then I will give you free access among these who are standing here. ⁸ Listen, cohen gadol Y’hoshua, both you and your colleagues seated here before you, because these men are a sign that I am going to bring my servant Tzemach [Sprout]. ⁹ For look at the stone I have put in front of Y’hoshua: on one stone are seven eyes; I will engrave what is to be written on it,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot; ‘and I will remove the guilt of this land in one day. ¹⁰ When that time comes,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘you will all invite each other to join you under your vines and fig trees.’”

6 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), ² and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. ³ Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. ⁴ Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up; ⁵ so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?” ⁶ (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.) ⁷ Philip answered, “Half a year’s wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for them — each one would get only a bite!” ⁸ One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand. ¹¹ Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b’rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, “Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.” ¹³ They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, “This has to be ‘the prophet’ who is supposed to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his talmidim went down to the lake, ¹⁷ got into a boat and set out across the lake toward K’far-Nachum. By now it was dark, Yeshua had not yet joined them, ¹⁸ and the sea was getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the lake! They were terrified; ²⁰ but he said to them, “Stop being afraid, it is I.” ²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and instantly the boat reached the land they were heading for.

²² The next day, the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake noticed that there had been only one boat there, and that Yeshua had not entered the boat with his talmidim, but that the talmidim had been alone when they sailed off. ²³ Then other boats, from Tiberias, came ashore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had made the b’rakhah. ²⁴ Accordingly, when the crowd saw that neither Yeshua nor his talmidim were there, they themselves boarded the boats and made for K’far-Nachum in search of Yeshua.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” ²⁶ Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed! I tell you, you’re not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the bread and had all you wanted! ²⁷ Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.”

²⁸ So they said to him, “What should we do in order to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Yeshua answered, “Here’s what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!”

³⁰ They said to him, “Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate man in the desert — as it says in the Tanakh, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^{[a] 32} Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn’t Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; ³³ for God’s bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on.” ³⁵ Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ I told you that you have seen but still don’t trust. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of the One who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the One who sent me: that I should not lose any of all those he has given me but should raise them up on the Last Day. ⁴⁰ Yes, this is the will of my Father: that all who see the Son and trust in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on the Last Day.”

⁴¹ At this the Judeans began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread which has come down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Isn’t this Yeshua Ben-Yosef? We know his father and mother! How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Yeshua answered them, “Stop grumbling to each other! ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father — the One who sent me — draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by Adonai.’^[b] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God — he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life: ⁴⁸ I am the bread which is life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the man in the desert; they died. ⁵⁰ But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world.”

⁵² At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ Then Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life — that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me. ⁵⁸ So this is the bread that has come down from heaven — it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they’re dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!” ⁵⁹ He said these things as he was teaching in a synagogue in K’far-Nachum.

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his talmidim said, “This is a hard word — who can bear to listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Yeshua, aware that his talmidim were grumbling about this, said to them, “This is a trap for you? ⁶² Suppose you were to see the Son of Man going back up to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life, ⁶⁴ yet some among you do not trust.” (For Yeshua knew from the outset which ones would not trust him, also which one would betray him.) ⁶⁵ “This,” he said, “is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has made it possible for him.”

⁶⁶ From this time on, many of his talmidim turned back and no longer traveled around with him. ⁶⁷ So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “Don’t you want to leave too?” ⁶⁸ Shim‘on Kefa answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the word of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have trusted, and we know that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰ Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is an adversary.” ⁷¹ (He was speaking of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on, from K’riot; for this man — one of the Twelve! — was soon to betray him.)