M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

19 Then Y’hoshafat the king of Y’hudah returned home to Yerushalayim in peace. ² Yehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Y’hoshafat, “Should you help the wicked and befriend those who hate Adonai? Because of this, Adonai’s anger is upon you. ³ Still, there is some good in you, in that you have removed the sacred poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

⁴ So Y’hoshafat lived in Yerushalayim and again circulated among the people from Be’er-Sheva to the hills of Efrayim, bringing them back to Adonai, the God of their ancestors.

⁵ He appointed judges throughout the land in all the fortified cities of Y’hudah, city by city, ⁶ and instructed the judges, “Think about what you are doing: you are not dispensing justice by merely human standards but on behalf of Adonai; he is with you when you deliver a verdict. ⁷ Therefore, let the fear of Adonai be upon you; be careful what you do; for Adonai our God does not allow dishonesty, partiality or bribe-taking.”

⁸ In Yerushalayim Y’hoshafat appointed some of the L’vi’im, cohanim and clan heads of Isra’el to judge in matters concerning Adonai and in civil cases. After they had returned to Yerushalayim, ⁹ he charged them, “Here is what you are to do faithfully and wholeheartedly, in fear of Adonai: ¹⁰ when an issue comes before you from your brothers who live in their cities, whether it’s a case involving bloodshed or a question as to which teaching, mitzvah, law or ruling applies, you must warn them; so that they won’t incur guilt toward Adonai and thereby bring anger on both you and your kinsmen. Do this, and you won’t incur guilt. ¹¹ Amaryahu the chief cohen is over you in all matters concerning Adonai, and Z’vadyahu the son of Yishma‘el, chief of the house of Y’hudah, in all the king’s matters. The officers of the L’vi’im are at your service. Be strong, and act, and may Adonai be with the good.”

20 Some time later, the people of Mo’av and the people of ‘Amon with other ‘Amonim came up to fight Y’hoshafat. ² Y’hoshafat was told, “A huge army from beyond the [Dead] Sea, from Aram, is on its way to fight you; right now they are in Hatzatzon-Tamar” (that is, ‘Ein-Gedi). ³ Y’hoshafat was frightened, so he determined to seek Adonai. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Y’hudah, ⁴ and Y’hudah assembled to seek help from Adonai; they came from all the cities of Y’hudah to seek Adonai.

⁵ Standing in front of the new courtyard in the house of Adonai, among those assembled from Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, ⁶ he said: “Adonai, God of our ancestors, you alone are God in heaven. You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and strength, so that no one can withstand you. ⁷ You, our God, drove out those living in the land ahead of your people Isra’el and gave it forever to the descendants of Avraham your friend. ⁸ They lived in it, built you a sanctuary in it for your name, and said, ⁹ ‘If calamity strikes us, such as war, judgment, disease or famine, we will stand before this house — that is, before you, since your name is in this house — and cry to you in our distress; and you will hear us and rescue us.’

¹⁰ “So now, see: the people of ‘Amon, Mo’av and Mount Se‘ir, whom you would not let Isra’el invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, so that they turned away from them and did not destroy them, ¹¹ are now repaying us [evil]; they have come to throw us out of your possession, which you gave us as an inheritance. ¹² Our God! Won’t you execute judgment against them? For we haven’t strength enough to defeat this huge horde coming against us, and we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

¹³ All Y’hudah stood before Adonai with their little ones, their wives and their children. ¹⁴ Then, in the middle of the assembly, the Spirit of Adonai came upon Yachzi’el the son of Z’kharyahu, the son of B’nayah, the son of Ye‘i’el, the son of Matanyah the Levi, from the descendants of Asaf. ¹⁵ He said, “Listen, all Y’hudah, you who live in Yerushalayim and King Y’hoshafat: here is what Adonai is saying to you: ‘Don’t be afraid or distressed by this great horde; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow, go down against them. They will be coming up by the ascent of Tzitz, and you will find them at the end of the vadi, before the Yeru’el Desert. ¹⁷ You won’t even need to fight this battle! Just take your positions, Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, stand still, and watch how Adonai will deliver you! Don’t be afraid or distressed; tomorrow, go out against them; for Adonai is with you.’”

¹⁸ Y’hoshafat bowed his head with his face to the ground; while all Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim fell down before Adonai, worshipping Adonai; ¹⁹ and the L’vi’im from the descendants of the K’hati and the descendants of the Korchi, stood up and praised Adonai the God of Isra’el at the top of their voices.

²⁰ The next morning, they rose early and went out into the T’koa Desert. As they left, Y’hoshafat stood and said, “Listen to me, Y’hudah and you inhabitants of Yerushalayim!

²¹ After consulting with the people, he appointed those who would sing to Adonai and praise the splendor of his holiness as they went out ahead of the army, saying, “Give thanks to Adonai, for his grace continues forever.” ²² Then, during the time when they were singing and praising, Adonai brought a surprise attack against the people of ‘Amon, Mo’av and Mount Se‘ir who had come to fight Y’hudah; and they were defeated. ²³ What happened was that the people of ‘Amon and Mo’av began attacking those people who lived by Mount Se‘ir, to kill and destroy them completely; and when they had finished off the people from Se‘ir, they set to work slaughtering one another. ²⁴ So when Y’hudah reached the watchtower overlooking the desert, they looked toward the horde; and there in front of them were corpses fallen to the ground; none had escaped. ²⁵ Y’hoshafat and his army came to take the spoil from them and found among them personal property in abundance and corpses with precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves until they couldn’t carry any more. They took three days just to collect the spoil, there was so much. ²⁶ On the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of B’rakhah [blessing], where they blessed Adonai; hence that place is called the Valley of B’rakhah to this day.

²⁷ Then they returned, everyone from Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, with Y’hoshafat leading them joyfully back to Yerushalayim; for Adonai had caused them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ They came to Yerushalayim with lyres, lutes and trumpets and went to the house of Adonai. ²⁹ A panic from God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that Adonai had fought against the enemies of Isra’el. ³⁰ So Y’hoshafat’s rule was a quiet one, because his God gave him rest all around.

³¹ Y’hoshafat ruled over Y’hudah; he was thirty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled twenty-five years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was ‘Azuvah the daughter of Shilchi. ³² He lived in the manner of Asa his father and did not turn away from it, doing what was right from Adonai’s perspective; ³³ although the high places were not taken away, and the people had not yet set their hearts toward the God of their ancestors. ³⁴ Other activities of Y’hoshafat, from beginning to end, are written in the records of Yehu the son of Hanani, which have been inserted in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

³⁵ It was after this that Y’hoshafat joined up with Achazyah king of Isra’el, who was acting very wickedly. ³⁶ He joined together with him to build large ships capable of going to Tarshish; they made the ships in ‘Etzyon-Gever. ³⁷ Then Eli‘ezer the son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Y’hoshafat: “Because you joined yourself with Achazyah, Adonai is wrecking your project.” And the ships were wrecked, so that they couldn’t go to Tarshish.

8 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour. ² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven shofars. ³ Another angel came and stood at the altar with a gold incense-bowl, and he was given a large quantity of incense to add to the prayers of all God’s people ⁴ on the gold altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of God’s people from the hand of the angel before God. ⁵ Then the angel took the incense-bowl, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it down onto the earth; and there followed peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

⁶ Now the seven angels with the seven shofars prepared to sound them.

⁷ The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸ The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter.

¹² The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise.

¹³ Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle give a loud cry, as it flew in mid-heaven, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on earth, because of the remaining blasts from the three angels who have yet to sound their shofars!”

4 Then the angel that had been speaking with me returned and roused me, as if he were waking someone up from being asleep, ² and asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I’ve been looking at a menorah; it’s all of gold, with a bowl at its top, seven lamps on it, and seven tubes leading to the lamps at its top. ³ Next to it are two olive trees, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left.” ⁴ I then asked the angel speaking with me, “What are these, my Lord?” The angel speaking with me said, ⁵ “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my Lord.” ⁶ Then he answered me, “This is the word of Adonai to Z’rubavel: ‘Not by force, and not by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot. ⁷ ‘What are you, you big mountain? Before Z’rubavel you will become a plain; and he will put the capstone in place, as everyone shouts, “It’s beautiful! Beautiful!”’ ⁸ This message from Adonai came to me: ⁹ ‘The hands of Z’rubavel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will also finish it.’ Then you will know that Adonai-Tzva’ot sent me to you. ¹⁰ For even someone who doesn’t think much of a day when such minor events take place will rejoice at seeing the plumbline in the hand of Z’rubavel. So these seven are the eyes of Adonai that range about over all the earth.”

¹¹ I replied by asking him, “What are those two olive trees on the right and left sides of the menorah?” ¹² Then I asked the question again: “What are those two olive branches discharging gold[-colored oil] through the two gold spouts?” ¹³ He replied, “Don’t you know what they are?” I answered, “No, my Lord.” ¹⁴ He said, “Those are the two who have been anointed with oil; they are standing with the Lord of all the land.”

7 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. ² But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; ³ so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; ⁴ for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” ⁵ (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) ⁶ Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. ⁷ The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. ⁸ You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” ⁹ Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.

¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret. ¹¹ At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked. ¹² And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.” ¹³ However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.

¹⁴ Not until the festival was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked. ¹⁶ So Yeshua gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own. ¹⁸ A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?” ²⁰ “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who’s out to kill you?” ²¹ Yeshua answered them, “I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed. ²² Moshe gave you b’rit-milah — not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs — and you do a boy’s b’rit-milah on Shabbat. ²³ If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat? ²⁴ Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”

²⁵ Some of the Yerushalayim people said, “Isn’t this the man they’re out to kill? ²⁶ Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don’t say anything to him. It couldn’t be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he’s the Messiah? ²⁷ Surely not — we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ Whereupon Yeshua, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, “Indeed you do know me! And you know where I’m from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don’t know! ²⁹ I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!”

³⁰ At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come. ³¹ However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”

³² The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. ³³ Yeshua said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews? ³⁶ And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”

³⁷ Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! ³⁸ Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” ³⁹ (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’”; ⁴¹ others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? ⁴² Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David^[a] and comes from Beit-Lechem,^[b] the village where David lived?” ⁴³ So the people were divided because of him. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵ The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P’rushim, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” ⁴⁶ The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!” ⁴⁷ “You mean you’ve been taken in as well?” the P’rushim retorted. ⁴⁸ “Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P’rushim? No! ⁴⁹ True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”

⁵⁰ Nakdimon, the man who had gone to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.” ⁵² They replied, “You aren’t from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!” ^{[c] 53} Then they all left, each one to his own home.