M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The End of the Kingdom

Chapter 36^[a]

Jehoahaz. ¹ The people of the land then took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem as the successor to his father. ² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then Neco, the king of Egypt, deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a levy on Judah of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. ⁴ Following that, the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim, but Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and had him brought to Egypt.

Jehoiakim. ⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. ⁶ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, then attacked him and bound him with chains to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also carried away to Babylon some of the vessels of the house of the Lord and placed them in his palace in Babylon.

⁸ The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the detestable things that he did, and what happened to him as a consequence, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him.

Jehoiachin. ⁹ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰ At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and had him brought to Babylon, along with the most precious vessels that were in the temple of the Lord, and he appointed his brother Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and he did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who revealed the word of the Lord.

¹³ Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had compelled him to take an oath in God’s name. He became stubborn and obstinate, and he refused to return to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people became ever more unfaithful, imitating all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord which he himself had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, unceasingly sent them word through his messengers because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ However, they continued to ridicule the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so fierce that there was no remedy.

¹⁷ Therefore, the Lord God brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the sanctuary and spared neither young man nor maiden, neither the aged nor the feeble. God gave them all into his power.

¹⁸ All the vessels of the house of God, both large and small and all the treasures of the Lord’s house and of the king and his princes—all these Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon. ¹⁹ They set fire to the house of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces to the ground along with its cherished possessions until everything there of value was destroyed.

²⁰ In addition, Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon all those who had escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the Persians came to power. ²¹ During the time that the land lay desolate, it enjoyed its Sabbath rests to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has atoned for its lost Sabbaths, it will lie fallow until seventy years are fulfilled.”

²² Decree of Cyrus.^[b] In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired King Cyrus to issue this edict throughout his kingdom, announced by a herald and also stated in a written edict: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has also appointed me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, whoever among you belongs to his people, may the Lord, his God be with him. Let him go up!”

Chapter 22

¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb^{[a] 2} down the middle of the street. On either side of the river was the tree of life^[b] with its twelve crops of fruit, yielding fruit each month. The leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.

³ Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ They will see his face,^[c] and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will be no more night. They will have no need for light from a lamp or from the sun, for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign^[d] forever and ever.

Epilogue: My Return Is Near^[e]

⁷ “ ‘Behold, I am coming soon!’^[f] Blessed is the one who observes the words of prophecy contained in this book.”

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me to worship him. ⁹ However, he said to me, “You must not do that. I am a fellow servant of you and of your brethren the prophets and of those who observe the words of this book. Worship God!”

¹⁰ The Great Separation.^[g] Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy that are in this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the wicked persist in acting wickedly, and let the vile continue in their vileness, but let the righteous persevere in righteousness, and let the holy continue to be holy.”

¹² “ ‘Behold, I am coming soon, and I will bring with me my reward to repay everyone as his deeds deserve. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.’

¹⁴ “Blessed^[h] are those who wash their robes clean so that they will be free to eat from the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Others must remain outside: the dogs,^[i] the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices deceit.

¹⁶ “Come, Lord Jesus!”^[j]“ ‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David,^[k] the bright Morning Star.’ ”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let each listener say, “Come!” Let everyone who thirsts come forward, and let the one who desires it receive the gift of life-giving water.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written about in this book; ¹⁹ if anyone takes away from the words in this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are written about in this book.

²⁰ The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!^[l]

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.

Epilogue

Chapter 21

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples.^{[a] 1} Some time later, Jesus once again revealed himself to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, in the following manner. ² Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were gathered together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going out to fish.” The others replied, “We will go with you.” They set off and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Shortly after daybreak, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus called out, “Children, have you caught anything?” When they answered, “No,” ⁶ he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” They did so, and they were unable to haul the net on board because of the great number of fish.

⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard him say that it was the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about one hundred yards.

⁹ When they came ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” ¹¹ Simon Peter went on board and dragged the net ashore, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.

¹² Jesus then said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew that it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus then came forward, took the bread, and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after his resurrection from the dead.

¹⁵ Jesus and Peter.^[b] When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him again, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

¹⁷ Jesus said to him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” “Lord,” he said to him, “you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

¹⁹ He said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁰ The Beloved Disciple.^[c] Peter looked around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had asked, “Lord, who is it that will betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” ²² Jesus replied, “If it should be my will that he remain until I come, how does that concern you? Follow me!”

²³ The saying then spread among the brethren that this disciple would not die. However, Jesus had not said to Peter, “He will not die,” but, “If it should be my will that he remain until I come, how does that concern you?”

²⁴ Signature of the Redactors.^[d] This is the disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵ But there are also many other things that Jesus did; and if every one of them was recorded, I do not think the world itself could contain the books that would be written.