M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Construction of the Temple
3 Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. He constructed it on the site that David had specified,[a] namely, the threshing floor of Ornan[b] the Jebusite. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
The Sanctuary
3 Now these are the dimensions of the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house. The length was ninety feet and the width thirty feet.[c] 4 The porch[d] that was in front of the temple building was thirty feet wide, the same as the width of the building, and it was thirty feet high.[e]
He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He lined the larger front room of the building with fir paneling,[f] which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He beautified the house with dazzling precious stones. The gold was gold of Parvaim.[g] 7 He also overlaid the house, the beams and rafters, the thresholds and door frames, its walls, and its doors with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8 He made the Most Holy Place. It was thirty feet by thirty feet, the same dimensions as the width of the building, and he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold.[h] 9 The weight of the gold nails was more than a pound.[i] He overlaid the upper areas with gold.
The Cherubim
10 In the Most Holy Place he made two carved cherubim that were overlaid with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was thirty feet. One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 One wing of the other cherub was seven and a half feet long and touched the outer wall of the house. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubim spread out over thirty feet. They stood upright on their feet, and they faced toward the front of the sanctuary building.[j] 14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson material and fine white linen, and he decorated it with cherubim.
Pillars
15 For the front of the house he made two pillars with a combined height of fifty-three feet,[k] and the capitals that were on top of each of them were seven and a half feet tall. 16 He made chains for the inner sanctuary[l] and also put them on the tops of the pillars. He also made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple building,[m] one on the south side and the other on the north. He named the one on the south Jakin[n] and the one on the north Boaz.[o]
The Temple Furnishings
4 He made a bronze altar thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high.
2 He also made the sea of cast metal. It was round and fifteen feet from rim to rim. It was seven and a half feet high and forty-five feet in circumference. 3 Under the rim, figurines of cattle[p] completely encircled it, one every two inches, all the way around the sea. These cattle were in two rows, cast as one piece with the sea. 4 The sea stood on twelve cattle, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. 5 The sea was three inches[q] thick. Its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held eighteen thousand gallons.[r]
6 He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the south side and five on the north. The pieces of the burnt offering were washed in the basins, but the priests washed in the sea.
7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications that had been given for them, and he set them in the outer room of the temple building, five on the south side and five on the north.
8 He made ten tables and placed them in the outer room of the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made one hundred gold sprinkling bowls.
9 He also made the courtyard of the priests and the great enclosure,[s] and he made doors for the enclosure and overlaid them with bronze. 10 He set the sea on the south side of the temple building near its southeast corner.
11 Huram[t] also made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls.
So Huram finished the work that he carried out for King Solomon for God’s house: 12 the two pillars, the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two globe-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, 13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks (two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two globe-shaped capitals that were on the pillars). 14 He also made the carts, and he made the basins on the carts, 15 one sea, and the twelve cattle under it. 16 Huram Abi also made the pots, the shovels, the meat hooks,[u] and all the vessels of burnished bronze for King Solomon, for the House of the Lord.
17 The king cast them in clay molds, in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredatha.[v] 18 Solomon made all these vessels in such great quantity that the weight of the bronze was not determined.
19 Solomon made all the furnishings that were in God’s house: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was arranged, 20 and the lampstands with their lamps, which were to burn in front of the inner sanctuary according to the regulations. He made them of pure gold.[w] 21 He also made the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of the purest gold,[x] 22 and the snuffers, the sprinkling bowls, the small dishes, and the fire pans[y] of pure gold. For the entrances into the sanctuary, he made the gold inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the gold doors for the front room of the sanctuary.
Love From the Father
3 See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! The world does not know us, because it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be like him, and we will see him as he really is. 3 Everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as Jesus[a] is pure.
4 Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. 6 Anyone who remains in him does not sin. The person who keeps on sinning has not seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what is right is righteous just as Jesus[b] is righteous. 8 The one who continues to sin is of the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. This is why the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the Devil. 9 Nobody who has been born of God continues to commit sin, because God’s seed remains in him. He cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how the children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious: Everyone who does not do what is right is not from God, along with everyone who does not love his brother.
Love One Another
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,[c] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love[d] remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: Jesus[e] laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? 18 Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.
19 This is how we know that we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. 22 We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. 23 This then is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in God[f] and God[g] in him. This is how we know that he remains in us: We know it from the Spirit, whom he has given to us.
The Attack of the Enemy
2 The enemy who will scatter you is advancing against you! Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare for battle! Muster all your great strength! 2 For the Lord is about to restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, even though their enemies have plundered them completely and have destroyed their vines.
3 The shields of the mighty warriors are dyed red.
The soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments.
The steel fittings[a] of the chariots shine like fire on the day of battle.
The soldiers shake their spears.[b]
4 The chariots race wildly through the streets.
They rush back and forth in the city squares.
They look like lightning.
They dart about like flashes of lightning.
5 The commander[c] gives orders to his elite troops.
They fall over each other as they advance.
They rush to the city wall.
They set up the protective canopy over the battering ram.
6 The gates that hold back the river are opened,
and the palace is washed away.
7 She is stripped and is led away.
Her slave girls moan like doves
while they beat their breasts.[d]
8 Nineveh[e] was like a pool of water from her beginning,[f]
but now her people are running away.
She cries out, “Stop! Stop!” but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!
There is no end to the treasure.
There are riches of every kind of precious thing.
10 Destruction, devastation, and desolation!
Their hearts faint, their knees tremble,
every stomach churns, and each face turns pale!
11 What has become of the lions’ lair and the feeding place for young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled with nothing to fear? 12 The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses. He filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
13 Beware! I am against you, declares the Lord of Armies. I will burn up your chariots in smoke. The sword will devour your young lions. You will no longer ravage the land. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
18 Jesus told them a parable about the need to always pray and not lose heart: 2 “There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God and did not care about people. 3 There was a widow in that town, and she kept going to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my adversary!’ 4 For some time he refused, but after a while he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God or care about people, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not wear me out with her endless pleading.’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God give justice to his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night? Will he put off helping them? 8 I tell you that he will give them justice quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves (that they were righteous) and looked down on others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.’
13 “However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 “I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus Loves Little Children
15 People were bringing even their babies to Jesus, so that he would touch them. When the disciples saw this, they began to rebuke them. 16 But Jesus invited them, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Amen I tell you: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
The Rich Young Ruler
18 A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’”[a]
21 “I have kept all these since I was a child,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24 When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.”
28 And Peter said, “Look, we have left our possessions[b] and followed you.”
29 He said to them, “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection Again
31 He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 Indeed, he will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, mistreat him, spit on him, 33 flog him, and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
34 They did not understand any of these things. What he said was hidden from them, and they did not understand what was said.
Blind Bartimaeus
35 As he approached Jericho, a blind man sat by the road, begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who were at the front of the crowd rebuked him, telling him to be quiet. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw this, gave praise to God.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.