M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

3 And Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the City of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

² But the people sacrificed [to God] in the high places [as the heathen did to their idols], for there was no house yet built to the ^[a]Name of the Lord.

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes and practices of David his father, only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon [near Jerusalem, where stood the tabernacle and the bronze altar] to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. One thousand burnt offerings Solomon offered on that altar.

⁵ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, ^[b]Ask what I shall give you.

⁶ Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy and loving-kindness, according as he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness and steadfast love, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

⁷ Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father, and I am ^[c]but a lad [in wisdom and experience]; I know not how to go out (begin) or come in (finish).

⁸ Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude.

⁹ So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people?^(A)

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

¹¹ God said to him, Because you have asked this and have not asked for long life or for riches, nor for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to recognize what is just and right,

¹² Behold, I have done as you asked. I have given you a wise, discerning mind, so that no one before you was your equal, nor shall any arise after you equal to you.

¹³ I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings equal to you all your days.

¹⁴ And if you will go My way, keep My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.

¹⁵ Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. He came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶ Then two women who had become mothers out of wedlock came and stood before the king.

¹⁷ And one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

¹⁸ And the third day after I was delivered, this woman also was delivered. And we were together; no stranger was with us, just we two in the house.

¹⁹ And this woman’s child died in the night because she lay on him.

²⁰ And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while your handmaid slept and laid him in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom.

²¹ And when I rose to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I had considered him in the morning, behold, it was not the son I had borne.

²² But the other woman said, No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son! And this one said, No! But the dead son is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ The king said, One says, This is my son that is alive and yours is the dead one. The other woman says, No! But your son is the dead one and mine is the living one.

²⁴ And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword to the king.

²⁵ And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other.

²⁶ Then the mother of the living child said to the king, for she yearned over her son, O my lord, give her the living baby, and by no means slay him. But the other said, Let him not be mine or yours, but divide him.

²⁷ Then the king said, Give her [who pleads for his life] the living baby, and by no means slay him. She is the child’s mother.

²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had made, and they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

1 Paul, an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), by the divine will (the purpose and the choice of God) to the saints (the consecrated, set-apart ones) ^[a]at Ephesus who are also faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus:

² May grace (God’s unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!

⁴ Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

⁵ For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [^[b]because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

⁶ [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

⁷ In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,

⁸ Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence),

⁹ Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in ^[c]Him,

¹⁰ [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

¹¹ In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,

¹² So that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!

¹³ In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.

¹⁴ That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it—to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (the people of God),

¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

¹⁷ [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,

¹⁸ By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

¹⁹ And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,

²⁰ Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],

²¹ Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

²² And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],^(A)

²³ Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].

34 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, even to the [spiritual] shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?

³ You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.

⁴ The diseased and weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the hurt and crippled you have not bandaged, those gone astray you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought to find, but with force and hardhearted harshness you have ruled them.

⁵ And they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts of the field.

⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yes, My sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth and no one searched or sought for them.^(A)

⁷ Therefore, you [spiritual] shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

⁸ As I live, says the Lord God, surely because My sheep became a prey, and My sheep became food for every beast of the field because there was no shepherd—neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not My sheep—

⁹ Therefore, O you [spiritual] shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hand and cause them to cease feeding the sheep, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more. I will rescue My sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I Myself, will search for My sheep and will seek them out.

¹² As a shepherd seeks out his sheep in the day that he is among his flock that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep; and I will rescue them out of all places where they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick darkness.

¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵ I will feed My sheep and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.

¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which has strayed, and I will bandage the hurt and the crippled and will strengthen the weak and the sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong [who have become hardhearted and perverse]; I will feed them with judgment and punishment.^(B)

¹⁷ And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the great he-goats [the malicious and the tyrants of the pasture].

¹⁸ Is it too little for you that you feed on the best pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? And to have drunk of the waters clarified by subsiding, but you must foul the rest of the water with your feet?

¹⁹ And My flock, must they feed on what your feet have trodden and drink what your feet have fouled?

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I Myself, will judge between fat sheep and impoverished sheep, or fat goats and lean goats.

²¹ Because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust with your horns all those that have become weak and diseased, till you have scattered them abroad,

²² Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ And I will raise up over them one Shepherd and He shall feed them, even My Servant ^[a]David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd.^(C)

²⁴ And I the Lord will be their God and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.

²⁵ And I will confirm with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and [My people] shall dwell safely in the wilderness, desert, or pastureland and sleep [confidently] in the woods.^(D)

²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing, and I will cause the showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing [of good insured by God’s favor].

²⁷ And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit and the earth shall yield its increase; and [My people] shall be secure in their land, and they shall be confident and know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.

²⁸ And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them, but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid [in the ^[b]day of the Messiah’s reign].^(E)

²⁹ And I will raise up for them a planting of crops for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land nor bear the reproach of the nations any longer.

³⁰ Then shall they know [positively] that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God,

³¹ And that you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are [only] men and I am your God, says the Lord God.

Psalm 83

A song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Keep not silence, O God; hold not Your peace or be still, O God.

² For, behold, Your enemies are in tumult, and those who hate You have raised their heads.^(A)

³ They lay crafty schemes against Your people and consult together against Your hidden and precious ones.

⁴ They have said, Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be in remembrance no more.

⁵ For they have consulted together with one accord and one heart; against You they make a covenant—

⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre.

⁸ Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot [the Ammonites and the Moabites] and have been an arm to them. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁹ Do to them as [You did to] the Midianites, as to Sisera and Jabin at the brook of Kishon,^(B)

¹⁰ Who perished at Endor, who became like manure for the earth.

¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, yes, all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna,^(C)

¹² Who say, Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.

¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind!

¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵ So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane.

¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek, inquire for, and insistently require Your name, O Lord.

¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish,

¹⁸ That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 84

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] a particular Gittite tune. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹ How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

² My soul yearns, yes, even pines and is homesick for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to the living God.

³ Yes, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young—even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

⁴ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶ Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings.

⁷ They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion.

⁸ O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁹ Behold our shield [the king as Your agent], O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed!

¹⁰ For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹ For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

¹² O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!