M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Solomon Builds the Temple

6 Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord. It was 480 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt. It was in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel. He started in the second month. That was the month of Ziv.

² The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 45 feet high. ³ The temple had a porch in front of the main hall. The porch was as wide as the temple itself. It was 30 feet wide. It came out 15 feet from the front of the temple. ⁴ Solomon made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. ⁵ He built side rooms around the temple. They were built against the walls of the main hall and the Most Holy Room. ⁶ On the first floor the side rooms were seven and a half feet wide. On the second floor they were nine feet wide. And on the third floor they were ten and a half feet wide. Solomon made the walls of the temple thinner as they went up floor by floor. The result was ledges along the walls. So the floor beams of the side rooms rested on the ledges. The beams didn’t go into the temple walls.

⁷ All the stones used for building the temple were shaped where they were cut. So hammers, chisels and other iron tools couldn’t be heard where the temple was being built.

⁸ The entrance to the first floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the second floor. From there it went on up to the third floor. ⁹ So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He made its roof out of beams and cedar boards. ¹⁰ He built side rooms all along the temple. Each room was seven and a half feet high. They were joined to the temple by cedar beams.

¹¹ A message came to Solomon from the Lord. The Lord said, ¹² “You are now building this temple. Follow my orders. Keep my rules. Obey all my commands. Then I will make the promise I gave your father David come true. I will do it through you. ¹³ I will live among my people Israel. I will not desert them.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple and finished it. ¹⁵ He put cedar boards on its inside walls. He covered them from floor to ceiling. He covered the temple floor with juniper boards. ¹⁶ He put up a wall 30 feet from the back of the temple. He made it with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. That formed a room inside the temple. It was the Most Holy Room. ¹⁷ The main hall in front of the room was 60 feet long. ¹⁸ The inside of the temple was covered with cedar wood. Gourds and open flowers were carved on the wood. Everything was cedar. There wasn’t any stone showing anywhere.

¹⁹ Solomon prepared the Most Holy Room inside the temple. That’s where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be placed. ²⁰ The Most Holy Room was 30 feet long. It was 30 feet wide. And it was 30 feet high. Solomon covered the inside of it with pure gold. He prepared the cedar altar for burning incense. He covered it with gold. ²¹ Solomon covered the inside of the main hall with pure gold. He placed gold chains across the front of the Most Holy Room. That room was covered with gold. ²² So Solomon covered the inside of the whole temple with gold. He also covered the altar for burning incense with gold. It was right in front of the Most Holy Room.

²³ For the Most Holy Room Solomon made a pair of cherubim. He made them out of olive wood. Each cherub was 15 feet high. ²⁴ One wing of the first cherub was seven and a half feet long. The other wing was also seven and a half feet long. So the wings measured 15 feet from tip to tip. ²⁵ The second cherub’s wings also measured 15 feet from tip to tip. The two cherubim had the same size and shape. ²⁶ Each cherub was 15 feet high. ²⁷ Solomon placed the cherubim inside the Most Holy Room in the temple. Their wings were spread out. The wing tip of one cherub touched one wall. The wing tip of the other touched the other wall. The tips of their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. ²⁸ Solomon covered the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ On the walls all around the temple he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He carved them on the walls of the Most Holy Room and the main hall. ³⁰ He also covered the floors of those two rooms with gold.

³¹ For the entrance to the Most Holy Room he made two doors out of olive wood. Each door was one-fifth of the width of the Most Holy Room. ³² On the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. He covered the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. ³³ In the same way he made olive wood doorposts for the entrance to the main hall. Each doorpost was one-fourth of the width of the hall. ³⁴ He also made two doors out of juniper wood. Each door had two parts. They turned in bases shaped like cups. ³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on the doors. He covered the doors with gold. He hammered the gold evenly over the carvings.

³⁶ He used blocks of stone to build a wall around the inside courtyard. The first three layers of the wall were made out of stone. The top layer was made out of beautiful cedar wood.

³⁷ The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year. It was in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ The temple was finished in his 11th year. It was in the month of Bul. That was the eighth month. Everything was finished just as the plans required. Solomon had spent seven years building the temple.

God’s Wonderful Plan for the Gentiles

3 I, Paul, am a prisoner because of Christ Jesus. I am in prison because of my work among you who are Gentiles.

² I am sure you have heard that God appointed me to share his grace with you. ³ I’m talking about the mystery God showed me. I have already written a little about it. ⁴ By reading about this mystery, you will be able to understand what I know. You will know about the mystery of Christ. ⁵ The mystery was not made known to people of other times. But now the Holy Spirit has made this mystery known to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ Here is the mystery. Because of the good news, God’s promises are for Gentiles as well as for Jews. Both groups are parts of one body. They share in the promise. It belongs to them because they belong to Christ Jesus.

⁷ I now serve the good news because God gave me his grace. His power is at work in me. ⁸ I am by far the least important of all the Lord’s holy people. But he gave me the grace to preach to the Gentiles about the unlimited riches that Christ gives. ⁹ God told me to make clear to everyone how the mystery came about. In times past it was kept hidden in the mind of God, who created all things. ¹⁰ He wanted the rulers and authorities in the heavenly world to come to know his great wisdom. The church would make it known to them. ¹¹ That was God’s plan from the beginning. He has fulfilled his plan through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² Through him and through faith in him we can approach God. We can come to him freely. We can come without fear. ¹³ So here is what I’m asking you to do. Don’t lose hope because I am suffering for you. It will lead to the time when God will give you his glory.

Paul Prays for the Ephesians

¹⁴ I bow in prayer to the Father because of my work among you. ¹⁵ From the Father every family in heaven and on earth gets its name. ¹⁶ I pray that he will use his glorious riches to make you strong. May his Holy Spirit give you his power deep down inside you. ¹⁷ Then Christ will live in your hearts because you believe in him. And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. ¹⁸ May you have power together with all the Lord’s holy people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. ¹⁹ And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you.

²⁰ God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us. ²¹ Give him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. Give him glory through all time and for ever and ever. Amen.

A Prophecy of Hope for the Mountains of Israel

36 “Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. Tell them, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message. ² The Lord and King says, “Your enemies made fun of you. They bragged, ‘The hills you lived in for a long time belong to us now.’ ” ’ ³ Ezekiel, prophesy. Say, ‘The Lord and King says, “Your enemies destroyed you. They crushed you from every side. So the rest of the nations took over your land. People talked about you. They told lies about you.” ’ ” ⁴ Mountains of Israel, listen to the message of the Lord and King. He speaks to you mountains, hills, canyons and valleys. He speaks to you destroyed cities and deserted towns. The rest of the nations around you took away from you everything of value. They made fun of you. ⁵ So the Lord and King says, “I am very angry with those nations. I have spoken against them and the whole land of Edom. They were very happy when they took over my land. Deep down inside them, they hated Israel. They wanted to take its grasslands. ⁶ Ezekiel, prophesy about the land of Israel. Speak to the mountains, hills, canyons and valleys. Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “I have a jealous anger against the nations. They have laughed at you.” ⁷ So the Lord and King says, “I raise my hand and make a promise. I promise that the nations around you will also be laughed at.

⁸ “ ‘ “Mountains of Israel, you will produce branches and bear fruit for my people Israel. They will come home soon. ⁹ I am concerned about you. I will do good things for you. Farmers will plow your ground. They will plant seeds in it. ¹⁰ I will cause many people to live in Israel. The towns will no longer be empty. Their broken-down houses will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will cause many people and animals to live in you, Israel. They will have many babies. I will cause people to make their homes in your towns, just as I did in the past. I will help you succeed more than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will let my people Israel live there again. They will possess you. They will receive you as their own. You will never take their children away from them again.” ’ ”

¹³ The Lord and King says, “People say to you mountains, ‘You destroy people. You let your nation’s children be taken away.’ ¹⁴ But I will not let you destroy people anymore. I will no longer let your nation’s children be taken away,” announces the Lord and King. ¹⁵ “You will not have to listen to the nations laughing at you anymore. People will no longer make fun of you. You will not let your nation fall,” announces the Lord and King.

Israel Will Surely Be Rebuilt

¹⁶ Another message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, ¹⁷ “Son of man, the people of Israel used to live in their own land. But they made it ‘unclean’ because of how they acted and the way they lived. To me they were ‘unclean’ like a woman having her monthly period. ¹⁸ They spilled people’s blood in the land. They made the land ‘unclean’ by worshiping other gods. So I poured out my great anger on them. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations. I sent them to other countries. I judged them based on how they acted and on how they lived. ²⁰ They treated my name as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations. People said about them, ‘They are the Lord’s people. But they were forced to leave his land.’ ²¹ I was concerned about my holy name. The people of Israel treated it as if it were not holy. They did it everywhere they went among the nations.

²² “So tell the Israelites, ‘The Lord and King speaks. He says, “People of Israel, I will not take action for your benefit. Instead, I will act for the honor of my holy name. You have treated it as if it were not holy. You did it everywhere you went among the nations. ²³ But I will show everyone how holy my great name is. You have treated it as if it were not holy. So I will use you to prove to the nations how holy I am. Then they will know that I am the Lord,” announces the Lord and King.

²⁴ “ ‘ “I will take you out of the nations. I will gather you together from all the countries. I will bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle pure water on you. Then you will be ‘clean.’ I will make you completely pure and ‘clean.’ I will take all the statues of your gods away from you. ²⁶ I will give you new hearts. I will give you a new spirit that is faithful to me. I will remove your stubborn hearts from you. I will give you hearts that obey me. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit in you. I will make you want to obey my rules. I want you to be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land I gave your people of long ago. You will be my people. And I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your ‘uncleanness.’ I will give you plenty of grain. You will have more than enough. So you will never be hungry again. ³⁰ I will multiply the fruit on your trees. I will increase the crops in your fields. Then the nations will no longer make fun of you because you are hungry. ³¹ You will remember your evil ways and the sinful things you have done. You will hate yourselves because you have sinned so much. I also hate your evil practices. ³² I want you to know that I am not doing those things for your benefit,” announces the Lord and King. “People of Israel, you should be ashamed of yourselves! Your conduct has brought dishonor to you.” ’ ”

³³ The Lord and King says, “I will make you pure from all your sins. On that day I will give you homes in your towns again. Your broken-down houses will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The dry and empty land will be farmed again. Everyone who passes through it will see that it is no longer empty. ³⁵ They will say, ‘This land was completely destroyed. But now it’s like the Garden of Eden. The cities were full of broken-down buildings. They were destroyed and empty. But now they have high walls around them. And people live in them.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that remain around you will know that I have rebuilt what was once destroyed. I have planted again the fields that were once empty. I have spoken. And I will do this. I am the Lord.”

³⁷ The Lord and King says, “Once again I will answer Israel’s prayer. Here is what I will do for them. I will multiply them as if they were sheep. ³⁸ Large flocks of animals are sacrificed at Jerusalem during the appointed feasts there. In the same way, the destroyed cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A prayer of David.