M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David’s Last Words to Solomon

2 When David’s time to die was near, he told his son Solomon, ² “I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong. Show yourself to be a man. ³ Do what the Lord your God tells you. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and His Word, by what is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go. ⁴ Then the Lord will keep His promise to me. He has said to me, ‘Your sons must be careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and soul. If they do, you will never be without a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁵ Now you know what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me. You know what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel. He killed Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether in the time of peace as if it were in the time of war. He put the blood of war on his belt and on the shoes of his feet. ⁶ So act with wisdom. Do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace. ⁷ But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Let them be among those who eat at your table. For they helped me when I ran from your brother Absalom. ⁸ See, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim. It was he who spoke bad words against me on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I promised him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ So do not let him go without being punished. For you are a wise man. You will know what you should do to him. Bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”

The Death of David

¹⁰ Then David died and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ He had ruled over Israel forty years. Seven years he ruled in Hebron. And thirty-three years he ruled in Jerusalem. ¹² Solomon sat on the throne of his father David and things went well for the nation.

Solomon Had Adonijah Killed

¹³ Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Solomon’s mother Bathsheba. She said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “Yes, in peace.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” ¹⁵ So he said, “You know that the nation was mine. All Israel thought I would be king. But the nation has become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord. ¹⁶ Now I have one thing to ask of you. Do not say no to me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” ¹⁷ He said, “I beg you, speak to Solomon the king. For he will not say no to you. Ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” ¹⁸ Bathsheba said, “Very well. I will speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to speak to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her, bowed in front of her, then sat on his throne. He had a seat brought in for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. ²⁰ She said, “I am asking you for one small thing. Do not say no to me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother. I will not say no to you.” ²¹ So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you asking me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah? Ask me to give him the nation also! For he is my older brother. And Abiathar the religious leader and Joab the son of Zeruiah are on his side!” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more, if Adonijah has not asked for this against his own life. ²⁴ The Lord has given me my place on the throne of my father David. He has made me a house as He promised. And as the Lord lives, for sure Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went to Adonijah and killed him.

Abiathar Sent Away and Joab Is Killed

²⁶ Then the king said to Abiathar the religious leader, “Go to your own fields at Anathoth, for you should be put to death. But I will not have you killed at this time. Because you carried the special box of the Lord God in front of my father David. And you shared in all of my father’s suffering.” ²⁷ So Solomon stopped Abiathar from being religious leader for the Lord any longer. This was done to keep the word of the Lord, which God had spoken about the family of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ Now the news came to Joab. For Joab had followed Adonijah, but he had not followed Absalom. And Joab ran to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord, and was beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and kill him.” ³⁰ Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord. He said to Joab, “The king says to come out.” But Joab said, “No! I will die here.” So Benaiah returned to the king and said, “This is what Joab said. This is how he answered me.” ³¹ The king said to him, “Do as he has said. Kill him and bury him. In this way you will take away from me and my father’s house the blood of those killed by Joab without a reason. ³² The Lord will return Joab’s acts of killing upon his own head. Because Joab killed two men who were right and good and better than he. He killed them with the sword while my father David did not know it. He killed Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. ³³ So their blood will be on the head of Joab and on the head of his children forever. But may there be peace from the Lord forever to David and his children, his house and his throne.” ³⁴ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and killed Joab. He was buried at his own house in the desert. ³⁵ The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s place. And the king put Zadok the religious leader in the place of Abiathar.

The Death of Shimei

³⁶ Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there. Do not leave there. ³⁷ For on the day you go out and cross the river Kidron, you will know for sure that you will die. Your blood will be on your own head.” ³⁸ Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish the son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was told, “See, your servants are in Gath.” ⁴⁰ Then Shimei got up and made his donkey ready to travel. And he went to Achish in Gath to look for his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. ⁴¹ Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. ⁴² So the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you promise by the Lord and tell you of danger, saying, ‘You will know for sure that on the day you leave and go anywhere, you will die’? And you said to me, ‘What you have said is good.’ ⁴³ Then why have you not kept the promise of the Lord? Why have you not done what I told you?” ⁴⁴ And the king said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the bad things you did to my father David. So the Lord will return your sin upon your own head. ⁴⁵ But good will come to King Solomon. The throne of David will keep its place before the Lord forever.” ⁴⁶ So the king told Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and killed Shimei. The nation was put under the rule of Solomon.

Help Other Christians

6 Christian brothers, if a person is found doing some sin, you who are stronger Christians should lead that one back into the right way. Do not be proud as you do it. Watch yourself, because you may be tempted also. ² Help each other in troubles and problems. This is the kind of law Christ asks us to obey. ³ If anyone thinks he is important when he is nothing, he is fooling himself. ⁴ Everyone should look at himself and see how he does his own work. Then he can be happy in what he has done. He should not compare himself with his neighbor. ⁵ Everyone must do his own work.

⁶ He who is taught God’s Word should share the good things he has with his teacher. ⁷ Do not be fooled. You cannot fool God. A man will get back whatever he plants! ⁸ If a man does things to please his sinful old self, his soul will be lost. If a man does things to please the Holy Spirit, he will have life that lasts forever. ⁹ Do not let yourselves get tired of doing good. If we do not give up, we will get what is coming to us at the right time. ¹⁰ Because of this, we should do good to everyone. For sure, we should do good to those who belong to Christ.

The Christian’s Pride Should Be in the Cross

¹¹ See what big letters I make when I write to you with my own hand. ¹² Those men who say you must go through the religious act of becoming a Jew are doing it because they want to make a good show in front of the world. They do this so they will not have to suffer because of following the way of the cross of Christ. ¹³ Those who have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew do not even keep the Law themselves. But they want you to go through that religious act so they can be proud that you are their followers. ¹⁴ I do not want to be proud of anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the cross, the ways of this world are dead to me, and I am dead to them. ¹⁵ If a person does or does not go through the religious act of becoming a Jew, it is worth nothing. The important thing is to become a new person. ¹⁶ Those who follow this way will have God’s peace and loving-kindness. They are the people of God.

¹⁷ Let no one make trouble for me from now on. For I have on my body the whip marks of one who has been a servant owned by Jesus. ¹⁸ Christian brothers, may the loving-favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let it be so.

The Words of the Watchman

33 The Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, speak to the children of your people. Say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men to keep watch for them, ³ and he sees the sword coming upon the land and sounds the horn to tell the people of the danger, ⁴ then if anyone hears the horn and does not take care, and a sword comes and kills him, he will be to blame for his own death. ⁵ He heard the sound of the horn, but did not worry about the danger. He will be to blame for his own death. If he had been careful, he would have saved his life. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, and the people are not told of the danger, and a sword comes and kills one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin. But the blood of the watchman must be given.’

⁷ “Son of man, I have chosen you as a watchman for the people of Israel. So when I give you the word, you must tell them of the danger. ⁸ When I tell a sinful man that he will die for sure, and you do not speak to him about the danger of his way, that sinful man will die in his sin. But your blood must be given. ⁹ But if you tell a sinful man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his sin. But you have saved your life.

God Judges Well

¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the people of Israel, ‘You have said, “Our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I am not pleased when sinful people die. But I am pleased when the sinful turn from their way and live. Turn! Turn from your sinful ways! Why will you die, O people of Israel?’ ¹² Now, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘If a man does what is right and good, it will not save him when he sins.’ And the sins of a sinful man will not make him fall when he turns from his sinful way. But the man who is right and good will not be able to live by his good ways when he sins. ¹³ When I tell the man who is right and good that he will live, and he trusts in his good ways so much that he sins, none of his good works will be remembered. He will die for the sin he has done. ¹⁴ But when I tell the sinful man that he will die, and he turns from his sin and does what is right and good, ¹⁵ if he gives back what a person gave him as trust for a promise, pays back what he had stolen, follows the Laws that give life and does not sin, he will live for sure. He will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins he has done will be remembered against him. He has done what is right and good, and he will live for sure.

¹⁷ “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ But it is their way that is not right. ¹⁸ When the right and good man turns from his good way and sins, he will die for it. ¹⁹ But when the sinful man turns from his sin and does what is right and good, he will live because of it. ²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O people of Israel, I will judge each of you by his ways.”

Jerusalem Is Taken

²¹ On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year since we had been taken to a strange land, a man who got away from Jerusalem came and said to me, “The city has been taken.” ²² Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before the man came. And He opened my mouth so that when the man came to me in the morning, I was able to speak.

The Sins of the People

²³ Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ²⁴ “Son of man, the people who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he owned the land. But we are many, and for sure the land has been given to us.’ ²⁵ So tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “You eat meat with the blood in it, and worship your false gods as you kill. Should the land belong to you? ²⁶ You trust in your sword, and keep on sinning. Each of you does sex sins with his neighbor’s wife. Should the land belong to you?”’ ²⁷ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “As I live, those who are in the waste places will be killed by the sword. Whoever is in the open field, I will feed to the wild animals. And those who are in the strong-places and in the caves will die of disease. ²⁸ I will destroy the land and make it a waste. The pride of her power will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be laid waste, so that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I destroy the land and make it a waste because of all the hated sins they have done.”’

³⁰ “As for you, son of man, your people are talking to each other about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses. They are saying, ‘Come and hear the word that has come from the Lord.’ ³¹ They come and sit in front of you as My people, and listen to the words you say. But they do not do them. With their mouth they speak of love, but their hearts are full of sinful desire. ³² They think of you as nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays music well. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it. ³³ When all this comes true, and it will, then they will know that a man of God has been among them.”

A Song to God’s Care

81 Sing for joy to God our strength! Call out for joy to the God of Jacob! ² Sing a song, beat the timbrel. Play the sweet-sounding harps. ³ Blow the horn at the new moon, at the full moon on the day of our special supper. ⁴ For this is a Law for Israel, a Law of the God of Jacob. ⁵ He made it a Law for Joseph, when he went through the land of Egypt. I heard a language that I did not know:

⁶ “I took the load off his shoulders. His hands were set free from the basket. ⁷ You called in your trouble, and I took you out of it. I answered you in the hiding place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. ⁸ Hear, O My people, and I will tell you what to do. O Israel, if you would listen to Me! ⁹ Let there be no strange god among you. Do not worship any false god. ¹⁰ I, the Lord, am your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But My people did not listen to My voice. And Israel did not obey Me. ¹² So I let them follow the desires of their sinful hearts. They followed their own plans. ¹³ If only My people would listen to Me! If only Israel would follow My ways! ¹⁴ I would hurry to crush those who fight against them. I would turn My hand against those who hate them. ¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would pretend to obey Him. And their punishment would last forever. ¹⁶ But I would feed you with the best of grain. And I would fill you with honey from the rock.”

God’s Rule

82 God takes His stand in the great meeting of His people. He judges among the rulers. ² How long will you rulers be wrong in how you judge? How long will you show favor to the sinful? ³ Do the right thing for the weak and those without a father. Stand up for the rights of those who are suffering and in need. ⁴ Save the weak and those in need. Set them free from the hand of the sinful.

⁵ They know nothing; they understand nothing. They walk around in the dark. All that the earth is built upon is shaking. ⁶ I said, “You are gods. You are all sons of the Most High. ⁷ But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

⁸ Rise up, O God! Say who is guilty or not guilty upon the earth! For all the nations belong to You.