M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Solomon Turns Away from the Lord

11 Now King Solomon loved many women from other nations. He loved the daughter of Pharaoh, and Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women. ² They were from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “Do not take wives from them. And do not have them take wives from you. For they will be sure to turn your heart away to follow their gods.” But Solomon held on to these women in love. ³ He had 700 wives, kings’ daughters, and 300 women who acted as his wives. And his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. His whole heart was not faithful to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been. ⁵ For Solomon followed Ashtoreth the false goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the hated god of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did not follow the Lord with all his heart, as his father David had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the hated god of Moab, and for Molech the hated god of the sons of Ammon, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his wives from other nations, who burned special perfume and gave gifts to their gods.

⁹ Now the Lord was angry with Solomon, because Solomon’s heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord had come to him twice ¹⁰ and had told him about this, that he should not follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey what the Lord had told him. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My agreement and My Laws which I told you, for sure I will tear the nation from you and will give it to your servant. ¹² But I will not do it while you are alive, because of your father David. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ But I will not tear away all the nation. I will give one family group to your son because of My servant David, and because of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

Solomon’s Trouble

¹⁴ Then the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon. He was of the king’s family in Edom. ¹⁵ For when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the army had gone up to bury the dead, he killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ (For Joab and all Israel stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.) ¹⁷ But Hadad ran away to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father’s servants, while Hadad was still a young boy. ¹⁸ They came from Midian to Paran. Then they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house and food and land. ¹⁹ Now Hadad found much favor in the eyes of Pharaoh. So Pharaoh gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰ Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh’s house. Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹ But Hadad heard in Egypt that David and Joab the captain of David’s army were dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away, so I may return to my own country.” ²² Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you been without while you stayed with me? Why do you want to go to your own country?” Hadad answered, “Nothing. But even so, let me go.”

²³ God sent Rezon the son of Eliada against Solomon also. Rezon had run away from his owner Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ He gathered men around him and became the leader of a group of fighters, after David killed the men of Zobah. They went to Damascus and stayed there. Rezon was made king in Damascus. ²⁵ So he brought trouble to Israel all the days of Solomon, together with the trouble brought by Hadad. He hated Israel and ruled over Syria.

Jeroboam Works against the King

²⁶ Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat turned against the king. Jeroboam was Solomon’s servant, an Ephraimite of Zeredah. His mother’s name was Zeruah, a woman whose husband had died. ²⁷ Now this is the reason he turned against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and built a stronger wall around the city of his father David. ²⁸ Now Jeroboam was a powerful soldier. When Solomon saw that the young man was a good worker, he chose him to rule over all men of the family of Joseph who were made to work. ²⁹ When Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the man who spoke for God Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had dressed himself with a new coat, and both of them were alone in the field. ³⁰ Then Ahijah took hold of his new coat and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘See, I will tear the nation out of the hand of Solomon and give you ten family groups. ³² (But he will have one family group, because of My servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the families of Israel.) ³³ Because they have turned away from Me. They have worshiped Ashtoreth the false goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon. They have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My eyes and keeping My Laws, as his father David did. ³⁴ But I will not take the whole nation from him. I will make him ruler all the days of his life, because of My servant David whom I chose, who kept My Word and My Laws. ³⁵ But I will take the nation from his son, and will give to you ten family groups. ³⁶ I will give one family group to his son, that My servant David will have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. ³⁷ And I will take you, and you will rule over whatever you want. You will be the king of Israel. ³⁸ Listen to all I tell you to do. Walk in My ways. Do what is right in My eyes by keeping My Word and My Laws, as My servant David did. If you do, then I will be with you and build you a house that will last, as I built for David. And I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will bring trouble to the children of David for this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰ So Solomon tried to put Jeroboam to death. But Jeroboam got up and ran to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt. And he stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

The Death of Solomon

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴² Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ⁴³ And Solomon died and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam ruled in his place.

A Christian Should Not Be Proud

2 Are you strong because you belong to Christ? Does His love comfort you? Do you have joy by being as one in sharing the Holy Spirit? Do you have loving-kindness and pity for each other? ² Then give me true joy by thinking the same thoughts. Keep having the same love. Be as one in thoughts and actions. ³ Nothing should be done because of pride or thinking about yourself. Think of other people as more important than yourself. ⁴ Do not always be thinking about your own plans only. Be happy to know what other people are doing.

Christ Was Not Proud

⁵ Think as Christ Jesus thought. ⁶ Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God. ⁷ He put aside everything that belonged to Him and made Himself the same as a servant who is owned by someone. He became human by being born as a man. ⁸ After He became a man, He gave up His important place and obeyed by dying on a cross. ⁹ Because of this, God lifted Jesus high above everything else. He gave Him a name that is greater than any other name. ¹⁰ So when the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow down before Him. ¹¹ And every tongue will say Jesus Christ is Lord. Everyone will give honor to God the Father.

¹² My Christian friends, you have obeyed me when I was with you. You have obeyed even more when I have been away. You must keep on working to show you have been saved from the punishment of sin. Be afraid that you may not please God. ¹³ He is working in you. God is helping you obey Him. God is doing what He wants done in you. ¹⁴ Be glad you can do the things you should be doing. Do all things without arguing and talking about how you wish you did not have to do them. ¹⁵ In that way, you can prove yourselves to be without blame. You are God’s children and no one can talk against you, even in a sin-loving and sin-sick world. You are to shine as lights among the sinful people of this world. ¹⁶ Take a strong hold on the Word of Life. Then when Christ comes again, I will be happy that I did not work with you for nothing. ¹⁷ Even if I give my life as a gift on the altar to God for you, I am glad and share this joy with you. ¹⁸ You must be happy and share your joy with me also.

Timothy Is Being Sent to You

¹⁹ I hope by the help of the Lord Jesus that I can send Timothy to you soon. It will comfort me when he brings news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else who is as interested in you as Timothy. ²¹ Everyone else thinks of himself instead of Jesus Christ. ²² You know how Timothy proved to be such a true friend to me when we preached the Good News. He was like a son helping his father. ²³ I hope to send Timothy as soon as I know what they are going to do to me. ²⁴ I hope by the help of the Lord that I can come soon also.

²⁵ I thought it was right that I send Epaphroditus back to you. You helped me by sending him to me. We have worked together like brothers. He was like a soldier fighting beside me. ²⁶ He has been wanting to see all of you and was troubled because you heard he was sick. ²⁷ It is true, he was sick. Yes, he almost died, but God showed loving-kindness to him and to me. If he had died, I would have had even more sorrow. ²⁸ This is all the more reason I have sent him to you. When you see him, you will be glad and I will have less sorrow. ²⁹ Take him into your church with joy. Show respect for men like him. ³⁰ He came close to death while working for Christ. He almost died doing things for me that you could not do.

41 Then he brought me into the center room, and showed me the width of the side pillars. They were six cubits wide on each side. ² The doorway was ten cubits wide, and the side walls on each side of it were five cubits wide. The center room was as long as forty cubits and as wide as twenty cubits. ³ Then he went into a smaller room. Each side pillar of the doorway was two cubits wide, and the doorway was six cubits high and seven cubits wide. ⁴ The room was as long as twenty cubits and as wide as twenty cubits, at the far end of the center room. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵ Then he showed me that the wall of the Lord’s house was six cubits in width. And the side rooms all around the house on every side were four cubits wide. ⁶ The side rooms were on three floors, one above the other, and thirty on each floor. The outside wall on each floor was not as wide as the one below it, so the side rooms could sit upon the wall without being nailed to it. ⁷ The side rooms at the top were larger than the ones at the bottom, all around the Lord’s house. The house became wider as it went higher. There were steps leading up from the first floor all the way to the third floor. ⁸ I saw that the house had a raised base all around it, which made the base for the side rooms six cubits high. ⁹ The width of the outside wall of the side rooms was five cubits. But the open space between the side rooms ¹⁰ and the center rooms was as wide as twenty cubits all around the house on every side. ¹¹ There were doorways to the side rooms from this open space, one on the north and another on the south. The width of this open space was five cubits wide all around.

¹² The building in front of the open space of the Lord’s house, on the west side, was as wide as seventy cubits. The width of the building wall was five cubits, and it was as long as ninety cubits.

¹³ Then he showed me that the Lord’s house was as long as 100 cubits. The open space and the other building and its walls were also as long as 100 cubits. ¹⁴ And the front of the Lord’s house and its grounds on the east side were as wide as 100 cubits.

¹⁵ He showed me the length of the building to the west, with its walkways on each side. It was as long as 100 cubits.

The center room, the most holy place, and the outer porch, ¹⁶ all had roofs of wood. And all three had windows with wooden cross-pieces all around. The inside walls of the house were covered with wood from the floor up to the windows, and from the windows to the roof. ¹⁷ There was wood covering the wall above the door, and all the way to the most holy place, and all the walls both inside and out. ¹⁸ Pictures of cherubim and palm trees were cut into the wood. A palm tree was between every two cherubim, and each cherub had two faces. ¹⁹ The face of a man looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion looked toward the palm tree on the other side. These pictures were cut into the wood all around the Lord’s house. ²⁰ There were cherubim and palm trees from the floor to above the door, and on the wall of the center room.

²¹ The pillars beside the door of the center room were the same width on all four sides, and they looked alike. ²² There was an altar of wood three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, base, and sides were made of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” ²³ The center room and the most holy place each had two doors. ²⁴ And each of these doors had two parts that opened and closed. ²⁵ Pictures of cherubim and palm trees were made on the doors of the center room, like the pictures on the walls. And there was a roof of wood over the front of the porch outside. ²⁶ There were windows with wooden cross-pieces and palm trees cut on each side wall of the house porch. It was the same on the side rooms of the house and their roofs.

A Song of Praise

92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and sing praises to Your name, O Most High. ² It is good to tell of Your loving-kindness in the morning, and of how faithful You are at night, ³ with harps, and with music of praise. ⁴ For You have made me glad by what You have done, O Lord. I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

⁵ How great are Your works, O Lord! How deep are Your thoughts! ⁶ A man who cannot reason does not have much learning. A fool does not understand this. ⁷ Even if the sinful grow up like grass and all goes well with wrong-doers, they will be destroyed forever. ⁸ But You, O Lord, rule from Your high place forever. ⁹ For, look, those who hate You will be lost from You forever, O Lord. All those who do wrong will be destroyed.

¹⁰ But You have lifted up my horn like that of a wild bull. New oil has been poured upon me. ¹¹ My eyes have seen those who wait to hurt me. My ears hear the bad men who rise up against me. ¹² The man who is right and good will grow like the palm tree. He will grow like a tall tree in Lebanon. ¹³ Planted in the house of the Lord, they will grow well in the home of our God. ¹⁴ They will still give fruit when they are old. They will be full of life and strength. ¹⁵ And they will show that the Lord is faithful. He is my rock. There is nothing in Him that is not right and good.

God Is King

93 The Lord rules. He is dressed with great power. The Lord has dressed Himself with strength. For sure, the world is built to last. It will not be moved. ² Your throne is set up from long ago. You have always been. ³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their beating waves. ⁴ The Lord on high is more powerful than the sound of many waters and the strong waves of the sea. ⁵ Your Word is very sure. O Lord, Your house is holy forever.