M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon Gets Ready to Build the House of God
2 Solomon planned to build a house for the name of the Lord, and a king’s house for himself. 2 So he picked 70,000 men to carry loads, 80,000 men to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to watch over these men. 3 Then Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, saying, “You sent my father David cedar trees to build him a house to live in. Do the same for me. 4 See, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God. I will set it apart for Him. There special perfume will be burned before Him. The holy bread will be there all the time. Burnt gifts will be given morning and evening, on Days of Rest, on new moons, and during the special suppers of the Lord our God. This is to be done forever in Israel. 5 The house I am about to build will be great. For our God is greater than all the gods. 6 But who is able to build a house for Him? For the heavens and the highest heavens are not big enough to hold Him. So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn special perfume before Him? 7 Now send me an able man to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, and purple, red and blue cloth who knows how to cut all kinds of pictures. He will work with the able men I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David gave me. 8 Send me cedar, cypress and algum trees from Lebanon. I know you have able men who know how to do this work. My servants will work with your servants 9 to cut many trees for me. For the house I am about to build will be very great and beautiful. 10 I will give to your servants who cut trees, 200,000 baskets of crushed grain, 200,000 baskets of barley, 200,000 bottles of wine, and 200,000 bottles of oil.”
11 Then King Huram of Tyre answered by letter to Solomon, “The Lord has made you king over His people because He loves them.” 12 Then Huram said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He has made heaven and earth. And He has given King David a wise son. Wisdom and understanding have been given to David’s son who will build a house for the Lord and a king’s house for himself. 13 Now I am sending Huram-abi, an able man of understanding. 14 He is the son of a Danite woman and a Tyrian father. He knows how to work with gold, silver, brass, iron, stone and wood and with purple, blue, and red cloth. He knows how to cut all kinds of pictures, any kind given him to do. He is to work with your able men, and with those of my lord David your father. 15 So now let my lord send the grain, barley, oil and wine to his servant, as he has said. 16 We will cut whatever trees you need in Lebanon, and bring them to you by ship to Joppa. Then you may carry them up to Jerusalem.”
17 Solomon numbered all those in Israel who were from other lands, using the number of them which his father David had taken. And 153,600 were found. 18 He picked 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and 3,600 men to see that the people did their work.
Christ Is Our Helper
2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, there is One Who will go between him and the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the One Who is right with God. 2 He paid for our sins with His own blood. He did not pay for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
3 We can be sure that we know Him if we obey His teaching. 4 Anyone who says, “I know Him,” but does not obey His teaching is a liar. There is no truth in him. 5 But whoever obeys His Word has the love of God made perfect in him. This is the way to know if you belong to Christ. 6 The one who says he belongs to Christ should live the same kind of life Christ lived.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new Law for you to obey. It is an old Law you have had from the beginning. The old Law is the Word that you have heard. 8 And yet it is a new Law that I am writing to you. It is truth. It was seen in Christ and it is seen in you also. The darkness is passing away and the true Light shines instead. 9 Whoever says he is in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 But whoever loves his brother is in the light. And there will be no reason to sin because of him. 11 Whoever hates his brother is not in the light but lives in darkness. He does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Do Not Love the World
12 I am writing to you, my children, for your sins have been forgiven because of Christ’s name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him Who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have power over the devil. I have written to you, young boys and girls, because you have learned to know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him Who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong. You have kept God’s Word in your hearts. You have power over the devil.
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him. 16 For everything that is in the world does not come from the Father. The desires of our flesh and the things our eyes see and want and the pride of this life come from the world. 17 The world and all its desires will pass away. But the man who obeys God and does what He wants done will live forever.
18 My children, we are near the end of the world. You have heard that the false-christ is coming. Many false-christs have already come. This is how we know the end of the world is near. 19 These left us. But they never belonged to us. If they had been a part of us, they would have stayed with us. Because they left, it is known they did not belong to us. 20 The Holy Spirit has been given to you and you all know the truth. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth. I have written because you do know the truth and you know that no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is a liar? He is a person who says that Jesus is not the Christ. The false-christ will have nothing to do with the Father and the Son and he will turn away from Them. 23 A person who will have nothing to do with the Son and turns against Him does not have the Father. The one who says he knows the Son has the Father also.
24 Keep in your heart what you have heard from the beginning. Then you will belong to the Son and to the Father if what you have heard from the beginning is in you. 25 And He has promised us life that lasts forever! 26 I have written to you about those who are trying to lead you in the wrong way. 27 Christ gave you the Holy Spirit and He lives in you. You do not need anyone to teach you. The Holy Spirit is able to teach you all things. What He teaches you is truth and not a lie. Live by the help of Christ as the Holy Spirit has taught you. 28 And now, my children, live by the help of Him. Then when He comes again, we will be glad to see Him and not be ashamed. 29 You know that Christ is right with God. Then you should know that everyone who is right with God is a child of His.
1 This is the word about Nineveh, the book of the special dream of Nahum the Elkoshite.
God’s Anger against Nineveh
2 The Lord is a jealous God and One Who punishes. The Lord punishes and is angry. The Lord punishes those who fight against Him. He is angry with those who hate Him. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The Lord will be sure to punish the guilty. The way He punishes is in the strong-wind and storm. The clouds are the dust under His feet. 4 He speaks sharp words to the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel dry up. The flowers of Lebanon dry up. 5 Mountains shake because of Him, and the hills melt. The earth is laid waste before Him, the world and everyone in it. 6 Who can stand before His anger? Who can live through the burning of His anger? His anger is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken up by Him. 7 The Lord is good, a safe place in times of trouble. And He knows those who come to Him to be safe. 8 But He will put an end to Nineveh by making a flood flow over it. And He will drive those who hate Him into darkness.
9 Whatever plan you make against the Lord, He will destroy it. Trouble will not come a second time. 10 They are like thorns that tie themselves together, like those who are drunk with strong drink. They are destroyed like dry grass. 11 From you one has come who makes sinful plans against the Lord, one who talks about sinful things to do. 12 The Lord says, “Even if they are strong and many, they will be destroyed and pass away. I have brought trouble to you, O Judah, but I will not bring you trouble any more. 13 Now I will break his load off your shoulders and tear off your chains.”
14 The Lord has said this about you: “You will have no one to carry on your name. I will destroy the false gods and objects of worship from the house of your gods. I will make your grave ready, for you are very sinful.”
15 See, on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news and speaks of peace! Keep your special suppers, O Judah. Keep your promises. For the sinful one will never come against you again. He is destroyed.
Jesus Teaches about Forgiving
17 Jesus said to His followers, “For sure, things will come that will make people sin. But it is bad for the person who makes someone else sin. 2 It would be better for him to have a large rock put around his neck and be thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 “Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, speak sharp words to him. If he is sorry and turns from his sin, forgive him. 4 What if he sins against you seven times in one day? If he comes to you and says he is sorry and turns from his sin, forgive him.”
5 The followers said to the Lord, “Give us more faith.” 6 The Lord said, “If your faith was as a mustard seed, you could say to this tree, ‘Be pulled out of the ground and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Jesus Teaches about Being Faithful
7 “What if you owned a servant who was working in the field or taking care of sheep? Would you say to him when he came in from his work, ‘Come and sit down to eat?’ 8 No, instead you would say, ‘Get my supper ready. Dress yourself and care for me until I am through eating and drinking. Then you can eat and drink.’ 9 Does the servant get thanks for doing what he was told to do? I am sure he does not. 10 It is the same with you also. When you do everything you have been told to do, you must say, ‘We are not any special servants. We have done only what we should have done.’”
Jesus Heals Ten Men with a Bad Skin Disease
11 Jesus went on His way to Jerusalem. He was passing between the countries of Samaria and Galilee. 12 As He was going into one of the towns, ten men with a bad skin disease came to Him. They stood a little way off. 13 They called to Him, “Jesus! Teacher! Take pity on us!” 14 When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go and show yourselves to the religious leaders.” As they went, they were healed. 15 One of them turned back when he saw he was healed. He thanked God with a loud voice. 16 He got down on his face at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him. He was from the country of Samaria. 17 Jesus asked, “Were there not ten men who were healed? Where are the other nine? 18 Is this stranger from another country the only one who turned back to give thanks to God?” 19 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up and go on your way. Your trust in God has healed you.”
Jesus Teaches about the Holy Nation of God
20 The proud religious law-keepers asked when the holy nation of God would come. Jesus said to them, “The holy nation of God is not coming in such a way that can be seen with the eyes. 21 It will not be said, ‘See, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the holy nation of God is in you.”
Jesus Tells of His Second Coming
22 Jesus said to His followers, “The time will come when you will wish you could see the Son of Man for one day. But you will not be able to. 23 They will say to you, ‘He is here,’ or, ‘He is there,’ but do not follow them. 24 When the Son of Man comes, He will be as lightning that shines from one part of the sky to the other. 25 But before that, He must suffer many hard things. The people of this day will have nothing to do with Him.
26 “As it was in the time of Noah, so will it be when the Son of Man comes back. 27 People ate and drank. They married and were given in marriage. They did these things until the day Noah went into the large boat. Then the flood came and killed all the people on earth. 28 It was the same in the time of Lot. People ate and drank. They bought and sold. They planted and built. 29 But the day Lot left the city of Sodom, fire and sulphur came down from heaven like rain. It killed all the people of Sodom.
30 “It will be the same on the day when the Son of Man comes again. 31 In that day the man who is on top of a house should not come down to take his things out of the house. In the same way, the man who is in the field should not go back to his house. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!
33 “He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life will have it given back to him. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two men in the same bed. One of them will be taken. The other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together. One of them will be taken. The other will be left. 36 *Two men will be working in a field. One will be taken. The other will be left.”
37 Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this happen?” He said to them, “Birds also gather where there is a dead body.”
Copyright © 1969, 2003 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.