M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God Appears Again to Solomon
9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,(A) 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.(B) 3 The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.(C) 4 As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,(D) 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor on the throne of Israel.’(E)
6 “If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you but go and serve other gods and worship them,(F) 7 then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples.(G) 8 This house will become a heap of ruins;[a] everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’(H) 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the Lord brought this disaster upon them.’ ”
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house,(I) 11 King Hiram of Tyre having supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.(J) 12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. 13 Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul[b] to this day.(K) 14 But Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
Other Acts of Solomon
15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer(L) 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife;(M) 17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon,(N) 18 Baalath, Tadmor in the wilderness, within the land, 19 as well as all of Solomon’s storage cities, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.(O) 20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel(P)— 21 their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely—these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day.(Q) 22 But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves; they were the soldiers; they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.(R)
23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty who had charge of the people who carried on the work.(S)
24 But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.(T)
25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being on the altar that he built for the Lord, offering incense[c] before the Lord. So he completed the house.(U)
Solomon’s Commercial Activity
26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea,[d] in the land of Edom.(V) 27 Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.(W) 28 They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred twenty talents of gold that they delivered to King Solomon.(X)
Children and Parents
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord,[a] for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise(A)— 3 “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.(B)
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect[b] and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ,(C) 6 not with a slavery performed merely for looks, to please people, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul. 7 Render service with enthusiasm, as for the Lord and not for humans, 8 knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are enslaved or free.
9 And, masters,[c] do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Lord[d] in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.(D)
The Whole Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our[e] struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present[f] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[g](E) 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm.(F) 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness(G) 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these,[h] take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.(H) 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.(I) 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.(J) 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,[i](K) 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.(L)
Personal Matters and Benediction
21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord.(M) 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brothers and sisters and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(N) 24 Grace be with all who have an undying love for[j] our Lord Jesus Christ.[k]
Gog’s Armies Destroyed
39 And you, mortal, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal!(A) 2 I will turn you around and drive you forward and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel. 3 I will strike your bow from your left hand and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand.(B) 4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals to be devoured.(C) 5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.(D)
7 My holy name I will make known among my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.(E) 8 It has come! It has happened, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.
9 Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them—bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears—and they will make fires of them for seven years.(F) 10 They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons; they will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.(G)
The Burial of Gog
11 On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers[a] east of the sea; it shall block the path of the travelers, for there Gog and all his horde will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.[b](H) 12 Seven months the house of Israel shall spend burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land shall bury them, and it will bring them honor on the day that I show my glory, says the Lord God.(I) 14 They will set apart men to pass through the land regularly and bury any invaders[c] who remain on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it; for seven months they shall make their search.(J) 15 As the searchers[d] pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone shall set up a sign by it until the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.[e] 16 (A city Hamonah[f] is there also.) Thus they shall cleanse the land.
17 As for you, mortal, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.(K) 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatted calves of Bashan.(L) 19 You shall eat fat until you are filled and drink blood until you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. 20 And you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers, says the Lord God.(M)
Israel Restored to the Land
21 I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid on them.(N) 22 The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. 23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.(O) 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions and hid my face from them.(P)
25 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.(Q) 26 They shall bear their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid,(R) 27 when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations.(S) 28 Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind,(T) 29 and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.(U)
Book IV
(Psalms 90–106)
Psalm 90
God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place[a]
in all generations.(A)
2 Before the mountains were brought forth
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.(B)
3 You turn us[b] back to dust
and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”(C)
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past
or like a watch in the night.(D)
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;(E)
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.(F)
7 For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.(G)
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end[c] like a sigh.(H)
10 The days of our life are seventy years
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span[d] is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.(I)
11 Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.(J)
12 So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.(K)
13 Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!(L)
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.(M)
15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us
and as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants
and your glorious power to their children.(N)
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!(O)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.