M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David’s Charge to Solomon(A)
2 Now it was coming close to the day of David’s death, and he gave his son Solomon a charge, saying:
2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself to be a man. 3 And keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways, keeping His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may carry out His word that He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in faithfulness with all their hearts and with all their souls, you shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
5 “Moreover, you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, shedding the blood of war in a time of peace. He spilled their blood on the belt that was around his waist and on the shoes of his feet. 6 Do the right thing according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them eat at your table, for with such loyalty they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8 “There is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9 Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.”
10 So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
11 David reigned over Israel forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.
The Throne of Solomon Established
13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come in peace?”
And he said, “I come peaceably.” 14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.”
And she said, “Speak.”
15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel viewed me as the king. However, the kingdom has become my brother’s, for it was given to him by the Lord. 16 And now I ask one petition of you; do not deny me.”
She said to him, “Keep speaking.”
17 And he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
18 Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king on your behalf.”
19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her and bowed to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a seat placed at his right hand for her to sit upon.
20 Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you. Please do not deny me.”
And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
21 She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given as a wife to Adonijah your brother.”
22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother. Ask not only for him, but also for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.”
23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life. 24 Now therefore as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and who has made me a house as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.” 25 So King Solomon dispatched Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he executed him.
26 The king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord God before David my father and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.” 27 So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 Then word came to Joab, for Joab had followed Adonijah, though he did not support Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar. 29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and was by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and execute him.”
30 So Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come forth.’ ”
And he said, “No, I will die here.”
And Benaiah told the king all Joab said.
31 The king said to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and my father’s house the guilt for the blood Joab shed without cause. 32 The Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, for he attacked two men more righteous and better than he—Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah—and killed them with the sword when my father David was unaware. 33 Therefore their blood shall return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his seed forever, but upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne shall the peace of the Lord rest forever.”
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and attacked and killed him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab and put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
36 The king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and never leave the city. 37 For on the day you go out and pass over the Kidron Valley, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood shall be on your own head.”
38 Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39 It came about that at the end of three years, two servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maakah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Your servants are in Gath.” 40 Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
41 Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. 42 The king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warned you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and walk abroad anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I gave you?”
44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know all the wickedness in your heart and what you did to David my father. Therefore the Lord shall return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, who went out and attacked him so that he died.
And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
Bear One Another’s Burdens
6 Brothers, if a man is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, watching yourselves, lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if someone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each one shall bear his own burden. 6 Let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
7 Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Final Warning and Benediction
11 You see what large letters I have written to you with my own hand.
12 It is those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For they themselves who are circumcised do not keep the law. But they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh. 14 God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy be on all who walk according to this rule and upon the Israel of God.
17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brothers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Renewal of Ezekiel’s Call
33 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them: If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and set him for their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword come upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet yet did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning delivers his soul. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and a sword comes and takes a person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from the hand of the watchman.
7 Now as for you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from your hand. 9 Nevertheless, if you on your part warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.
God’s Justice and Mercy
10 Therefore as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them. How should we then live?” 11 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, O house of Israel?
12 Therefore you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of a righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins. 13 When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered. But for that iniquity of his that he has committed, he shall die. 14 Again, when I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, 15 if the wicked man restores a pledge, gives back what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live. He shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is lawful and right. He shall surely live.
17 Yet the sons of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not right,” when their way is not right. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die by it. 19 But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live by them. 20 Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” O house of Israel, I will judge you, every one according to his ways.
The Fall of Jerusalem
21 In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city is taken.” 22 Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, before those who escaped came. And He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning. Therefore my mouth was opened and I was speechless no more.
23 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 24 Son of man, those who inhabit these wastes in the land of Israel are saying, “Abraham was one, yet he inherited the land. But to us who are many, the land has been given for an inheritance.” 25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat meat with the blood in it and lift up your eyes toward your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land? 26 You rely upon your sword, you work abominations, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?
27 Thus you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the forts and in the caves shall die of pestilence. 28 For I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pomp of her strength shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate so that none shall pass through. 29 Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.
30 As for you, son of man, the sons of your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses; and they speak to one another, each saying to his brother, “Come now, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.” 31 They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words; but they will not do them. For they do the lustful desires in their mouth, and their heart goes after their covetousness. 32 You are to them as a sensual song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear your words, but they do not do them.
33 When this comes to pass, and it is coming to pass, then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.
Psalm 81
For the Music Director. According to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength;
make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a melody, and sound the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
at the full moon on our feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
5 This He ordained in Joseph as a decree
when He went out against the land of Egypt.
I heard a voice that I had not known:
6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were released from holding the basket.
7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O My people, and I will testify against you.
O Israel, if you would listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
neither shall you bow down to any strange god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But My people would not listen to My voice;
Israel would not submit to Me.
12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts,
to walk in their own counsels.
13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
and Israel would follow in My ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their adversaries.
15 Let those who hate the Lord cower before Him
and their fate might last forever.
16 But I would feed them with the finest of wheat,
and with honey out of the rock I would satisfy you.”
Psalm 82
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God stands among the divine council;
He renders judgment among the gods.
2 “How long will you all judge unjustly
and accept partiality of the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the poor and fatherless;
vindicate the afflicted and needy.
4 Grant escape to the abused and the destitute,
pluck them out of the hand of the false.
5 “They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
they walk in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
6 I have said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you,
7 but you all shall die like men,
and fall like a man, O princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth,
for You shall inherit all nations.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.