M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Wisdom: Political Administration
4 King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 Now these are the officials who were his: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest. 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were the secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder. 4 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests. 5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over the governors, and Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest, an advisor to the king. 6 Ahishar was over the palace, and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor. 7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, each one was to sustain for each month of the year.[a] 8 These are their names: Ben-Hur was in the hill country of Ephraim. 9 Ben-Deker was in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan. 10 Ben-Hesed was in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his. 11 Ben-Abinadab was in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. 12 Baanah the son of Ahilud was in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam. 13 Ben-Geber was in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead were his, and the region of Argob which is in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls having crossbars of bronze, were his. 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo was in Mahanaim. 15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he moreover also had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife. 16 Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and Bealoth. 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah was in Issachar. 18 Shimei the son of Ela was in Benjamin. 19 Geber the son of Uri was in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and of Og, the king of Bashan; one governor which was over the land. 20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand which is on the seashore in abundance, eating and drinking and rejoicing!
Solomon’s Wisdom: Prosperity
21 [b] Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River[c] to the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life. 22 The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour; 23 ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls. 24 For he was ruling over all the west of the River[d] from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River;[e] and he had peace from every side all around. 25 Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
26 Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each in his month; they did not omit anything. 28 The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.
Solomon’s Wisdom: Literature, Zoology, Biology, Dendrology
29 God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as breadth of understanding,[f] as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore. 30 The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people[g] of the east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and he was very well known.[h] 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 33 He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which is in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish. 34 They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
Solomon’s Wisdom: Architecture
5 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David. 2 Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 “You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, in view of the warfare[i] which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them[j] under the soles of his feet. 4 But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence. 5 Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.’ 6 So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” 7 When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, “Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” 8 Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses. 9 My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts in the sea to float to the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry them further, and you shall meet my needs[k] by giving food for my house.” 10 So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, everything he needed.[l] 11 Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat as food for his household, and twenty dry measures of specially prepared olive oil;[m] thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. 12 Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made[n] a covenant.
13 Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor numbered thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand every month;[o] the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand common laborers[p] and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country. 16 Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work. 17 When the king commanded, they quarried great stones and precious stones to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites hewed stones, and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.
Made Alive in Christ
2 And you, although you were dead[a][b] in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will[c] of the flesh and of the mind, and we were children of wrath[d] by nature, as also the rest of them were.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 and we being dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), 6 and raised us together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that he might show in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.
Jewish and Gentile Believers United in Christ
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the so-called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, 12 that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, 15 invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus[e] making peace, 16 and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself.[f] 17 And coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to the ones who were near, 18 because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 Consequently, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,[g] 21 in whom the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are built up together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.[h]
Prophecy Directed at Edom
35 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “Son of man,[c] set your face against the mountain of Seir and prophesy against it, 3 and you must say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, mountain of Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a wasteland. 4 Your cities I will make ruins, and you will be a desolation, and then you will know that I am Yahweh, 5 because there has been to you an ancient hostility,[d] and you handed over the Israelites[e] to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of their final punishment.[f] 6 Therefore as I live,”[g] declares[h] the Lord Yahweh, “Certainly to blood guilt I will prepare you and blood[i] will pursue; since[j] you did not hate blood,[k] it will pursue you. 7 And I will make the mountain of Seir into a desolation and ruin, and I will cut off from it both he who is crossing over and he who is returning. 8 And I will fill its mountains with its slain; your hills and your valleys and all of your watercourses, the slain by the sword will fall in them. 9 An everlasting desolation[l] I will make you, and your cities will not return, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 10 I do this because of your saying,[m] ‘The two nations and the two lands, they will be mine,[n] and we will take possession of it,’ and yet Yahweh was there. 11 Therefore, as I live,”[o] declares[p] the Lord Yahweh, “so I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your jealousy that you did,[q] because of your hatred against them, and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. 12 And you will know that I, Yahweh, I have heard all of your contemptible words that you said[r] against the mountains of Israel, saying,[s] ‘They will be desolate; they are given to us as food.’ 13 And you magnified yourself against me with your insolent speech,[t] and you spoke voluminously against me with your words—I heard! 14 Thus the Lord Yahweh says, ‘As the whole world rejoices,[u] I will make you a desolation. 15 Like your rejoicing over the inheritance of the house of Israel[v] because[w] it was desolate, I will do to you; you will be a desolation, mountain of Seir and all of Edom, indeed all of it; and they will know that I am Yahweh.’”’
Hope in God’s Future Help
For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]
85 O Yahweh, you favored your land.
You restored the fortunes[b] of Jacob.
2 You took away the guilt[c] of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your burning anger.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation,
and annul your vexation with us.
5 Will you be angry against us forever?
Will you prolong your anger generation after generation?
6 Will you not again revive us,
that your people might rejoice in you?
7 Show us, O Yahweh, your loyal love,
and grant us your salvation.
8 I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,
because he will speak peace
to his people, even his faithful ones,[d]
but let them not return to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
that glory may abide in our land.
10 Loyal love and faithfulness[e] will meet one another;
righteousness and peace will kiss.
11 Faithfulness[f] will sprout from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give what is good,
and our land will give its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and it will make his steps a pathway.
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