M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

1 Solomon the son of David became a strong king. The Lord his God was with him, and gave him much honor. ² Solomon spoke to all Israel. He spoke to the leaders of thousands and of hundreds. He spoke to the men who judge and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of fathers’ houses. ³ Then Solomon and all the people with him went to a place of worship at Gibeon where God’s meeting tent was. It was the tent which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the desert. ⁴ (But David had brought up the special box of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had made ready for it. For he had set up a tent for it in Jerusalem.) ⁵ Now the brass altar was there in front of the meeting tent of the Lord. It was the altar which was made by Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur. Solomon and the people worshiped the Lord there. ⁶ Solomon went before the Lord to the brass altar at the meeting tent. And he gave a thousand burnt gifts on it.

⁷ That night God showed Himself to Solomon and said to him, “Ask Me for anything and I will give it to you.” ⁸ Solomon said to God, “You have acted toward my father David with great loving-kindness. And You have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, O Lord God, Your promise to my father David has come true. For You have made me king over as many people as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Now give me wisdom and much understanding, that I may lead these people. For who can rule this great nation of Yours?” ¹¹ God said to Solomon, “You have not asked for riches, much money, or honor, or the life of those who hate you. And you have not asked for a long life for yourself. But you have asked for wisdom and much understanding, that you may rule My people over whom I have made you king. Because this was in your heart, ¹² wisdom and much understanding have been given to you. And I will give you riches and much money and honor. You will have more than all the kings who were before you, and more than all who will come after you.”

Solomon’s Power and Riches

¹³ So Solomon went from the place of worship at Gibeon, from the meeting tent to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel.

¹⁴ Solomon gathered together war-wagons and horsemen. He had 1,400 war-wagons and 12,000 horsemen. And he kept some of them in the war-wagon cities, and some with him in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The king made silver and gold as easy to find in Jerusalem as stones. He made cedar trees as easy to find as sycamore trees in the valley. ¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were brought in from Egypt and Kue. The men who traded for the king received them from Kue for a special price. ¹⁷ They paid 600 pieces of silver for each war-wagon brought in from Egypt and 150 pieces of silver for each horse. They also sold them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Christ—the Word of Life

1 Christ is the Word of Life. He was from the beginning. We have heard Him and have seen Him with our own eyes. We have looked at Him and put our hands on Him. ² Christ Who is Life was shown to us. We saw Him. We tell you and preach about the Life that lasts forever. He was with the Father and He has come down to us. ³ We are preaching what we have heard and seen. We want you to share together with us what we have with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing this to you so our joy may be full.

Christians Are to Live in the Light

⁵ This is what we heard Him tell us. We are passing it on to you. God is light. There is no darkness in Him. ⁶ If we say we are joined together with Him but live in darkness, we are telling a lie. We are not living the truth. ⁷ If we live in the light as He is in the light, we share what we have in God with each other. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, makes our lives clean from all sin. ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we lie to ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we tell Him our sins, He is faithful and we can depend on Him to forgive us of our sins. He will make our lives clean from all sin. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. And His Word is not in our hearts.

Sorrow for Israel’s Sins

7 It is bad for me! For I am like those who pick fruit and gather grapes. There are no grapes to eat, or any of the early figs that I want so much. ² There is not a God-like person left in the land. There is no good person among men. All of them lie in wait to kill. Each one hunts the other with a net. ³ Both hands are very able in doing sinful things. The ruler and the judge ask for pay in secret to do what is wrong. The powerful man tells what he wants, and they all make plans together. ⁴ The best of them is like a thistle. The most honest of them is like a thorn bush. The day you have a watchman, you will be punished. Then their trouble will come. ⁵ Do not trust a neighbor. Do not put trust in a friend. Be careful what you say even with her who lies in your arms. ⁶ For a son does not honor his father. A daughter rises up against her mother. And a daughter-in-law turns against her mother-in-law. Those of a man’s own house hate him.

⁷ But as for me, I will watch for the Lord. I will wait for the God Who saves me. My God will hear me.

The Lord Saves

⁸ Do not have joy over me, you who hate me. When I fall, I will rise. Even though I am in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ⁹ I will suffer under the Lord’s anger, because I have sinned against Him, until He speaks for me and does what is fair for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His saving power. ¹⁰ Then the one who hated me will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look on her, and she will be crushed under foot like mud in the streets. ¹¹ It will be a day for building your walls. At that time your land will be made larger. ¹² In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the Euphrates River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. ¹³ The earth will be laid waste because of its people and the things they have done.

The Lord’s Loving-Kindness for Israel

¹⁴ Shepherd Your people with Your power. Take care of Your chosen flock which lives by itself in the woods, in a field of much fruit. Let them eat in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. ¹⁵ “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show you powerful works.” ¹⁶ Nations will see and be ashamed of all their power. They will put their hands on their mouths, and will not be able to hear with their ears. ¹⁷ They will eat the dust like a snake, like animals that move along the ground. They will come out of their strong-places shaking with fear. They will come in much fear to the Lord our God, and they will be afraid of You. ¹⁸ Who is a God like You, Who forgives sin and the wrong-doing of Your chosen people who are left? He does not stay angry forever because He is happy to show loving-kindness. ¹⁹ He will again have loving-pity on us. He will crush our sins under foot. Yes, You will throw all our sins into the deep sea. ²⁰ You will be true to Jacob and show loving-kindness to Abraham, as You promised our fathers in days long ago.

The Picture-Story of the Boss Who Stole

16 Jesus said to His followers, “There was a rich man who put a boss over his houses and lands. Someone told him that his boss was not using his riches in a right way. ² The rich man sent for the boss and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Tell me what you have done with my things. You are not to be the boss of my houses and lands anymore.’

³ “The boss said to himself, ‘What will I do now? The owner of the houses and lands is taking my work away from me. I cannot dig in the ground for a living. I am too proud to ask for help. ⁴ I know what I will do. I will make it so that when I lose this work I will be able to go to the homes of my friends.’

⁵ “He sent for the people who owed the rich man. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe the owner?’ ⁶ The first man said, ‘One hundred barrels of oil.’ The boss said to him, ‘Take your bill. Sit down at once and change it to fifty.’ ⁷ He asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘One hundred bags of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and change it to eighty.’ ⁸ Then the rich man said that this sinful boss had been wise to plan for himself for the days ahead. For the people of the world are wiser in their day than the children of light.

⁹ “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by using the riches of the world that are so often used in wrong ways. So when riches are a thing of the past, friends may receive you into a home that will be forever. ¹⁰ He that is faithful with little things is faithful with big things also. He that is not honest with little things is not honest with big things. ¹¹ If you have not been faithful with riches of this world, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² If you have not been faithful in that which belongs to another person, who will give you things to have as your own? ¹³ No servant can have two bosses. He will hate the one and love the other. Or, he will be faithful to one and not faithful to the other. You cannot be faithful to God and to riches at the same time.”

Jesus Teaches That the Law Is Not Finished

¹⁴ The proud religious law-keepers heard all these things. They loved money so they made fun of Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “You are the kind of people who make yourselves look good before other people. God knows your hearts. What men think is good is hated in the eyes of God. ¹⁶ Until John came, you had the writings of the Law and of the early preachers. From that time until now the Good News of the holy nation of God has been preached. Everyone is pushing his way in. ¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one small part of a word in the Law to be of no more use.

¹⁸ “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman is not faithful in marriage and is guilty of sex sins.

The Rich Man and the Man Who Begged for Food

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who dressed in purple linen clothes everyday. He lived like a king would live with the best of food. ²⁰ There was a poor man named Lazarus who had many bad sores. He was put by the door of the rich man. ²¹ He wanted the pieces of food that fell from the table of the rich man. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The poor man who asked for food died. He was taken by the angels into the arms of Abraham. The rich man died also and was buried. ²³ In hell the rich man was in much pain. He looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus beside him. ²⁴ He cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me. Send Lazarus. Let him put the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in much pain in this fire.’ ²⁵ Abraham said, ‘My son, do not forget that when you were living you had your good things. Lazarus had bad things. Now he is well cared for. You are in pain. ²⁶ And more than all this, there is a big deep place between us. No one from here can go there even if he wanted to go. No one can come from there.’

²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Father, then I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house. ²⁸ I have five brothers. Let him tell them of these things, or they will come to this place of much pain also.’ ²⁹ Abraham said, ‘They have the Writings of Moses and of the early preachers. Let them hear what they say.’ ³⁰ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will be sorry for their sins and turn from them.’ ³¹ Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and to the early preachers, they will not listen even if someone is raised from the dead.’”