M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication(A)
12 Then Solomon[a] took his place in front of the Lord’s altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had a bronze platform constructed five cubits[b] square and three cubits[c] high. He had it erected in the middle of the courtyard, and stood on it. Then he knelt down on his knees in front of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said:
“Lord God of Israel, there is no one like you, God of heaven and earth, who watches over[d] his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence[e] with all their hearts. 15 It is you, Lord God,[f] who has kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment[g] to my father David and then personally fulfilled[h] what you had promised today.
16 “Now therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep your promise that you made[i] to my father, your servant David, when you said, ‘You are to not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel,[j] if only your descendants will watch their lives,[k] to live according to my Law, just as you have lived[l] in my presence.’[m]
17 “Now therefore, Lord God of Israel, may your promise that you made[n] to your servant David be fulfilled… 18 and yet, will God truly reside on earth with human beings? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built! 19 Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, Lord my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 Let your eyes always look toward this Temple day and night, toward the location where you have said you would place your name. Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction.[o] 21 Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction,[p] and listen from the place where you reside—from heaven!—then hear and forgive.
22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, 23 then listen from heaven, act, and judge your servants, recompensing the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices[q] and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness.
24 “If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with[r] their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you[s] and confess to you,[t] pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, 25 then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil[u] that you gave to them and to their ancestors.
26 “When the skies remain closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them,[v] 27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.
28 “If a famine comes to the land, or if there comes plant diseases, mildew, locusts, or grasshoppers,[w] or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, 29 whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it’s made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own illness and anguish and stretching out their hands toward this Temple, 30 then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of human beings— 31 so they will fear you and live life[x] your way as long as they live in the land that you have given to our ancestors.
32 “Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your great name, your mighty acts,[y] and your obvious power,[z] when they come and pray in the direction of this Temple, 33 then hear from heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name.
34 “When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, 35 then hear their prayer and their request from heaven, and fight for their cause.
36 “When they sin against you—because there isn’t a single human being who doesn’t sin—and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to a land that’s near or far away, 37 if they turn their hearts back to you[aa] in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you—even if they do so in the land where they have been taken captive—confessing, ‘We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,’ 38 if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land where they have been taken captive, as they pray in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, 39 then hear their prayer and requests from heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, forgiving your people who have sinned against you.
40 “And now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers that are uttered in[ab] this place.
41 “And now may the Lord God arise, to your place of rest, you, and the ark of your power! Let your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and cause your godly ones to find their joy in what is good.
42 “Lord God, do not turn your face away from your anointed one.[ac] Remember your gracious love to your servant David.”
Faith Overcomes the World
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah[a] has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: we love God and keep his commandments. 3 For this demonstrates our love for God: We keep his commandments, and his commandments are not difficult, 4 because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 5 Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This man, Jesus the Messiah,[b] is the one who came by water and blood—not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three witnesses in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.[c] 8 And there are three witness on earth—the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one.
9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God and because he has testified about his Son. 10 The person who believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally.[d] The person who does not believe God[e] has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he[f] has given about his Son.
11 This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. 12 The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.
Conclusion
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God[g] would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.
18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son[h] of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.[i] We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah,[j] who is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.[k]
Habakkuk’s Oracle
1 The pronouncement[a] that the prophet Habakkuk[b] perceived.
The Prophet’s First Complaint
2 “How long, Lord, must I cry out for help,
but you won’t listen?
I’m crying out to you, ‘Violence!’
but you aren’t providing deliverance.
3 Why are you forcing me to look at iniquity
and to stare at wickedness?
Social havoc and oppression are all around me;
there are legal conflicts, and disputes abound.
4 Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed,
and justice never comes about.
Because criminals outnumber[c] the righteous,
whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked.”
God’s Response: The Coming Chaldean Invasion
5 “Look out at the nations and pay attention!
Be astounded! Be really astounded!
Because something is happening in your lifetime
that you won’t believe, even if it were described down to the smallest detail.[d]
6 Watch out! For I am bringing in the Chaldeans,[e]
that cruel and impetuous[f] people,
who sweep across the earth
dispossessing people[g] from homes not their own.
7 They are terrible and fearsome;
their brand of justice and sense of honor derive only from themselves!
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
and more cunning than wolves that attack at night.
Their horsemen are galloping
as they approach from far away.
They swoop in like ravenous vultures.[h]
9 “They all come to oppress—
hordes of them, their faces pressing onward—
they take prisoners as numerous as[i] the desert sand!
10 They make fun of kings,
deriding those who rule.
They laugh at all of the fortified places,
constructing ramps to seize them.
11 Then like[j] the wind sweeping by
they will pass through—
they’re guilty because they say[k] their power is their god.”
The Prophet’s Second Complaint
12 “Haven’t you existed forever,
Lord my God, my Holy One?
We won’t die!
Lord, you’ve prepared them[l] for judgment;
Rock, you’ve sentenced them[m] to correction.
13 Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil;
and you cannot tolerate wickedness.
So why do you tolerate the treacherous?
And why do you stay silent
while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?
14 “You have fashioned mankind like fish in the ocean,
like creeping things that have no ruler.
15 The adversary[n] captures them with a hook,
gathering them up in a fishing net.
He collects them with a dragnet,
rejoicing and gloating over his catch.[o]
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his fishing net,
and burns incense in the presence of his dragnet,
because by them his assets increase
and he gets plenty of food.
17 Is he to continue to empty his fishing net?
Will he ever stop killing entire[p] nations without mercy?”
Jesus’ Authority is Challenged(A)
20 One day, while Jesus[a] was teaching the people in the Temple and telling them the good news, the high priests and the scribes came with the elders 2 and asked him, “Tell us: By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
3 He answered them, “I, too, will ask you a question.[b] Tell me: 4 Was John’s authority to baptize[c] from heaven or from humans?”
5 They discussed this among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From humans,’ all the people will stone us to death, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they didn’t know where it was from.
8 Then Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.”
The Parable about the Tenant Farmers(B)
9 Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long time. 10 At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers in order to get his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him back empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, and they beat him, too, treated him shamefully, and sent him back empty-handed. 12 Then he sent a third, and they wounded him and threw him out, too.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son whom I love. Maybe they’ll respect him.’ 14 But when the farmers saw him, they talked it over among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours!’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
Those who heard him said, “That must never happen!”
17 But Jesus[d] looked at them and asked, “What does this text mean:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?[e]
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
19 When the scribes and the high priests realized that Jesus[f] had told this parable about them, they wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the crowd.
A Question about Paying Taxes(C)
20 So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honest men in order to trap him in what he would say. They wanted to hand him over to the jurisdiction[g] of the governor, 21 so they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach, and that you don’t favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully. 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But he discerned their craftiness and responded to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose face and name does it have?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
25 So he told them, “Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 So they couldn’t catch him before the people in what he said. Amazed at his answer, they became silent.
A Question about the Resurrection(D)
27 Now some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus[h] 28 and asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man[i] should marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. 32 Finally, the woman died, too. 33 Now in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be, since the seven had married her?”
34 Jesus told them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are married, 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God’s children. 37 Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[j] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because he considers all people to be alive to him.”
39 Then some of the scribes replied, “Teacher, you have given a fine answer.” 40 Then they no longer dared to ask him another question.
A Question about David’s Son(E)
41 Then he asked them, “How can people[k] say that the Messiah[l] is David’s son? 42 Because David himself in the book of Psalms says,
‘The Lord[m] told my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’[n]
44 So David calls him ‘Lord.’ Then how can he be his son?”
Jesus Denounces the Scribes(F)
45 While all the people were listening, he told his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses[o] and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!”
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