M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Solomon’s Palace Complex

7 But it took Solomon 13 years to build and complete his own palace. ² He also built the Forest House of Lebanon: its length was 100 cubits, its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. ³ It was paneled with cedar above the side chambers, which were on 45 pillars—15 in a row. ⁴ And there were window frames in three rows, with window opposite window in three ranks. ⁵ And all the doorways had rectangular frame, and with window opposite to window in three tiers.

⁶ He also made a portico of columns, 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, with a porch in front, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof. ⁷ He also made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge—the Hall of Justice. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the ceiling.

⁸ His house where he would dwell, set farther back of the hall, was of the same construction. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had taken to wife.

⁹ All these were made of expensive stones—stone cut to size and sawed with saws inside and outside—from the foundation to the top and from the outside to the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was also made of expensive stones—huge stones, stones eight cubits and stones ten cubits. ¹¹ Above were expensive stones, cut to measure, and cedar wood. ¹² The surrounding great courtyard had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams, the same as the inner court of the House of Adonai and the portico of the House.

Hiram the Bronze Craftsman

¹³ King Solomon sent for and had Hiram brought from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, while his father was a man of Tyre, a coppersmith, and he was filled with wisdom, understanding and skill to do any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and executed all his work. ¹⁵ He fashioned the two bronze pillars, 18 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumference each. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set upon the tops of the pillars (the height of each capital was five cubits), ¹⁷ nettings of latticework and twisted threads of chain work for the capitals were on top of the pillars—seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸ So he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates all around on the netting covering the capitals on top of each capital. ¹⁹ The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the portico were of lily design, four cubits high. ²⁰ So also the capitals on the two pillars—close to the belly next to the netting were the pomegranates in rows of 200 around both capitals.

²¹ Thus he set up the pillars at the porticos of the Temple. He set up the right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. ^{[a] 22} On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ Next he made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits across from brim to brim, circular in form, five cubits in its height and 30 cubits in circumference. ²⁴ Under its brim there were gourds encircling it, ten per cubit, completely surrounding the sea. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with it. ²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts were inward. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the petals of a lily; it held 11,000 gallons.

²⁷ Then he made ten bases of bronze—the length of each base was four cubits, the width four cubits and the height three cubits. ²⁸ The structure of the bases was as follows: they had borders, and borders between the frames, ²⁹ and on the borders that were below the frames were lions, oxen and cheruvim. On the frames there was a pedestal manner above, and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. ³⁰ Each base had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Its four legs had brackets; the brackets were beneath the laver, cast with wreaths at each side. ³¹ Its opening inside the crown at the top was a cubit high, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half, and also on its opening were engravings, and their borders were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were underneath the borders, and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half. ³³ And the structure of the wheels was like the structure of a chariot wheel; their axletrees, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast metal. ³⁴ There were four brackets at the four corners of each base; each bracket was of one piece with the base itself. ³⁵ On top of the base there was a band half a cubit high encircling it—its braces and its borders were part of it. ³⁶ On the plates of the braces and on its borders, he engraved cheruvim, lions and palm trees, wherever there was clear space around each, with encircling wreaths. ³⁷ He made the ten bases like this—all of them cast from the same mold, the same size and same shape.

³⁸ Then he made ten basins of bronze: one basin held 220 gallons. Each basin was four cubits, and on each of the ten bases was one basin. ³⁹ Then he set up the laver stands, five on the right side of the House and five on the left side of the House, and set up the sea of cast metal on the right side of the House eastward, toward the south. ⁴⁰ Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling bowls.

So Hiram finished doing all the work that he performed for King Solomon on Adonai’s House: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, the two nettings to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, ⁴² the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each to cover the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars, ⁴³ the ten bases and the ten basins on the bases, ⁴⁴ the one sea and the 12 oxen under the sea, ⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels and the basins. All these vessels Hiram made for King Solomon in the House of Adonai were made of polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in the plain of the Jordan, with clay of the ground between Sukkot and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were too many—the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ So Solomon made all the equipment that was to be in the House of Adonai: the golden altar, the table on which was the bread of the presence, of gold; ⁴⁹ the menorahs—five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner Sanctuary—of pure gold; the flowers, the lamps and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, the snuffers, the bowls, the wick trimmers and the fire pans, of pure gold; the hinges for the doors of the inner House, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the House, that is, of the Temple, of gold.

⁵¹ When all the work that King Solomon did in Adonai’s House was finished, Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the House of Adonai.

Unity of the Body and of God

4 Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called— ² with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, ³ making every effort to keep the unity of the Ruach in the bond of shalom.

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given in keeping with the measure of Messiah’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says,

⁹ Now what does “He went up” mean, except that He first went down to the lower regions of the earth? ^{[c] 10} The One who came down is the same One who went up far above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

¹¹ He Himself gave some to be emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers— ¹² to equip the kedoshim for the work of service, for building up the body of Messiah. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Ben-Elohim—to mature adulthood, to the measure of the stature of Messiah’s fullness. ¹⁴ As a result, we are no longer to be like children, tossed around by the waves and blown all over by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men with cunning in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all ways into Messiah, who is the Head. ¹⁶ From Him the whole body is fitted and held together by every supporting ligament. The proper working of each individual part produces the body’s growth, for building itself up in love.

Put Off The Old, Put On The New

¹⁷ So I tell you this, indeed I insist on it in the Lord—walk no longer as the pagans do, stumbling around in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them due to the hardness of their heart. ¹⁹ Since they are past feeling, they have turned themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of immorality, with greed for more.

²⁰ However, you did not learn Messiah in this way— ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Yeshua. ²² With respect to your former lifestyle, you are to lay aside the old self corrupted by its deceitful desires, ²³ be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self—created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵ So lay aside lying and “each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”^[d] for we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.”^[e] Do not let the sun go down on your anger, ^{[f] 27} nor give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ The one who steals must steal no longer—instead he must work, doing something useful with his own hands, so he may have something to share with the one who has need. ²⁹ Let no harmful word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for building others up according to the need, so that it gives grace to those who hear it. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Ruach ha-Kodesh of God,^[g] by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and quarreling and slander, along with all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Messiah also forgave you.

Dry Bones Live

37 The hand of Adonai was upon me. The Ruach Adonai carried me out and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me all around them. Behold, there were very many on the floor of the valley. Behold, they were very dry. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”^[a]

I answered, “Adonai Elohim, You know.”

⁴ “Prophesy over these bones,” He said to me. “Say to them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of Adonai!’ ⁵ Thus says Adonai Elohim to these bones: “Behold, I will cause Ruach^[b] to enter you, so you will live. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you, bring flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you. You will live. You will know that I am Adonai.”

⁷ So I prophesied just as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ I saw, and behold, there were tendons on them, flesh came up and skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the Ruach. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Ruach, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Come from the four winds, Ruach! Breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied just as He commanded me. The Ruach came into them and they lived. They stood up on their feet, a vast army.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say: ‘Our bones are dried up; our hope is lost; we are cut off—by ourselves.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I will open your graves. I will bring you up out of your graves, My people. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ You will know that I am Adonai, when I have opened your graves and brought you up out of your graves, My people. ¹⁴ I will put My Ruach in you and you will live. I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, Adonai, have spoken and that I have done it.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

Reunification of Southern and Northern Kingdoms

¹⁵ The word of Adonai came to me saying: ¹⁶ “You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah’—for Bnei-Yisrael joined with him. Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph’—the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel joined with him. ¹⁷ Join them one to another for yourself, as one stick, so they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸ “When the children of your people speak to you saying, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹ say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph—which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel joined with him—and I will put them together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick. They will be one in My hand.’ ²⁰ The sticks that you write on will be in your hand before their eyes.

²¹ “Then say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Behold, I will take Bnei-Yisrael from among the nations, where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will never again be defiled with their idols, their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. I will save them out of all their dwellings in which they sinned. I will purify them. Then they will be My people and I will be their God. ²⁴ My servant David will be king over them. They will all have One Shepherd. They will walk in My ordinances and observe My rulings and do them. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your ancestors lived. They will live there—they, their children and their children’s children, forever, and My servant David will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will cut a covenant of shalom with them—it will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will give to them and multiply them. I will set up My Sanctuary among them forever. ^{[c] 27} My dwelling-place will be over them. I will be their God and they will be My people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I am Adonai who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary is in their midst forever.’”

This One Was Born in Zion

Psalm 87

Cry of Desperation

Psalm 88