M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
5 So all the work that Solomon did for the Lord’s house was finished. He brought in the things that his father David had set apart, the silver and the gold and all the objects. He put them in the store-rooms of the house of God.
The Special Box Brought into the House of God
2 Then Solomon gathered to Jerusalem the leaders of Israel, and all the heads of the families, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Israel. He called them together to bring up the special box with the Law of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 All the men of Israel gathered together in front of the king at the special supper in the seventh month. 4 All the leaders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the special box of God. 5 They brought up the special box of God, the meeting tent, and all the holy objects that were in the tent. The religious leaders and the Levites brought them up. 6 Then King Solomon and all the people of Israel who were with him were in front of the special box of God. There they gave on the altar in worship so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered. 7 The religious leaders brought the special box of the Lord to its place. They brought it into the most holy place in the house, under the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the special box of God. They made a covering over the special box and its long pieces of wood used for carrying. 9 The pieces of wood for the special box of God were so long that their ends could be seen in front of the holy place. But they could not be seen outside. They are there to this day. 10 There was nothing in the special box of God except the two stone writings which Moses put there at Horeb. It was there that the Lord made an agreement with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
11 Then the religious leaders came out of the holy place. All the religious leaders who were there had set themselves apart, without thinking of how they were divided. 12 All the Levite singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and brothers, were dressed in fine linen. They stood east of the altar, with timbrels and different kinds of harps. With them were 120 religious leaders sounding horns. 13 Those who sounded the horns and the singers made themselves heard as with one voice, praising and thanking the Lord. They sang in a loud voice, with horns, and timbrels, and other objects for making music. They praised the Lord, saying, “He is good. For His loving-kindness lasts forever.” Then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. 14 The religious leaders could not stand to do their work because of the cloud. For the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house of God.
Solomon’s Words to the People
6 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would live in the thick cloud. 2 I have built a great house for You. It is a place for You to live in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and prayed that good would come to all the people of Israel, while all the people of Israel stood.
4 Solomon said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Israel. He spoke with His mouth to my father David. And He has kept His promises with His hands, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the families of Israel in which to build a house for My name. I did not choose any man to be a leader over My people Israel. 6 But I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there. And I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.’ 7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9 But you will not build the house. Your son who will be born to you will build the house for My name.’ 10 Now the Lord has kept His promise which He made. For I have taken the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. And I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 There I have put the special box with the Law of the Lord which He gave to the people of Israel.”
The Spirits Must Be Tested
4 Dear Christian friends, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God for there are many false preachers in the world. 2 You can tell if the spirit is from God in this way: Every spirit that says Jesus Christ has come in a human body is from God. 3 And every spirit that does not say Jesus has come in a human body is not from God. It is the teaching of the false-christ. You have heard that this teaching is coming. It is already here in the world. 4 My children, you are a part of God’s family. You have stood against these false preachers and had power over them. You had power over them because the One Who lives in you is stronger than the one who is in the world. 5 Those false teachers are a part of the world. They speak about the things of the world. The world listens to them. 6 We are a part of God’s family. The person who knows God will listen to us. The person who is not a part of God’s family will not listen to us. In this way, we can tell what is the spirit of truth and what is the spirit of false teaching.
Loving God Makes Us Love Our Christian Brothers
7 Dear friends, let us love each other, because love comes from God. Those who love are God’s children and they know God. 8 Those who do not love do not know God because God is love. 9 God has shown His love to us by sending His only Son into the world. God did this so we might have life through Christ. 10 This is love! It is not that we loved God but that He loved us. For God sent His Son to pay for our sins with His own blood.
11 Dear friends, if God loved us that much, then we should love each other. 12 No person has ever seen God at any time. If we love each other, God lives in us. His love is made perfect in us. 13 He has given us His Spirit. This is how we live by His help and He lives in us.
Love Gives Us More Faith in Christ
14 We have seen and are able to say that the Father sent His Son to save the world from the punishment of sin. 15 The person who tells of Him in front of men and says that Jesus is the Son of God, God is living in that one and that one is living by the help of God. 16 We have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love. If you live in love, you live by the help of God and God lives in you.
The Love of God Has Power Over Fear and Hate
17 Love is made perfect in us when we are not ashamed as we stand before Him on the day He judges. For we know that our life in this world is His life lived in us. 18 There is no fear in love. Perfect love puts fear out of our hearts. People have fear when they are afraid of being punished. The man who is afraid does not have perfect love. 19 We love Him because He loved us first. 20 If a person says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. If a person does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God Whom he has not seen? 21 We have these words from Him. If you love God, love your brother also.
It Is Bad for Nineveh
3 It is bad for the city of blood, full of lies and stolen riches! There is no end of her prizes of war! 2 The noise of the whip, the noise of the wheel, running horses and rolling war-wagons! 3 Horsemen rushing to battle, swords and spears shining, many dead, too many dead bodies to number! They fall over the dead bodies! 4 All this is because of the many sins of the woman who sells the use of her body. She tempts with her beauty and uses witchcraft. She sells nations by her sinful acts, and families by her witchcraft. 5 “I am against you,” says the Lord of All. “I will lift up your clothing over your face and let the nations see your body. The nations will see your shame. 6 I will throw dirt on you and make you unclean. People will look at you and see how bad you are. 7 All who see you will leave you and say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed! Who will have sorrow for her?’ Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”
8 Are you better than Thebes, which is by the Nile River? Water was all around her. The sea kept her safe, for the water was her wall. 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, with too many to number. Put and Lubim were among her helpers. 10 Yet she was taken away to a strange land. She was taken away in chains. Her small children were beaten to death at every street corner. They drew names to see who would get her men of honor. And all her great men were put in chains. 11 You also will become drunk. You will be hidden. You will look for a safe place from those who hate you. 12 All your strong towers are like fig trees with first-fruits. When they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the one who eats them. 13 Your soldiers are all women. The gates of your land are opened wide to those who hate you. Fire destroys your gates. 14 Store up water to drink when you are shut in by armies! Make your walls stronger! Go into the clay to make more clay blocks for building! 15 There the fire will destroy you. The sword will kill you. It will destroy you like the locust.
Make yourselves as many as the locusts, as many as the flying locusts. 16 You have more traders than the stars of heaven. The locust destroys everything from the land and flies away. 17 Your watchmen are like the flying locusts. Your leaders are like clouds of locusts. They stay in the stone walls on a cold day. When the sun rises they fly away and no one knows where they are. 18 Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria. Your leaders are lying down. Your people have gone everywhere on the mountains. And there is no one to gather them together again. 19 Nothing can heal your hurt. Your sore cannot be cured. All who hear about you will clap their hands over you. For who has not suffered under your sinful ways again and again?
The Changed Life of Zaccheus
19 Jesus went on to the city of Jericho and was passing through it. 2 There was a rich man named Zaccheus. He was a leader of those who gathered taxes. 3 Zaccheus wanted to see Jesus but he could not because so many people were there and he was a short man. 4 He ran ahead and got up into a sycamore tree to see Him. Jesus was going by that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw Zaccheus. He said, “Zaccheus, come down at once. I must stay in your house today.” 6 At once he came down and was glad to have Jesus come to his house. 7 When the people saw it, they began to complain among themselves. They said, “He is going to stay with a man who is known to be a sinner.”
8 Zaccheus stood up and said to the Lord, “Lord, see! Half of what I own I will give to poor people. And if I have taken money from anyone in a wrong way, I will pay him back four times as much.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today, a person has been saved in this house. This man is a Jew also. 10 For the Son of Man came to look for and to save from the punishment of sin those who are lost.”
The Picture-Story of the Ten Servants and the Money
11 As they heard these things, Jesus told them a picture-story. Because He was near Jerusalem, they thought the holy nation of God would come at once. 12 So Jesus said, “A leader of a country went to another country far away. A nation was to be given to him, then he would return home. 13 He called ten of the servants he owned. He gave them ten pieces of money and said to them, ‘Put this money to use until I return.’ 14 But other men in his country hated him. They sent men after him to tell him they did not want him as their king. 15 After he had been given the other nation, he returned as king. He asked for his servants who had received the money to come to him. He wanted to know how much more they had after putting it to use. 16 The first one came and said, ‘Lord, the piece of money you gave me has made ten more pieces of money.’ 17 He said to him, ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful in using a little. Now you will be leader over ten cities.’
18 “The second man came to him and said, ‘Lord, the piece of money you gave me has made five more pieces of money.’ 19 He said to him, ‘You are to be leader over five cities.’
20 “Another one came saying, ‘Lord, look! Here is your piece of money. I have kept it hid in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you. You are a hard man. You take what you have not put down. You gather where you have not planted.’ 22 The king said to him, ‘By the words from your own mouth I must say that you are guilty. You are a sinful servant. You knew I was a hard man. You knew I take what I have not put down. You knew I gather where I have not planted. 23 Why did you not put my money in the bank? Then when I came back I could have had my own money and what the bank paid for using it.’
24 “Then he said to those who were standing by, ‘Take the piece of money from him and give it to the one who has ten pieces of money.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Lord, he already has ten pieces of money.’”
26 Jesus said, “I tell you, he who has, to him will be given more. To him who does not have, even the little he has will be taken from him. 27 ‘Bring here those who hated me and did not want me to be their king and kill them in front of me.’” 28 When He had finished the picture-story, He went on ahead of them up to Jerusalem.
The Last Time Jesus Goes into Jerusalem (A)
29 When Jesus was coming near the towns of Bethphage and Bethany by the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His followers on ahead. 30 He said, “Go into the town ahead of you. There you will find a young donkey tied. No man has ever sat on it. Let it loose and bring it to Me. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you letting it loose?’ say to him, ‘Because the Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent found everything as Jesus had told them. 33 As they were letting the young donkey loose, the owners said to them, “Why are you letting the young donkey loose?” 34 They answered, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus. They put their coats on the donkey and they put Jesus on it.
36 As Jesus was going, they put their coats down on the road. 37 Jesus was near the city and ready to go down the Mount of Olives. The many people who were following Him began to sing with loud voices and give thanks for all the powerful works they had seen. 38 They said, “Great and honored is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord. There is peace and greatness in the highest heaven.”
39 Some of the proud religious law-keepers who were in among the people said to Jesus, “Teacher, speak sharp words to Your followers.” 40 Jesus said to them, “I tell you that if these did not speak, the very stones would call out.”
Jesus Cried as He Saw Jerusalem
41 When Jesus came near the city, He cried as He saw it. 42 He said, “If you had only known on this great day the things that make peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 The time is coming when those who hate you will dig earth and throw it up around you making a wall. They will shut you in from every side. 44 They will destroy you and your children with you. There will not be one stone on another. It is because you did not know when God visited you.”
Jesus Stops the Buying and Selling in the House of God (B)
45 Jesus went into the house of God. He made those leave who were buying and selling there. 46 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer.’ ‘But you have made it a place of robbers.’” (C)
47 Jesus taught each day in the house of God. But the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law and other leaders of the people tried to think of some way they could kill Him. 48 They could not find a way because the people were always near Him listening to Him teach.
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