M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Queen of Sheba

10 When the queen of Sheba heard reports about Solomon, due to the Lord’s name,^[a] she came to test him with riddles. ² Accompanying her to Jerusalem was a huge entourage with camels carrying spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. After she arrived, she told Solomon everything that was on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him to answer. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw how wise Solomon was, the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the servants’ quarters, the function and dress of his attendants, his cupbearers, and the entirely burned offerings that he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away.

⁶ “The report I heard about your deeds and wisdom when I was still at home is true,” she said to the king. ⁷ “I didn’t believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, the half of it wasn’t even told to me! You have far more wisdom and wealth than I was told. ⁸ Your people and these servants who continually serve you and get to listen to your wisdom are truly happy! ⁹ Bless the Lord your God because he was pleased to place you on Israel’s throne. Because the Lord loved Israel with an eternal love, the Lord made you king to uphold justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰ The queen gave the king one hundred twenty kikkars of gold, a great quantity of spice, and precious stones. Never again has so much spice come to Israel as when the queen of Sheba gave this gift to King Solomon. ¹¹ Hiram’s fleet went to Ophir and brought back gold, much almug wood, and precious stones. ¹² The king used the almug wood to make parapets for the Lord’s temple and for the royal palace as well as lyres and harps for the musicians. To this day, that much almug wood hasn’t come into or been seen in Israel. ¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and all that she had asked for, in addition to what he had already given her from his own personal funds. Then she and her servants returned to her homeland.

Solomon’s wealth

¹⁴ Solomon received an annual income of six hundred sixty-six kikkars of gold, ¹⁵ not including income from the traders, the merchants and their profits, all the Arabian kings, and the officials of the land. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred body-sized shields of hammered gold, using fifteen pounds^[b] of gold in each shield, ¹⁷ and three hundred small shields of hammered gold, using sixty ounces^[c] of gold in each shield. The king placed these in the Forest of Lebanon Palace.

¹⁸ The king also made a large ivory throne and covered it with pure gold. ¹⁹ Six steps led up to the throne, and the back of the throne was rounded at the top. Two lions stood beside the armrests on both sides of the throne. ²⁰ Another twelve lions stood on both sides of the six steps. No other kingdom had anything like this. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the items in the Forest of Lebanon Palace were made of pure gold, not silver, since even silver wasn’t considered good enough in Solomon’s time! ²² The royal fleet of Tarshish-style ships was at sea with Hiram’s fleet, returning once every three years with gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.^[d]

²³ King Solomon far exceeded all the earth’s kings in wealth and wisdom, ²⁴ and so the whole earth wanted an audience with Solomon in order to hear his God-given wisdom. ²⁵ Year after year they came with tribute: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁶ Solomon acquired more and more chariots and horses until he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses that he kept in chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ In Jerusalem, the king made silver as common as stones and cedar as plentiful as sycamore trees that grow in the foothills. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue, purchased from Kue by the king’s agents at the going price. ²⁹ They would import a chariot from Egypt for six hundred pieces of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty, and then export them to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

Greeting

1 From Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.

To all those in Philippi who are God’s people in Christ Jesus, along with your supervisors^[a] and servants.^[b]

² May the grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Thanksgiving and prayer

³ I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. ⁴ I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. ⁵ I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. ⁶ I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. ⁷ I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. ⁸ God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

⁹ This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. ¹⁰ I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. ¹¹ I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

Priority of the gospel

¹² Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have actually advanced the gospel. ¹³ The whole Praetorian Guard and everyone else knows that I’m in prison for Christ. ¹⁴ Most of the brothers and sisters have had more confidence through the Lord to speak the word boldly and bravely because of my jail time. ¹⁵ Some certainly preach Christ with jealous and competitive motives, but others preach with good motives. ¹⁶ They are motivated by love, because they know that I’m put here to give a defense of the gospel; ¹⁷ the others preach Christ because of their selfish ambition. They are insincere, hoping to cause me more pain while I’m in prison.

¹⁸ What do I think about this? Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I’m glad and I’ll continue to be glad. ¹⁹ I’m glad because I know that this will result in my release through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ²⁰ It is my expectation and hope that I won’t be put to shame in anything. Rather, I hope with daring courage that Christ’s greatness will be seen in my body, now as always, whether I live or die. ²¹ Because for me, living serves Christ and dying is even better. ²² If I continue to live in this world, I get results from my work. ²³ But I don’t know what I prefer. I’m torn between the two because I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is far better. ²⁴ However, it’s more important for me to stay in this world for your sake. ²⁵ I’m sure of this: I will stay alive and remain with all of you to help your progress and the joy of your faith, ²⁶ and to increase your pride in Christ Jesus through my presence when I visit you again.

Live worthy of the gospel

²⁷ Most important, live together in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel. Do this, whether I come and see you or I’m absent and hear about you. Do this so that you stand firm, united in one spirit and mind as you struggle together to remain faithful to the gospel. ²⁸ That way, you won’t be afraid of anything your enemies do. Your faithfulness and courage are a sign of their coming destruction and your salvation, which is from God. ²⁹ God has generously granted you the privilege, not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for Christ’s sake. ³⁰ You are having the same struggle that you saw me face and now hear that I’m still facing.

Vision of restoration

40 In the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of our exile, on the tenth day of the month, exactly fourteen years after the city was struck down, on that very day, the Lord’s power was on me, and he took me there. ² In God’s visions, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, where there was a city structure to the south. ³ When he brought me there, I saw a man standing in the gate. He appeared to be bronze, and he had a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. ⁴ The man spoke to me, “Human one, look and listen well, and take seriously everything I show you, because you were brought here so that these things could be revealed to you. Describe everything you see to the house of Israel.”

Temple compound

⁵ Now there was an outer wall that went all the way around the temple compound. The measuring rod in the man’s hand was ten and a half feet^[a] (based on a standard eighteen inches^[b] plus three inches^[c]). When he measured the wall’s height and width it was ten and a half feet high and ten and a half feet wide. ⁶ He entered the gate facing east. He went up its steps, and he measured the plaza^[d] at the gate. It was ten and a half feet wide: the plaza was ten and a half feet wide. ⁷ The rooms were ten and a half feet long and ten and a half feet wide, with a space of seven and a half feet between them. The plaza next to the porch at the gate opposite the temple was ten and a half feet. ⁸ He measured the porch of the gate opposite the temple: it was ten and a half feet. ⁹ Then he measured the porch of the gate: it was twelve feet,^[e] and its arches were three feet. The porch of the gate was opposite the temple. ¹⁰ Inside the east gate, there were three rooms on each side. Each was the same size, and the arches on each side were the same size also. ¹¹ Then he measured the width of the gate opening, which was fifteen feet, and the gate’s length, which was nineteen and a half feet. ¹² A border running along the front of the rooms on each side was eighteen inches wide, and each of the rooms was nine feet square. ¹³ He measured the gate through the room openings that faced each other. From the outer ceiling edge of one room to the outer ceiling edge of the other, the gate was thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ¹⁴ Next he made out the perimeter of the hallway, defined by the arches inside the gate: it was ninety feet. ¹⁵ It was seventy-five feet from the front of the outer gate to the front of the inner porch of the gate. ¹⁶ Inside the gate, all of the rooms and their arches had closed windows; there were also niches inside the porch all the way around. The arches were decorated with palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me to the outer courtyard, which consisted of chambers and a pavement all the way around. Thirty chambers came up to the pavement, ¹⁸ and the pavement came up to the facades of the gates along their entire length. That was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ When he measured the width from the inside of the lower gate to the outer edge of the inner courtyard, it was one hundred fifty feet.

After he measured the east gate, he measured the north gate, ²⁰ the one facing north at the outer courtyard. He measured its length and width, ²¹ its three inner rooms on each side, its arches, and its porch. Its measurements were the same as the first gate: seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ²² The windows, porch, and palm decorations had the same measurements as those of the east gate. Seven steps led up to the entrance, and the porch was at the other end. ²³ There were also gates to the inner courtyard opposite the north and east gates. When he measured from gate to gate, it was one hundred fifty feet.

²⁴ Then he had me walk toward the south, where there was a gate facing south. He measured its arches and porch using the same measurements. ²⁵ Its windows and its porch all around were like the others, and the gate also was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ²⁶ Its stairway had seven steps, and its porch was at the other end. On its arches, one on either side, were palm decorations. ²⁷ There was a gate to the inner courtyard on the south. When he measured from gate to gate on the south side, it was one hundred fifty feet.

²⁸ When he brought me to the inner courtyard by way of the south gate, he took the same measurements of the south gate. ²⁹ Its rooms, arches, and porch, as well as its windows and porch all the way around, measured the same as the others. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁰ There were porches all around, thirty-seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. ³¹ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Palms decorated its arches, and its stairway had eight steps.

³² Then he brought me to the inner courtyard on the east side, and again he took the same measurements of the gate. ³³ Its rooms, arches, and porch measured the same as the others, as well as its windows and porch all the way around. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁴ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees decorated its arches on both sides, and its stairway had eight steps. ³⁵ Then he brought me to the north gate and took the same measurements of the ³⁶ rooms, arches, and porch, and also its windows all around. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁷ Its porch^[f] faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees decorated its arches on both sides, and its stairway had eight steps.

³⁸ At that gate, there was a room with an entrance in the arches for washing the entirely burned offering, ³⁹ and inside the porch on each side of the gate were two tables where the entirely burned offerings, the purification offerings, and the compensation offerings were slaughtered. ⁴⁰ Outside, two pairs of tables flanked the entrance of the north gate at both ends, at the steps on one end and the porch on the other. ⁴¹ There were four tables on each side of the gate, eight tables in all, for preparing the animal offerings. ⁴² The four tables that were used for the entirely burned offering as well as for the communal sacrifices were made of hewn stone. Each was twenty-seven inches square and eighteen inches high. Equipment used in the ritual slaughter was set on them. ⁴³ Hooks,^[g] three inches wide, were securely fixed all the way around. The tables were for the flesh of the offerings.

⁴⁴ Outside the inner gate there were two^[h] chambers in the inner courtyard. The one beside the north gate faced south, and the one beside the east gate faced north. ⁴⁵ He spoke to me: “The chamber facing south is for the priests who keep watch over the temple, ⁴⁶ and the chamber facing north is for the priests who keep watch over the altar. Of all the Levites, only the Zadokites may draw near to serve the Lord.” ⁴⁷ Then he measured the courtyard. It was square, one hundred fifty feet long and one hundred fifty feet wide. The altar was in front of the temple.

The temple

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured its arches. They were seven and a half feet on each side, and the width of the gate was four and a half feet on each side. ⁴⁹ The porch was thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide. Steps led up into the porch, and there were columns for the arches, one on each side.

Psalm 91