M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
11 King Solomon married many other girls besides the Egyptian princess. Many of them came from nations where idols were worshiped[a]—Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from the Hittites— 2 even though the Lord had clearly instructed his people not to marry into those nations, because the women they married would get them started worshiping their gods. Yet Solomon did it anyway. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and sure enough, they turned his heart away from the Lord, 4 especially in his old age. They encouraged him to worship their gods instead of trusting completely in the Lord as his father David had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the horrible god of the Ammonites. 6 Thus Solomon did what was clearly wrong and refused to follow the Lord as his father David did. 7 He even built a temple on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from Jerusalem, for Chemosh, the depraved god of Moab, and another for Molech, the unutterably vile god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon built temples for these foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
9-10 Jehovah was very angry with Solomon about this, for now Solomon was no longer interested in the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice to warn him specifically against worshiping other gods. But he hadn’t listened, 11 so now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept our agreement and have not obeyed my laws, I will tear the kingdom away from you and your family and give it to someone else. 12-13 However, for the sake of your father David, I won’t do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so I will let him be king of one tribe, for David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
14 So the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to grow in power. And Solomon became apprehensive, for Hadad was a member of the royal family of Edom. 15 Years before, when David had been in Edom with Joab to arrange for the burial of some Israeli soldiers who had died in battle, the Israeli army had killed nearly every male in the entire country. 16-18 It took six months to accomplish this, but they finally killed all except Hadad and a few royal officials who took him to Egypt (he was a very small child at the time). They slipped out of Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them and accompanied them to Egypt, and Pharaoh had given them homes and food.
19 Hadad became one of Pharaoh’s closest friends, and he gave him a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 She presented him with a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons. 21 When Hadad, there in Egypt, heard that David and Joab were both dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to Edom.
22 “Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you?”
“Everything is wonderful,” he replied, “but even so, I’d like to go back home.”
23 Another of Solomon’s enemies whom God raised to power was Rezon, one of the officials of King Hadadezer of Zobah who had deserted his post and fled the country. 24 He had become the leader of a gang of bandits—men who fled with him to Damascus (where he later became king) when David destroyed Zobah. 25 During Solomon’s entire lifetime, Rezon and Hadad were his enemies, for they hated Israel intensely.
26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim; his mother was Zeruah, a widow. 27-28 Here is the story of his rebellion: Solomon was rebuilding Fort Millo, repairing the walls of this city his father had built. Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of his labor battalions from the tribe of Joseph.
29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (who had put on a new robe for the occasion) met him and called him aside to talk to him. And as the two of them were alone in the field, 30 Ahijah tore his new robe into twelve parts 31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe[b] for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the other cities of Israel. 33 For Solomon has forsaken me and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my paths and has not done what I consider right; he has not kept my laws and instructions as his father David did. 34 I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.
35 “‘But I will take away the kingdom from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son shall have the other one so that the descendants of David will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name to be enshrined. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. (I once made this same promise to David. 39 But because of Solomon’s sin, I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.)’”
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.
41 The rest of what Solomon did and said is written in the book The Acts of Solomon. 42 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years, 43 and then died and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
2 Is there any such thing as Christians cheering each other up? Do you love me enough to want to help me? Does it mean anything to you that we are brothers in the Lord, sharing the same Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic at all? 2 Then make me truly happy by loving each other and agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart and mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. 4 Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing.
5 Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ, 6 who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God, 7 but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.[a] 8 And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross.[b]
9 Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Dearest friends, when I was there with you, you were always so careful to follow my instructions. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him. 13 For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.
14 In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing 15 so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights, 16 holding out to them the Word of Life.
Then when Christ returns, how glad I will be that my work among you was so worthwhile. 17 And if my lifeblood is, so to speak, to be poured out over your faith, which I am offering up to God as a sacrifice—that is, if I am to die for you—even then I will be glad and will share my joy with each of you. 18 For you should be happy about this, too, and rejoice with me for having this privilege of dying for you.
19 If the Lord is willing, I will send Timothy to see you soon. Then when he comes back, he can cheer me up by telling me all about you and how you are getting along. 20 There is no one like Timothy for having a real interest in you; 21 everyone else seems to be worrying about his own plans and not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy. He has been just like a son to me in helping me preach the Good News. 23 I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here. 24 And I am trusting the Lord that soon I myself may come to see you.
25 Meanwhile, I thought I ought to send Epaphroditus back to you. You sent him to help me in my need; well, he and I have been real brothers, working and battling side by side. 26 Now I am sending him home again, for he has been homesick for all of you and upset because you heard that he was ill. 27 And he surely was; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him and on me, too, not allowing me to have this sorrow on top of everything else.
28 So I am all the more anxious to get him back to you again, for I know how thankful you will be to see him, and that will make me happy and lighten all my cares. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and show your appreciation, 30 for he risked his life for the work of Christ and was at the point of death while trying to do for me the things you couldn’t do because you were far away.
41 Afterward he brought me into the nave, the large main room of the Temple, and measured the pillars that formed its doorway. They were 10-1/2 feet square. 2 The entrance hall was 17-1/2 feet wide and 8-3/4 feet deep. The nave itself was 70 feet long by 35 feet.
3 Then he went into the inner room at the end of the nave and measured the columns at the entrance and found them to be 3-1/2 feet thick; its doorway was 10-1/2 feet wide, with a hallway 12-1/4 feet deep behind it. 4 The inner room was 35 feet square. “This,” he told me, “is the Most Holy Place.”
5 Then he measured the wall of the Temple and found that it was 10-1/2 feet thick, with a row of rooms along the outside. Each room was 7 feet wide. 6 These rooms were in three tiers, one above the other, with thirty rooms in each tier. The whole structure was supported by girders and not attached to the Temple wall for support. 7 Each tier was wider than the one below it, corresponding to the narrowing of the Temple wall as it rose higher. A stairway at the side of the Temple led up from floor to floor.
8 I noticed that the Temple was built on a terrace and that the bottom row of rooms extended out 10-1/2 feet onto the terrace. 9 The outer wall of these rooms was 8-3/4 feet thick, leaving a free space of 8-3/4 feet out to the edge of the terrace, the same on both sides.
10 Thirty-five feet away from the terrace, on both sides of the Temple, was another row of rooms down in the inner court. 11 Two doors opened from the tiers of rooms to the terrace yard, which was 8-3/4 feet wide; one door faced north and the other south.
12 A large building stood on the west, facing the Temple yard, measuring 122-1/2 feet wide by 157-1/2 feet long. Its walls were 8-3/4 feet thick. 13 Then he measured the Temple and its immediately surrounding yards. The area was 175 feet square. 14 The inner court at the east of the Temple was also 175 feet wide, 15-16 and so was the building west of the Temple, including its two walls.
The nave of the Temple and the Holy of Holies and the entry hall were paneled, and all three had recessed windows. The inner walls of the Temple were paneled with wood above and below the windows. 17-18 The space above the door leading into the Holy of Holies was also paneled. The walls were decorated with carvings of Guardian Angels, each with two faces, and of palm trees alternating with the Guardian Angels. 19-20 One face—that of a man—looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the other face—that of a young lion—looked toward the palm tree on the other side. And so it was, all around the inner wall of the Temple.
21 There were square doorposts at the doors of the nave, and in front of the Holy of Holies was what appeared to be an altar, but it was made of wood. 22 This altar was 3-1/2 feet square and 5-1/4 feet high; its corners, base, and sides were all of wood. “This,” he told me, “is the Table of the Lord.”[a]
23 Both the nave and the Holy of Holies had double doors, 24 each with two swinging sections. 25 The doors leading into the nave were decorated with cherubim and palm trees, just as on the walls. And there was a wooden canopy over the entry hall. 26 There were recessed windows and carved palm trees on both sides of the entry hall, the hallways beside the Temple, and on the canopy over the entrance.
92 A song to sing on the Lord’s Day.[a]
It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods.
2 Every morning tell him, “Thank you for your kindness,” and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness. 3 Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre. 4 You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy.
5 O Lord, what miracles you do! And how deep are your thoughts! 6 Unthinking people do not understand them! No fool can comprehend this: 7 that although the wicked flourish like weeds, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them. 8 But the Lord continues forever, exalted in the heavens, 9 while his enemies—all evildoers—shall be scattered.
10 But you have made me as strong as a wild bull. How refreshed I am by your blessings![b] 11 I have heard the doom of my enemies announced and seen them destroyed. 12 But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon. 13 For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own garden and are under his personal care. 14 Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. 15 This honors the Lord and exhibits his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!
93 Jehovah is King! He is robed in majesty and strength. The world is his throne.[c]
2 O Lord, you have reigned from prehistoric times, from the everlasting past. 3 The mighty oceans thunder your praise. 4 You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world! 5 Your royal decrees cannot be changed. Holiness is forever the keynote of your reign.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.