M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Solomon to Build the House of God

28 David gathered together all the leaders of Israel. There were leaders of the family groups, and leaders of the armies that served the king. There were captains of thousands, and of hundreds. There were leaders who cared for all the things and animals belonging to the king and his sons. There were the leaders and all the powerful soldiers. ² Then King David stood up and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had wanted to build a house of rest for the special box with the Law of the Lord, a place for God to rest His feet, so I had made plans to build it. ³ But God said to me, ‘You must not build a house for My name, because you are a man of war and blood.’ ⁴ But the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from all the house of my father to be the king of Israel forever. For He has chosen Judah to be a leader. And in the house of Judah, my father’s house, and among my father’s sons, He was pleased to make me king of all Israel. ⁵ The Lord has given me many sons. And of all my sons, He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the nation of the Lord over Israel. ⁶ He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who will build My house and My open spaces. For I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his father. ⁷ I will make him king forever, if he is faithful to obey My Words and My Laws, as he is doing now.’ ⁸ So now I say to you in front of all these people of Israel, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to do all the Law of the Lord your God. If you obey you will receive the good land and also leave it to your children after you forever.

⁹ “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father. Serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord looks into all hearts, and understands every plan and thought. If you look to Him, He will let you find Him. But if you turn away from Him, He will turn away from you forever. ¹⁰ Listen now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a place of worship. Be strong, and do it.”

¹¹ Then David gave his son Solomon the plan of the porch of the Lord’s house, its buildings, and its store-houses. He gave him the plan of the rooms on its second floor, its inside rooms, and the room for the mercy-seat. ¹² He gave him the plan of all he had in mind. It showed the open spaces of the Lord’s house, and all the rooms around them. It showed the store-houses of the house of God, and the store-houses of the holy things. ¹³ He gave him the plan for the way the religious leaders and the Levites were to be divided up for all the work of the Lord’s house. He told how all the objects were to be used in worship in the Lord’s house. ¹⁴ David gave the weight of all the gold objects to be used in each part of worship. He gave the weight for all the silver objects to be used in each part of the worship. ¹⁵ The plan gave the weight of gold for the gold lamp-stands and gold lamps. It gave the weight of each lamp-stand and its lamps. It gave the weight of silver for the silver lamp-stands. It gave the weight of each lamp-stand and its lamps, by the use of each lamp-stand. ¹⁶ It gave the weight of gold for each table of holy bread, and of silver for the silver tables. ¹⁷ It gave the weight of the meat-hooks, the pots and the cups of pure gold. It gave the weight for each of the gold and silver pots. ¹⁸ It gave the weight of the fine gold of the altar of special perfume, and of the gold wagon and of the cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the special box with the Law of the Lord. ¹⁹ David said, “This is in writing because His hand was upon me. He helped me to know all the plan.”

²⁰ Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong. Have strength of heart, and do it. Do not be afraid or troubled, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not stop helping you. He will not leave you until all the work of the house of the Lord is finished. ²¹ See, the religious leaders and the Levites are divided up to do all the work of the house of God. Every willing man who is able to do a special work will help you in all that is to be done. The leaders and all the people will do what you say.”

Watch for False Teachers

2 But there were false teachers among the people. And there will be false teachers among you also. These people will work in secret ways to bring false teaching to you. They will turn against Christ Who bought them with His blood. They bring fast death on themselves. ² Many people will follow their wrong ways. Because of what they do, people will speak bad things against the way of truth. ³ They will tell lies and false stories so they can use you to get things for themselves. But God judged them long ago and their death is on the way.

⁴ God did not hold back from punishing the angels who sinned, but sent them down to hell. They are to be kept there in the deep hole of darkness until they stand before Him Who judges them. ⁵ God did not hold back from punishing the people of the world who sinned long ago. He brought the flood on the world of sinners. But Noah was a preacher of right living. He and his family of seven were the only ones God saved. ⁶ God said that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty, and He destroyed them with fire. This was to show people who did not worship God what would happen to them. ⁷ Lot was taken away from Sodom because he was right with God. He had been troubled by the sins that bad men did in wild living. ⁸ He saw and heard how the people around him broke the Law. Everyday his own soul which was right with God was troubled because of their sinful ways. ⁹ But the Lord knows how to help men who are right with God when they are tempted. He also knows how to keep the sinners suffering for their wrong-doing until the day they stand before God Who will judge them. ¹⁰ This is true about those who keep on wanting to please their own bodies in sinful desires and those who will not obey laws. They want to please themselves and are not afraid when they laugh and say bad things about the powers in heaven. ¹¹ Angels are greater in strength and power than they. But angels do not speak against these powers before the Lord.

¹² Men like this are like animals who are not able to think but are born to be caught and killed. They speak bad words against that which they do not understand. They will die in their own sinful ways. ¹³ This is the pay they will suffer for their sinful lives. They are not ashamed when they sin in the daylight. They are sores and dirty spots among you while they eat and drink big meals with you. ¹⁴ Their eyes are full of sex sins. They never have enough sin. They get weak people to go along with them. Their hearts are always wanting something. They are people who will end up in hell because ¹⁵ they have left the right way and have gone the wrong way. They have followed the way of Balaam, who was the son of Beor. He loved the money he got for his sin. ¹⁶ But he was stopped in his sin. A donkey spoke to him with a man’s voice. It stopped this early preacher from going on in his crazy way.

¹⁷ Such people are like wells without water. They are like clouds before a storm. The darkest place below has been kept for them. ¹⁸ They speak big-sounding words which show they are proud. They get men who are trying to keep away from sinful men to give in to the sinful desires of the flesh. ¹⁹ They promise that these men will be free. But they themselves are chained to sin. For a man is chained to anything that has power over him.

²⁰ There are men who have been made free from the sins of the world by learning to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. But if they do these sins again, and are not able to keep from doing them, they are worse than they were before. ²¹ After knowing the holy Law that was given to them, they turned from it. It would have been better for them if they had not known how to be right with God. ²² They are like the wise saying, “A dog turns back to what he has thrown up.” ^(A) And, “A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.”

5 “Now gather yourselves into armies, people of Israel. They are all around us with their army. They will hit the judge of Israel on the face.

God’s Chosen One Will Come from Bethlehem

² “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are too little to be among the family groups of Judah. But from you One will come who will rule for Me in Israel. His coming was planned long ago, from the beginning.” ³ He will give them up until the time when the woman in pain gives birth to a child. Then the rest of His brothers will return to the people of Israel. ⁴ And He will come and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the great power of the name of the Lord His God. His people will live there and be safe, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. ⁵ And He will be their peace.

Those Who Fight Israel Are Judged

When the Assyrian comes into our land and crushes under foot our strong-places, we will fight against him with seven shepherds and eight leaders. ⁶ They will rule the land of Assyria, the land of Nimrod, with the sword. And He will take us from the Assyrians when they come into our country and crush under foot our land.

⁷ Then the people who are left of Jacob will be among many people like water on the ground in the early morning from the Lord, like rain on the grass, which does not wait for man. ⁸ Those who are left of Jacob will be among the nations, among many people, like a lion among the animals in the woods, like a young lion among flocks of sheep. When he passes through, he crushes them and tears them to pieces, and there is no one to help them. ⁹ Your hand will be lifted up against those who hate you, and all of them will be destroyed.

¹⁰ “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will destroy your horses and your war-wagons from among you. ¹¹ I will destroy the cities of your land and tear down all your strong-places. ¹² I will put an end to your witchcraft, and you will not have people telling your future any more. ¹³ I will destroy your false gods and your pillars of worship, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. ¹⁴ I will pull up your wooden, female goddesses Asherah, and destroy your cities. ¹⁵ And in My anger I will punish the nations that have not obeyed.”

Another Man Healed on the Day of Rest

14 On the Day of Rest Jesus went into the house of one of the leaders of the proud religious law-keepers to eat. They all watched Jesus to see what He would do. ² A man who had very large arms and legs because of a sickness was put before Jesus. ³ Jesus asked the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers, “Does the Law say it is right to heal on the Day of Rest, or not?” ⁴ They did not answer. Jesus took hold of the man and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ Then Jesus said to the leaders, “If one of you had a cow or donkey that fell into a hole, would you not go at once and pull it out on the Day of Rest?” ⁶ And they were not able to answer His questions.

Jesus Teaches about How to Live with Others

⁷ Jesus had been watching those who were asked to come to supper. They were all trying to get the important seats. He told them a picture-story, saying, ⁸ “When you are asked by someone to a wedding supper, do not take the important seat. Someone more important than you may have been asked to come also. ⁹ The one who asked both of you to come may say to you, ‘The important seat is for this man.’ Then you will be ashamed as you take the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are asked to come to the table, sit down on the last seat. Then the one who asked you may come and say to you, ‘Friend, go to a more important place.’ Then you will be shown respect in front of all who are at the table with you. ¹¹ Whoever makes himself look more important than he is will find out how little he is worth. Whoever does not try to honor himself will be made important.”

¹² Then Jesus said to the man who asked Him to eat in his house, “When you have a supper, do not ask your friends or your brothers or your family or your rich neighbors. They will ask you to come to their place for a supper. That way you will be paid back for what you have done. ¹³ When you have a supper, ask poor people. Ask those who cannot walk and those who are blind. ¹⁴ You will be happy if you do this. They cannot pay you back. You will get your pay when the people who are right with God are raised from the dead.”

¹⁵ When one of those eating at the table with Jesus heard this, he said, “Everyone is happy who will eat in the holy nation of God.”

The Picture-Story of the Big Supper ^(A)

¹⁶ Then Jesus said to the leader of the proud religious law-keepers, “There was a man who was giving a big supper. He asked many people to come to eat. ¹⁷ When it was about time to eat, he sent one of the servants he owned to tell those he had asked, saying, ‘Come, everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ They all gave different reasons why they could not come. The first said, ‘I have bought some land and I must go and see it. Do not expect me to come.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought ten cows to use for working in my fields. I must go and try them out. Do not expect me to come.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘I have just been married and I cannot come.’

²¹ “The servant went back to his owner and told him these things. Then his owner became angry. He said to his servant, ‘Hurry into the streets and narrow roads of the city and bring poor people here. Bring those whose bodies are diseased. Bring those who cannot walk and those who are blind.’ ²² The servant came back and said, ‘Sir, what you told me to do has been done. But there are still some empty places.’ ²³ Then the owner said to his servant, ‘Go out along the roads leading away from the city and into the fields. Tell them they must come. Do this so my house will be filled. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those I had asked will eat of my supper.’”

Giving Up Things of This Earth ^(B)

²⁵ Many people followed Jesus. Then He turned around and said to them, ²⁶ “If any man comes to Me and does not have much more love for Me than for his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My follower. ²⁷ If he does not carry his cross and follow Me, he cannot be My follower.

²⁸ “If one of you wanted to build a large building, you would sit down first and think of how much money it would take to build it. You would see if you had enough money to finish it, ²⁹ or when the base of the building is finished, you might see that you do not have enough money to finish it. Then all who would see it would make fun of you. ³⁰ They would say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹ “What if a king is going to war with another king? Will he not sit down first and decide if he is able to go with 10,000 men against the other king who is coming with 20,000 men? ³² Or, he will send a soldier to the other king while he is still a long way off. He will ask what can be done to have peace. ³³ In the same way, whoever does not give up all that he has, cannot be My follower.

³⁴ “Salt is good. But if salt has lost its taste, how can it be made to taste like salt again? ³⁵ It is no good for the field or the waste place. Men throw it away. You have ears, then listen!”