M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

5 Solomon finished all the work for the Lord's temple. Then he brought into it all the holy things that belonged to his father, David. He stored all the valuable things in a safe place in God's temple. They included silver things and gold things.

Solomon brings the Covenant Box to the temple

² Then Solomon told all the leaders of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families. He wanted them to bring the Lord's Covenant Box from Mount Zion, the City of David, to put it in the temple.^{[a] 3} So all the Israelite leaders came together to meet with King Solomon. This happened during the Festival of Huts in the seventh month of the year.

⁴ When all Israel's leaders had arrived, the Levites lifted up the Covenant Box. ⁵ The priests and the other Levites carried the Covenant Box, the Tent of Meeting and all the holy things that were in the tent. ⁶ King Solomon and all the Israelites who were with him walked in front of the Covenant Box. They offered many sheep and bulls as sacrifices. There were more animals than anyone could count.

⁷ Then the priests brought the Lord's Covenant Box to its proper place in the inside room of the temple. That was the Most Holy Place. They put it under the wings of the cherubs. ⁸ The wings of the cherubs touched each other above the place where the Covenant Box was. The cherubs covered the Covenant Box and the poles that the Levites used to carry it. ⁹ The poles in the Covenant Box were very long. The priests could see their ends from the Holy Place, if they stood in front of the Most Holy Place. But nobody could see the poles from outside the temple. And they are still there today. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the Covenant Box, except the two flat pieces of stone that Moses had put there at Sinai mountain. That was where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out from Egypt.^[b]

The priests sing to praise the Lord

¹¹ Then the priests came out of the Holy Place. All the different groups of priests who were there had made themselves clean to serve God. ¹² The Levites who were musicians stood on the east side of the altar. They were Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and their relatives. They wore clothes made of linen. They made music with cymbals, harps and lyres. There were also 120 priests who made music with trumpets. ¹³ All these musicians made nice music together. They joined together to praise the Lord and to thank him. The singers sang loudly to the music of the trumpets, the cymbals and the other musical instruments. They loudly sang these words to praise the Lord:

Then a cloud filled the Lord's temple. ¹⁴ The priests could not do their work to serve the Lord, because of the cloud. The bright glory of the Lord filled his temple.

King Solomon speaks to the people

6 Then Solomon prayed, ‘Lord, you have said that you live in a dark cloud. ² Now I have built a great temple for you. It is a place where you can live for ever.’

³ While all the Israelite people stood there, the king turned round towards them. He prayed that God would bless them. ⁴ He said, ‘Praise the Lord, Israel's God, as he deserves. He has used his power to do what he promised to do for my father David. ⁵ He told David, “I brought my people out of Egypt. From that time, I have not chosen a city in any of Israel's tribes to build a temple where my people would worship me. I have not chosen a man to be the leader of my people, the Israelites. ⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem to be the place where my people worship me. And I have chosen David to rule Israel, my people, as king.”

⁷ My father David wanted very much to build a temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, “It was good that you wanted to build a temple to give me honour. ⁹ But you will not build the temple. Instead, one of your own sons will build it to give honour to me.”

¹⁰ Now the Lord has done what he promised to do. I now rule Israel as king on the throne of my father David, as the Lord promised. I have built this temple to give honour to the Lord, Israel's God. ¹¹ I have put the Covenant Box there. It contains the covenant that the Lord made with the Israelites.’

The Holy Spirit and false spirits

4 My friends, do not believe everyone who says that they speak God's message. There are many false prophets who are travelling around everywhere. They say that they have a message from God's Spirit, but the message comes from a false spirit. So check each message carefully to see if it is really from God.

² How do you know whether a person has God's Spirit in him? He must agree that Jesus is God's Messiah who was born as a human baby. If someone says that, then he has God's Spirit. ³ But if someone does not agree to say that about Jesus, he does not have God's Spirit. That person has a spirit that comes from the enemy of Christ. You have heard that this enemy of Christ would come among us. Now this spirit is already here in the world.

⁴ My little children, you belong to God. You have won against those people with a false message. You have been able to do that because God's Holy Spirit is in you. He is more powerful than the spirit that belongs to this world. ⁵ Those false prophets belong to this world. Their message comes from the ideas of people of this world. So the people of this world believe what they teach. ⁶ But we belong to God. Everyone who knows God believes our message. But anyone who does not belong to God does not believe it.

So that is how we know if someone's message comes from God's Spirit or not. God's Spirit brings us a true message, but false spirits tell lies.^[a]

Love each other because God loved us

⁷ My friends, we should all love each other. It is God who makes us able to love other people. Everyone who loves other people has become a child of God. That person knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love other people does not know God. We know this because God's own nature is love. ⁹ This is how God showed that he loves us: He sent his only Son to come and live in the world. He did that so that we could have true life with God because of his Son. ¹⁰ This shows what love is: It is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. He loved us so much that he sent his Son to save us from sin. He sent Jesus to die as a sacrifice, to take the punishment for our sins.

¹¹ My friends, this shows how much God has loved us. So we should also love one another.

¹² Nobody has ever seen God. But, if we love each other, it shows that God lives in us. As a result, we can love people completely, in the same way that God loves us. ¹³ God has given us his Holy Spirit to live in us. Because of this, we know that we live together with God. And we know that he lives with us. ¹⁴ God the Father sent his Son to come into the world. God sent him to save the people of the world from their sins. We apostles have seen that this is true. So now we are telling people about it.

¹⁵ If anyone says clearly that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in that person. And that person lives together with God. ¹⁶ So we know the kind of love that God has for us. We believe that God has put that love in us. God's nature is love. So, if someone continues to love other people, he is living together with God. And God lives in him. ¹⁷ That is how we are able to love other people completely. Then, we will not be afraid on the day when God will judge all people. We can be sure that God will not punish us. We know this because we have lived in this world in the way that Jesus lived.

¹⁸ If we really love God, we will not be afraid of him. We cannot love him completely and also be afraid. We would only be afraid of God if we thought that he would punish us. So, if someone is afraid that God will punish them, it shows that they do not completely know God's love.

¹⁹ We are able to love God and other people because God loved us first. ²⁰ Someone may say, ‘I love God.’ But if he says that and he hates another Christian, he is telling a lie. He sees other believers but he does not love them. So he surely cannot love God that he has not seen. ²¹ This is the command that God has given us. He has told us that anyone who loves him should love other Christians too.^[b]

Nineveh has done many bad things

3 Terrible things will happen to you, Nineveh. Your people are murderers and they love to tell lies. The city is full of valuable things that they have taken from other people. ² Listen to the loud noises of the whips, the chariots, the wheels and the feet of the horses. The chariots are moving fast towards Nineveh. ³ See the bright swords and spears in the hands of the horses' riders. There are dead bodies that are lying in the streets. It is like mountains of dead bodies everywhere. There are so many dead bodies that men fall over the bodies. ⁴ This is because Nineveh has sold herself to the enemies of God. She is like a beautiful prostitute. She uses her body and her bad magic to make all the people in other countries her slaves.

⁵ This is why I am against you, says the Lord Almighty. I will make you like a woman whose skirt is up over her face. I will show the countries that you are like that woman. You will be like a woman who is not wearing any clothes. ⁶ I will throw dirt at you. I will do with you like you were nothing. And I will make everyone ashamed of you. ⁷ When people see you, they will run away. And they will say, ‘They have destroyed Nineveh. Nobody will be sad.’ There will be nobody to help you.

⁸ Remember the city of Thebes that was near the River Nile. It had water all round it. The river kept it safe, like a wall. Nineveh is not better than Thebes was. ⁹ The countries of Ethiopia and Egypt were strong friends. And Put and Libya were strong friends too.

¹⁰ But the enemies of Thebes took its people away and they made them slaves. They cut their babies to pieces in every street. They played games with the great men from Thebes and they put them in iron chains. ¹¹ You will be like a man who has drunk too much alcohol. And you will try to hide. You will try to get help from your enemy. ¹² All your strong places are like fig trees. They will fall very easily when the enemies shake them. And your valuable things will be like figs that fall into people's mouths. ¹³ Look at your soldiers, they are all like women! Your enemies have burned your gates and they have pushed them wide open.

¹⁴ Take as much water as you can for the attack. Make your walls strong. Do repairs to your buildings. ¹⁵ The fire will burn you. The sword will cut you and it will kill you like grasshoppers. Grow in number like the grasshoppers and locusts.

¹⁶ You welcomed traders into your city until there were more than all the stars in the sky. But they are like locusts. They take everything from the land and then they fly away. ¹⁷ Your army and officers are so many that they are like locusts. Locusts stay on the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away. And then nobody knows where they go.

¹⁸ King of Assyria, the people who keep your people safe are asleep. Also, your powerful men are lying down to rest. Your people have run away to the mountains with nobody to get them together.

¹⁹ You have received a bad wound and nobody can make it better. People have heard about what happened to you. All of them are very happy and they clap their hands. That is because you have done cruel things to all of them.

Zacchaeus meets Jesus

19 Jesus went into Jericho and he was walking through the city. ² There was a man there called Zacchaeus. He was a leader of the men who took taxes from people. He had become very rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was. There was a big crowd there and he was a small man. So he could not see Jesus. ⁴ He ran on in front of the crowd and he climbed up a tree. He could see Jesus more easily from the tree, because Jesus would walk along that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the tree, he looked up at Zacchaeus. He said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly. Today I must stay in your home.’

⁶ So Zacchaeus came down immediately and took Jesus into his home. He was very happy about this. ⁷ The people saw what had happened. They were not happy, and they were saying, ‘Jesus has gone to stay in the home of a man that does bad things.’

⁸ Later, Zacchaeus stood up in front of everyone. He said to the Lord Jesus, ‘Listen, Master! I will give half of all the things that I have to poor people. I may have taken too much money from some people. I will give back to them four times as much as I took from them wrongly.’

⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Today God has saved people in this home. Now Zacchaeus also belongs to the family of Abraham. ¹⁰ I, the Son of Man, came to look for people who are far away from God. They are in danger and I have come to save them.’

Jesus tells a story about 10 servants

¹¹ While the people were still listening, Jesus told them a story. He did this because the people had wrong thoughts. He was now getting near to Jerusalem. So the people with him were thinking that God would begin to rule his people immediately.

¹² Jesus said to them, ‘An important man left his home and he travelled a long way to another country. There he would receive authority to rule his own country. After that, he would return home and he would be king. ¹³ Before he left, he asked ten of his servants to come to him. He gave each of them ten pounds of silver.^[a] “Use this money to get more money for me while I am away,” he said.^[b]

¹⁴ But the people who were living in his country did not like the man. So they sent some of their people to the foreign country with a message. They said, “We do not want this man to rule over us.”

¹⁵ Then the man returned home and he was now their king. He asked those ten servants to come to him. He had given them each some money. Now he wanted to know how much more money they had now. They should have bought things with it and then they should have sold those things again for more money.

¹⁶ The first servant came to him and said, “Master, your money has made ten more pounds for you.” ¹⁷ The king was happy and said to his servant, “You have done well. You are a good servant that I can trust. You have used a small amount of money well. So now you will rule over ten cities.”

¹⁸ The second servant came and said, “Master, your money has made five more pounds.” ¹⁹ The king replied, “You will rule over five cities.”

²⁰ Then another servant came. He said, “Master, here is your money. I put it away in a piece of cloth to keep it safe. ²¹ I did this because I was afraid of you. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take things that you did not work for. You take food from fields where you did not plant any seed.”

²² The king replied, “You are a very bad servant! I will use your own words to show you that you have done the wrong thing. You say that I tell people what they should do all the time. That I take things that I did not work for. That I take food from fields where I did not plant any seed. Did you know all that about me? ²³ Then you should have put my money into the bank. When I came home, I would have received my money back, with extra money.”

²⁴ Some other servants were standing near to their master. He said to them, “Take the money from this bad servant. Give it to the servant that has ten pounds.” ²⁵ “But, master,” they replied, “that servant has ten pounds already.”

²⁶ “Let me tell you this,” the king said. “Some people have received good things. They will all receive more. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. ²⁷ Now I must punish these other people that did not want me to rule over them. Bring them here and kill them in front of me.” ’^[c]

Jesus goes into Jerusalem

²⁸ When Jesus had said all this, he went on in front of them. He was going towards Jerusalem. ²⁹ He was getting near to two villages called Bethphage and Bethany.^[d] They were on the Mount of Olives.^[e] Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further. ³⁰ He told them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will find a young donkey. Someone has tied it there. Nobody has yet ridden on it. Undo the rope and bring the donkey here to me. ³¹ Someone may ask you, “Why are you taking the donkey?” Then say to them, “The Master needs it.” ’

³² The two men went into the village. They saw everything there that Jesus had told them about. ³³ While they were taking the young donkey, some men spoke to them. It was their own donkey. They asked, ‘Why are you taking the donkey?’ ³⁴ ‘The Master needs it,’ the disciples replied.

³⁵ They brought the donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on its back. Then they helped Jesus to sit on it. ³⁶ While he was riding along, the people were putting their coats down on the road in front of him.

³⁷ Jesus got near to the lowest part of the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of his disciples were very happy. They began to praise God with loud voices. They thanked him for all the great things that they had seen. ³⁸ They said:

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, stop your disciples from saying these things.’

⁴⁰ ‘Let me tell you this,’ Jesus replied. ‘If these people were quiet, the stones of the city would shout out instead!’

⁴¹ When Jesus got near to the city, he looked at it. He cried because he felt very sorry for the people in it. ⁴² He said, ‘You need to know what would really help you. Then you could have lived without trouble. But now, you are unable to understand properly. ⁴³ As a result, days of trouble will come to you. Your enemies will build a wall round you. They will shut you in completely, and they will not let you leave. ⁴⁴ So your enemies will knock you down. They will completely destroy your city and all the people who live in it. They will not leave even one stone on top of another stone. You did not understand that God had come to save you at this time. That is why these bad things will happen to you.’^[f]

Jesus teaches in the temple

⁴⁵ Jesus went into the yard of the temple. Some people were selling things there. He began to make them all leave that place. ⁴⁶ He said to them, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people come to pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’

⁴⁷ Jesus was teaching every day in the temple. The leaders of the priests and teachers of God's Law wanted to kill him. Some other important people also wanted to kill him. ⁴⁸ But all the people were listening to him very carefully. They wanted to hear everything that he was saying. So those leaders did not know how they could kill him.