M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
5 All the work Solomon did on Yahweh’s temple was finished. He brought the holy things that had belonged to his father David—the silver, gold, and all the utensils—and put them in the storerooms of Elohim’s temple.
The Lord Comes to His Temple(A)
2 Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to Jerusalem to take the ark of Yahweh’s promise from the City of David (that is, Zion). 3 All the men of Israel gathered around the king at the Festival of Booths in the seventh month.
4 When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the Levites picked up the ark. 5 They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the temple. The priests and the Levites carried them 6 while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. 7 The priests brought the ark of Yahweh’s promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels.[a]
8 The angels’ outstretched wings were over the place where the ark rested so that the angels became a covering above the ark and its poles. 9 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room,[b] but they couldn’t be seen outside. (They are still there today.) 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moses placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made a promise to the Israelites after they left Egypt.
11 All the priests who were present had performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy to God without regard to staying in their divisions. 12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, and their relatives—were dressed in fine linen and stood east of the altar with cymbals, harps, and lyres. With the musicians were 120 priests blowing trumpets. When the priests left the holy place,[c] 13 the trumpeters and singers praised and thanked Yahweh in unison. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, they sang in praise to Yahweh: “He is good; his mercy endures forever.” Then Yahweh’s temple was filled with a cloud. 14 The priests couldn’t serve because of the cloud. Yahweh’s glory filled Elohim’s temple.
Solomon Addresses the People(B)
6 Then Solomon said, “Yahweh said he would live in a dark cloud. 2 But I have built you a high temple, a home for you to live in permanently.”
3 Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly from Israel while they were standing. 4 “Thanks be to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. With his mouth he made a promise to my father David; with his hand he carried it out. He said, 5 ‘Ever since I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I didn’t choose any city from the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple for my name. And I didn’t choose any man to be prince over my people Israel. 6 But now I’ve chosen Jerusalem to be a place for my name; I’ve chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
7 “My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel. 8 However, Yahweh said to my father David, ‘Since you had your heart set on building a temple for my name, your intentions were good. 9 But you must not build the temple. Instead, your own son will build the temple for my name.’ 10 Yahweh has kept the promise he made. I’ve taken my father David’s place, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised. I’ve built the temple for the name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel. 11 I’ve put the ark which contains Yahweh’s promise to Israel there.”
Test People Who Say They Have God’s Spirit
4 Dear friends, don’t believe all people who say that they have the Spirit. Instead, test them. See whether the spirit they have is from God, because there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how you can recognize God’s Spirit: Every person who declares that Yeshua Christ has come as a human has the Spirit that is from God. 3 But every person who doesn’t declare that Yeshua Christ has come as a human has a spirit that isn’t from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that you have heard is coming. That spirit is already in the world.
4 Dear children, you belong to God. So you have won the victory over these people, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 These people belong to the world. That’s why they speak the thoughts of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever doesn’t belong to God doesn’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the Spirit of truth from the spirit of lies.
God’s Love Lives in His People
7 Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love. 9 God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God lives in those who declare that Yeshua is the Son of God, and they live in God. 16 We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God’s love live in God, and God lives in them.
17 God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him with regard to love. 18 No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.
19 We love because God loved us first. 20 Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love God, whom they have not seen. 21 Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves God must also love other believers.
Nineveh’s Punishment for Sin
3 How horrible it will be for that city of bloody violence!
It is completely full of lies and stolen goods—never without victims.
2 The sound of the whip!
The sound of rattling wheels!
Horses gallop!
Chariots bounce along!
3 Horses charge!
Swords flash!
Spears glitter!
Many are killed!
Dead bodies pile up!
There is no end to the corpses!
People trip over corpses
4 because of Nineveh’s constant prostitution,
this very charming mistress of evil magic.
She used to sell
nations her prostitution
and people her evil magic.
5 “I am against you, Nineveh,” declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.
“I will lift up your dress over your face.
I will show nations your naked body and kingdoms your disgrace.
6 I will throw filth on you.
I will make you look like a fool.
I will make you a sight to be seen.
7 Everyone who sees you will run from you, saying,
‘Nineveh has been violently destroyed!
Who will feel sorry for her?’
Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”
Nineveh Will Not Escape Punishment
8 Are you better than No-amon,[a] which sits by the streams of the Nile
with water surrounding her?
The sea was her defense.
The water was her wall.
9 Sudan and Egypt were her endless strength.
Put and the Lybians were her help.
10 Even she went into captivity and was exiled.
Even her little children were smashed to death at every street corner.
Soldiers tossed dice for her important men,
and all her best men were bound in chains.
11 Even you, Nineveh, will stagger like a drunk.
You will disappear.
Even you will look for a fortress to escape from the enemy.
12 All your defenses will be like fig trees with the earliest figs.
When shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your soldiers; they’re women!
The gates of your country are wide open to your enemies.
Fire has destroyed the bars of your gates.
Nineveh’s Strength Will Not Save Her
14 Store water for the siege!
Strengthen your defenses!
Step into the claypits and trample the clay!
Grab the brick mold!
15 Fire will consume you there.
A sword will cut you down.
It will consume you like locusts.
Multiply like locusts!
Multiply like hungry locusts!
16 You have produced more businessmen than there are stars in the sky.
They are like locusts that attack and then fly away.
17 Your officers are like locusts,
and your scribes are like swarms of locusts
that settle on the fences when it is cold.
The sun rises, and they scatter in every direction.
No one knows where they’ve gone.
18 Your shepherds, king of Assyria, have fallen into a deep sleep.
Your best fighting men are at rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains,
and there is no one to gather them.
19 There is no relief for your collapse.
Your wound is fatal.
All who hear the news about you will clap their hands.
Who hasn’t suffered from your endless evil?
Zacchaeus Meets Jesus
19 Yeshua was passing through Jericho. 2 A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was the director of tax collectors, and he was rich. 3 He tried to see who Yeshua was. But Zacchaeus was a small man, and he couldn’t see Yeshua because of the crowd. 4 So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a fig tree to see Yeshua, who was coming that way.
5 When Yeshua came to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down! I must stay at your house today.”
6 Zacchaeus came down and was glad to welcome Yeshua into his home. 7 But the people who saw this began to express disapproval. They said, “He went to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 Later, at dinner, Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Lord, I’ll give half of my property to the poor. I’ll pay four times as much as I owe to those I have cheated in any way.”
9 Then Yeshua said to Zacchaeus, “You and your family have been saved today. You’ve shown that you, too, are one of Abraham’s descendants. 10 Indeed, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save people who are lost.”
A Story about a King
11 Yeshua was getting closer to Jerusalem, and the people thought that the kingdom of God would appear suddenly. While Yeshua had the people’s attention, he used this illustration. 12 He said, “A prince went to a distant country to be appointed king, and then he returned. 13 Before he left, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten coins. He said to his servants, ‘Invest this money until I come back.’
14 “The citizens of his own country hated him. They sent representatives to follow him and say to the person who was going to appoint him, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “After he was appointed king, he came back. Then he said, ‘Call those servants to whom I gave money. I want to know how much each one has made by investing.’
16 “The first servant said, ‘Sir, the coin you gave me has earned ten times as much.’
17 “The king said to him, ‘Good job! You’re a good servant. You proved that you could be trusted with a little money. Take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘The coin you gave me, sir, has made five times as much.’
19 “The king said to this servant, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then the other servant said, ‘Sir, look! Here’s your coin. I’ve kept it in a cloth for safekeeping because 21 I was afraid of you. You’re a tough person to get along with. You take what isn’t yours and harvest grain you haven’t planted.’
22 “The king said to him, ‘I’ll judge you by what you’ve said, you evil servant! You knew that I was a tough person to get along with. You knew that I take what isn’t mine and harvest grain I haven’t planted. 23 Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? When I came back, I could have collected it with interest.’ 24 The king told his men, ‘Take his coin away, and give it to the man who has ten.’
25 “They replied, ‘Sir, he already has ten coins.’
26 “‘I can guarantee that everyone who has something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don’t have much. 27 Bring my enemies, who didn’t want me to be their king. Kill them in front of me.’”
The King Comes to Jerusalem(A)
28 After Yeshua had given this illustration, he continued on his way to Jerusalem.
29 When he came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives (as it was called), Yeshua sent two of his disciples ahead of him. 30 He said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter, you will find a young donkey tied there. No one has ever sat on it. Untie it, and bring it. 31 If anyone asks you why you are untying it, say that the Lord needs it.”
32 The men Yeshua sent found it as he had told them. 33 While they were untying the young donkey, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the donkey?”
34 The disciples answered, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought the donkey to Yeshua, put their coats on it, and helped Yeshua onto it. 36 As he was riding along, people spread their coats on the road. 37 By this time he was coming near the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives. Then the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God for all the miracles they had seen. 38 They shouted joyfully,
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven.”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Yeshua, “Teacher, tell your disciples to be quiet.”
40 Yeshua replied, “I can guarantee that if they are quiet, the stones will cry out.”
41 When he came closer and saw the city, he began to cry. 42 He said, “If you had only known today what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden, so you cannot see it. 43 The time will come when enemy armies will build a wall to surround you and close you in on every side. 44 They will level you to the ground and kill your people. One stone will not be left on top of another, because you didn’t recognize the time when God came to help you.”
Jesus Throws Out the Moneychangers(B)
45 Yeshua went into the temple courtyard and began to throw out those who were selling things there. 46 He said to them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”
47 Yeshua taught in the temple courtyard every day. The chief priests, the experts in Moses’ Teachings, and the leaders of the people looked for a way to kill him. 48 But they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were eager to hear him.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.