M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Prayer(A)
12 In the presence of the entire assembly of Israel, Solomon stood in front of Yahweh’s altar. He stretched out his hands to pray. 13 (Solomon had made a bronze platform 7½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and 4½ feet high. He put it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on the platform, knelt in front of the entire assembly, and stretched out his hands toward heaven.) 14 He said,
“Yahweh Elohim of Israel,
there is no god like you in heaven or on earth.
You keep your promise[a] of mercy to your servants,
who obey you wholeheartedly.
15 You have kept your promise to my father David, your servant.
With your mouth you promised it.
With your hand you carried it out as it is today.
16 “Now, Yahweh Elohim of Israel,
keep your promise to my father David, your servant.
You said, ‘You will never fail to have an heir
sitting in front of me on the throne of Israel
if your descendants are faithful to me
as you have been faithful to me.’
17 “So now, Yahweh Elohim of Israel,
may the promise you made to David, your servant, come true.
18 “Does Elohim really live on earth with people?
If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you,
then how can this temple that I have built?
19 Nevertheless, my Yahweh Elohim, please pay attention to my prayer for mercy.
Listen to my cry for help as I pray to you.
20 Day and night may your eyes be on this temple,
the place about which you said your name will be there.
Listen to me as I pray toward this place.
21 Hear the plea for mercy
that your people Israel and I pray toward this place.
Hear us in heaven, the place where you live.
Hear and forgive.
22 “If anyone sins against another person
and is required to take an oath
and comes to take the oath in front of your altar in this temple,
23 then hear that person in heaven, take action, and make a decision.
Repay the guilty person with the proper punishment,
but declare the innocent person innocent.
24 “An enemy may defeat your people Israel
because they have sinned against you.
But when your people turn, praise your name, pray,
and plead with you in this temple,
25 then hear them in heaven, forgive the sins of your people Israel,
and bring them back to the land
that you gave to them and their ancestors.
26 “When the sky is shut and there’s no rain
because they are sinning against you
and they pray toward this place, praise your name,
and turn away from their sin because you made them suffer,
27 then hear them in heaven.
Forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.
Teach them the proper way to live.
Then send rain on the land,
which you gave to your people as an inheritance.
28 “There may be famine in the land.
Plant diseases, heat waves, funguses, locusts,
or grasshoppers may destroy crops.
Enemies may blockade Israel’s city gates.
During every plague or sickness
29 hear every prayer for mercy
made by one person or by all the people in Israel,
all who know suffering or pain,
who stretch out their hands toward this temple.
30 Hear them in heaven, where you live.
Forgive them, and give each person the proper reply.
(You know what is in their hearts,
because you alone know what is in people’s hearts.)
31 Then, as long as they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors,
they will fear you and follow you.
32 “People who are not Israelites
will come from distant countries because of your great name,
mighty hand, and powerful arm.
When they come to pray facing this temple,
33 then hear them in heaven, the place where you live.
Do everything they ask you
so that all the people of the world may know your name
and fear you like your people Israel
and learn that this temple which I built bears your name.
34 “When your people go to war against their enemies
(wherever you may send them)
and they pray to you toward this city you have chosen
and the temple I built for your name,
35 then hear their prayer for mercy in heaven,
and do what is right for them.
36 “They may sin against you.
(No one is sinless.)
You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy
who takes them to another country as captives,
whether it is far or near.
37 If they come to their senses,
are sorry for what they’ve done,
and plead with you in the land where they are captives,
saying, ‘We have sinned. We have done wrong.
We have been wicked,’
38 if they change their attitude toward you
in the land where they are captives,
if they pray to you
toward the land that you gave their ancestors,
and the city you have chosen,
and the temple I have built for your name,
39 then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy.
Do what is right for them.
Forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
40 “Finally, my Elohim, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive
to the prayers offered in this place.
41 “Now arise, and come to your resting place, Yahweh Elohim—
you and the ark of your power.
Clothe your priests, Yahweh Elohim, with salvation.
Let your godly ones rejoice in what is good.
42 Yahweh Elohim, do not reject your anointed one.
Remember your mercy to your servant David!”
Those Who Believe in Jesus Are God’s Children
5 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has been born from God. Everyone who loves the Father also loves his children. 2 We know that we love God’s children when we love God by obeying his commandments. 3 To love God means that we obey his commandments. Obeying his commandments isn’t difficult 4 because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world. 5 Who wins the victory over the world? Isn’t it the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?
6 This Son of God is Yeshua Christ, who came by water and blood. He didn’t come with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three witnesses:[a] 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three witnesses agree.
9 We accept human testimony. God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony that he has given about his Son. 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them. Those who don’t believe God have made God a liar. They haven’t believed the testimony that God has given about his Son.
11 This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. 12 The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have this life.
Conclusion
13 I’ve written this to those who believe in the Son of God so that they will know that they have eternal life.
14 We are confident that God listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. 15 We know that he listens to our requests. So we know that we already have what we ask him for.
16 If you see another believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, you should pray that God would give that person life. This is true for those who commit sins that don’t lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I’m not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that don’t lead to death.
18 We know that those who have been born from God don’t go on sinning. Rather, the Son of God protects them, and the evil one can’t harm them.
19 We know that we are from God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20 We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we know the real God. We are in the one who is real, his Son Yeshua Christ. This Yeshua Christ is the real God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, guard yourselves from false gods.
Habakkuk’s Vision
1 The divine revelation that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
Habakkuk’s Question
2 How long, O Yahweh, am I to cry for help,
but you will not listen?
I cry out to you, “There’s violence!”
yet you will not come to the rescue.
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing?
And why do you watch wickedness?
Destruction and violence are in front of me.
Quarrels and disputes arise.
4 That is why your teaching is numbed,
and justice is never carried out.
Wicked people surround righteous people
so that when justice is carried out, it’s perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 Look among the nations and watch.
Be amazed and astonished.
I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe even if it were reported to you.
6 I am going to send the Babylonians,
that fierce and reckless nation.
They will march throughout the earth
to take possession of lands that don’t belong to them.
7 They will be terrifying and fearsome.
They will carry out their own kind of justice and honor.
8 Their horses will be faster than leopards
and quicker than wolves in the evening.
Their riders will gallop along proudly.
Their riders will come from far away.
They will fly like an eagle that swoops down for its prey.
9 They will all come for violence.
Every face will be directed forward.
They will gather prisoners like sand.
10 They will make fun of kings and treat rulers as a joke.
They will laugh at every fortified city
and build a dirt ramp to capture it.
11 They will move quickly and pass through like the wind.
So they will be guilty,
because their own strength is their god.
Habakkuk’s Question
12 Didn’t you exist before time began, O Yahweh, my Elohim, my Holy One?
We will not die!
O Yahweh, you have appointed the Babylonians to bring judgment.
O Rock, you have destined them to correct us.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look at evil.
You can’t watch wickedness.
Why do you keep watching treacherous people?
Why are you silent when wicked people swallow those
who are more righteous than they are?
14 You make all people like the fish in the sea,
like schools of sea life that have no ruler.
15 The Babylonians pull them all up with fishhooks,
drag them away in nets,
and gather them in dragnets.
So they rejoice and are happy.
16 That is why they sacrifice to their nets and burn incense to their dragnets.
They are rich and well fed because of them.
17 Will they keep on emptying their nets
and always kill nations without mercy?
Jesus’ Authority Challenged(A)
20 One day Yeshua was teaching the people in the temple courtyard and telling them the Good News. The chief priests, the experts in Moses’ Teachings, and the leaders came up to him. 2 They asked him, “Tell us, what gives you the right to do these things? Who told you that you could do this?”
3 Yeshua answered them, “I, too, have a question for you. Tell me, 4 did John’s right to baptize come from heaven or from humans?”
5 They talked about this among themselves. They said, “If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘from humans,’ everyone will stone us to death. They’re convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they didn’t know who gave John the right to baptize.
8 Yeshua told them, “Then I won’t tell you why I have the right to do these things.”
A Story about a Vineyard(B)
9 Then, using this illustration, Yeshua spoke to the people: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to vineyard workers, and went on a long trip.
10 “At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to obtain from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. But the workers beat the servant and sent him back with nothing. 11 So he sent a different servant. The workers beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him back with nothing. 12 Then he sent a third servant. But they injured this one and threw him out of the vineyard.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son, whom I love. They’ll probably respect him.’
14 “When the workers saw him, they talked it over among themselves. They said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will destroy these workers and give the vineyard to others.”
Those who heard him said, “That’s unthinkable!”
17 Then Yeshua looked straight at them and asked, “What, then, does this Scripture verse mean:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person.”
19 The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the chief priests wanted to arrest him right there, but they were afraid of the people. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them.
A Question about Taxes(C)
20 So they watched for an opportunity to send out some spies. The spies were to act like sincere religious people. They wanted to catch him saying the wrong thing so that they could hand him over to the governor. 21 They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach. Besides, you don’t play favorites. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”
23 He saw through their scheme, so he said to them, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose face and name is this?”
They answered, “The emperor’s.”
25 He said to them, “Well, then give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”
26 They couldn’t make him say anything wrong in front of the people. His answer surprised them, so they said no more.
The Dead Come Back to Life(D)
27 Some Sadducees, who say that people will never come back to life, came to Yeshua. They asked him, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry his widow and have children for his brother.’ 29 There were seven brothers. The first got married and died without having children. 30 Then the second brother married the widow, 31 and so did the third. In the same way all seven brothers married the widow, died, and left no children. 32 Finally, the woman died. 33 Now, when the dead come back to life, whose wife will she be? The seven brothers had married her.”
34 Yeshua said to them, “In this world people get married. 35 But people who are considered worthy to come back to life and live in the next world will neither marry 36 nor die anymore. They are the same as the angels. They are God’s children who have come back to life.
37 “Even Moses showed in the passage about the bush that the dead come back to life. He says that the Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 38 He’s not the God of the dead but of the living. In God’s sight all people are living.”
39 Some experts in Moses’ Teachings responded, “Teacher, that was well said.” 40 From that time on, no one dared to ask him another question.
How Can David’s Son Be David’s Lord?(E)
41 Yeshua said to them, “How can people say that the Messiah is David’s son? 42 David says in the book of Psalms,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Take the highest position in heaven
43 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
44 David calls him Lord. So how can he be his son?”
Jesus Disapproves of the Example Set by the Experts in Moses’ Teachings(F)
45 While all the people were listening, Yeshua said to the disciples, 46 “Beware of the experts in Moses’ Teachings! They like to walk around in long robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces, to have the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at dinners. 47 They rob widows by taking their houses and then say long prayers to make themselves look good. The experts in Moses’ Teachings will receive the most severe punishment.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.