M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Lord punishes King Solomon
11 Solomon loved Pharaoh's daughter and many other foreign women. Those women were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 The Lord had warned the Israelites about these nations. He said, ‘You must not marry people from these nations. If you do, they will cause you to worship their own gods.’ But Solomon did love these foreign women and he married them.
3 Solomon had 700 royal wives. He also had 300 slave wives.[a] His wives caused him to turn away from the Lord. 4 When Solomon became old, his wives caused him to serve other gods. Solomon no longer completely loved the Lord his God as his father David had done.
5 Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. He also worshipped Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. 6 As a result, Solomon did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not serve the Lord faithfully as his father David had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a place to worship false gods. He worshipped Chemosh, the wicked god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. 8 Solomon also built places where his foreign wives could worship their gods. They burned incense and they offered sacrifices to their own gods in these places.
9 So the Lord became angry with Solomon. Solomon had turned away from the Lord, Israel's God, who had appeared to Solomon twice. 10 He had warned Solomon that he must not serve other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord's command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘I see the things that you have chosen to do. You have not obeyed my covenant and the laws that I commanded you to obey. So I will take the kingdom away from you. One of your servants will rule the kingdom instead of you. 12 But I will not do this while you are alive, because your father David was faithful to me. Instead, I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 But I will not take away the whole kingdom from him. I will leave one tribe for him to rule as king.[b] I will do this because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city.’
Solomon's enemies
14 The Lord brought an enemy to attack Solomon. He was Hadad who came from Edom.[c] Hadad belonged to the king of Edom's family. 15 When David was king, he had fought against Edom's people. Joab, the leader of David's army, had gone to Edom to bury the dead Israelite soldiers. At that time, Joab killed all the men in Edom.[d] 16 Joab and Israel's army stayed in Edom for six months. During that time, they killed all the men in Edom. 17 Hadad was a small boy at that time. He escaped from Edom with some of his father's officers. They went towards Egypt. 18 They went from Midian as far as Paran. They took some men from Paran and they all went to Egypt. They went to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house to live in and food to eat. He also gave Hadad some land. 19 Pharaoh was very pleased with Hadad, so he gave Hadad a wife. She was the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. 20 Tahpenes's sister gave birth to Hadad's son, called Genubath. Queen Tahpenes took care of Genubath in the king's palace. Genubath lived there with Pharaoh's own children.
21 While Hadad was living in Egypt, he heard the news that King David had died. Joab, the leader of David's army, was also dead by this time. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, ‘Please let me return to my own country.’ 22 Pharaoh asked him, ‘Why do you want to return to your own country? Is there anything that you do not have here?’ Hadad replied, ‘There is nothing wrong, but please let me go.’
23 God also brought another enemy to attack Solomon. He was Eliada's son Rezon. He had run away from his master, Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. 24 After David had destroyed Hadadezer's army, Rezon became the leader of a group of bad men. Rezon went to Damascus with his men, and Rezon became ruler of the city.[e] 25 Rezon was Israel's enemy all the time that Solomon was alive. He caused trouble for Solomon, as Hadad also did. Rezon ruled in Syria and he hated the Israelite people.
26 Nebat's son Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officers. He came from Zeredah in Ephraim.[f] His mother was a widow. Her name was Zeruah. Jeroboam turned against King Solomon. 27 This is what happened: Solomon had built the Millo. He had also mended the walls of the City of David his father. 28 Jeroboam was a strong young man. Solomon saw that he did his work very well. So he made Jeroboam the leader of the workers who belonged to Joseph's tribe.
29 During that time, Jeroboam travelled out from Jerusalem. A prophet, Ahijah, met him on the road. They were alone in the country. Ahijah came from Shiloh. He was wearing a new coat. 30 Ahijah took off his new coat. He tore it into 12 pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself. This is what the Lord, Israel's God, is saying to you: “I will take Solomon's kingdom away from him! I will give you ten tribes to rule over. 32 But Solomon will continue to rule over one tribe. That is because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city. I did not choose a city in any of the other tribes of Israel.
33 I will take the kingdom away from Solomon because he and his people have turned away from me. They have started to worship Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. They also worship Chemosh, the god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the god of the Ammonite people. They have not lived in a way that pleases me. They have not done the things that I say are right. They have not obeyed my rules and my laws. They have not lived in a good way, as Solomon's father David did.
34 But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him continue to rule as king while he still lives. I will do that because of my servant David that I chose to be king. David obeyed my commands and my rules. 35 I will take the kingdom away from his son and I will give ten tribes for you to rule. 36 But I will leave one tribe for Solomon's son to rule. Then my servant David will continue to have a descendant who serves me as king in Jerusalem. That is the city where I have chosen for people to worship me.
37 But I will make you, Jeroboam, king of Israel. You will rule over all the land that you want for yourself. 38 But you must do everything that I command you to do. You must live in a way that pleases me. You must do the things that I say are right. You must obey my rules and my commands, as my servant David did. If you do that, I will always be with you. I will cause your descendants to continue to rule Israel. What I have done for David's family, I will also do for your family. The nation of Israel will belong to you.[g] 39 Because of Solomon's sins I will punish David's descendants. But I will not punish them for ever.” ’
40 Solomon then tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt. Shishak, the king of Egypt, kept Jeroboam safe. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.
Solomon dies
41 The other things that happened while Solomon was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Solomon’. It tells about Solomon's wisdom and everything that he did. 42 Solomon ruled over all Israel for 40 years while he lived in Jerusalem. 43 Then he died. They buried him with his ancestors, in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king after him.
Be more like Christ
2 You belong to Christ, and he makes you brave. His love makes you strong. You are able to help one another because his Spirit is in you. You can be kind to each other, and you can forgive each other. 2 Because of that, this is how you can make me completely happy: In your mind, think about things in the same way as one another. Love one another completely. In your spirit, agree with one another. And work together for the same purpose. 3 In the way that you live, do not just try to help yourself. Do not be proud. Instead, respect other people. Think about other people as more important than yourself. 4 Do not think only about the things that you want to do for yourself. Each of you should think also about how you can help other people.
5 You should think about things in the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
6 Christ had the same nature as God.
He was completely equal with God.
But he did not try to keep hold of that.
7 Instead, he chose to leave heaven.
He took for himself the nature of a slave.
He became like a human.
8 And when he lived as a man,
he made himself even less important.
He obeyed God completely, so that he died.
He even died on a cross![a]
9 Because of that, God then raised Jesus Christ to the most important place.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
10 As a result, when people hear Jesus' name, they must worship him.
Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him.
That includes everything that is in heaven,
everything on the earth and everything under the earth.
11 Everyone will have to agree that Jesus Christ is Lord.
When they say that aloud, they will show that God the Father is very great.[b]
Christians must be like lights in the world
12 So, my friends, you must continue to obey God.[c] When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful. 13 It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.
14 Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue. 15 Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night. 16 Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.
17 You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together. 18 Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I want to send Timothy to come to you soon. I hope that the Lord Jesus will let me do that. Then, when Timothy returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy. 20 Timothy really loves you, as I do. There is nobody else here with me like him. 21 Everyone else thinks only about themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ. 22 But you know what Timothy is like. He has worked with me like a son works to help his father. Together we have taught people God's good news. 23 That is why I hope to send him to you soon. But first, I want to know what will happen to me here. 24 The Lordhas helped me to hope that I will soon come to you myself.
25 Whatever happens, I think I must send Epaphroditus to come back to you.[d] He is our true Christian brother. He has worked with me to serve God together. We have worked hard, like soldiers. When I needed help, you sent him to me. He has helped me on your behalf. 26 Now he wants very much to see all of you again. He became very sad, because you heard the message that he was ill. 27 Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. And God was kind to me too. If Epaphroditus had died, I would have become even more sad. 28 So I want even more to send him back to you. Then you can be really happy, and I will not feel sad any more.
29 Receive Epaphroditus well when he comes, and be happy. Like you, he belongs to the Lord's people. You should respect people like him and be kind to them. 30 He nearly died because he was working to serve Christ. He came to help me, because you could not help me yourselves. He was even ready to die so that he could do that on your behalf.[e]
41 Then the man took me into the big hall of the temple.[a] He measured the walls on each side of the entrance. They were 3 metres thick. 2 The entrance itself was 5 metres wide. The walls on each side were 2½ metres wide. The big hall was 20 metres long and 10 metres wide.
3 Then he went into the inside room. He measured the walls at the entrance. They were 1 metre thick. The entrance was 3 metres wide. The walls on each side were 3½ metres wide. 4 He measured the inside room. It was 10 metres long and 10 metres wide. It was at the back of the big hall. The man said to me, ‘This is the Most Holy Place.’[b]
5 Then the man measured the wall of the temple. It was 3 metres thick. There were small rooms along the outside of the wall, all around the temple. Each room was 2 metres wide. 6 The side rooms were on three levels. Each level had 30 rooms. The temple's wall at each level was less thick than the wall below. So the wall itself held up each level of rooms. They did not have to fix the side rooms into the temple's wall. 7 The side rooms at each level were wider than the rooms on the level below them, because the temple's wall was less thick. There was a set of stairs that went from the lowest level to the middle level and up to the top level.
8 I saw that there was a stone base all around the temple. The side rooms stood on this base as their foundation. It was 3 metres high. 9-10 The outside wall of the side rooms was 2½ metres thick. There was an open space between these rooms and the rooms that the priests used. It was 10 metres wide, all around the temple building. 11 There were two doors for the side rooms. One door opened towards the north. The other door opened towards the south. They opened into a space that was 2½ metres wide.[c]
12 There was a large building at the west side of the temple yard. It was 37 metres wide and 47 metres long. Its walls were 2½ metres thick.
13 Then the man measured the outside of the temple building. It was 50 metres long. He measured from the back of the temple across the open space to the back wall of the large building. That was also 50 metres. 14 He measured the front of the temple building and the open space on each side. That was 50 metres too. 15 He measured the building at the back of the temple yard, on the west side. That was also 50 metres, including the side rooms at each end.
Wooden boards covered the walls of the big hall, the inside room and the entrance room of the temple. 16 The boards covered the walls from the floor up to the windows, and above the windows. They used wood to make the edges of the windows. They also covered the windows. 17-18 Workers had cut pictures in the wood above the doors and all over the walls. They were pictures of palm trees and cherubs. There was a picture of a palm tree between each cherub. They covered all the inside walls of the temple. Each cherub had two faces. 19 A human face looked towards the palm tree on one side. A lion's face looked towards the palm tree on the other side. Workers had cut these pictures on the walls around the inside of the whole temple building. 20 The pictures of cherubs and palm trees covered all the walls, from the floor up to above the doors.
21 There were square posts on each side of the entrance to the temple's big hall. The entrance to the Most Holy Place seemed the same.
22 There was an altar that was made of wood. It was 1½ metres high and 1 metre wide on each side. Its corners, its sides and its base were all made of wood. The man said to me, ‘This is the table that stands here in front of the Lord.’
23 The big hall of the temple and the Most Holy Place both had doors that were in two parts. 24 The doors were fixed on both sides of each entrance and they opened in the middle. 25 Workers had cut pictures on the doors of the big hall. They were pictures of palm trees and cherubs, like the pictures on the walls. There was a roof over the outside of the door to the entrance room. It was made of wood. 26 The entrance room had narrow windows in the walls on each side. The windows had pictures of palm trees on each side. Workers had cut shapes of palm trees on its walls. The side rooms around the temple also had roofs over the outside of their doors.
This psalm is a song to sing on Sabbath days.
A song to praise God
92 It is good to thank the Lord!
We sing to praise your name, Most High God.
2 We sing in the morning
to thank you for your faithful love.
We sing at night
to say that you are always faithful.
3 We make beautiful music
with lutes, harps and lyres.[a]
4 The things that you do, Lord,
make me very happy.
I sing with joy
because of the things that your hands have made!
5 Yes, Lord, you have done great things!
Your thoughts are more than we can understand!
6 Here is something that stupid people do not know.
Fools do not understand it.
7 Wicked people may continue to grow,
like green grass.
Evil people may grow like weeds.
But in the end you will destroy them
and they will never grow again.[b]
8 You, Lord, will rule as King for ever!
9 Yes, Lord, look at your enemies!
Your enemies will all die!
Those people who do evil things will all disappear!
10 You have made me as strong as a wild bull.
You have poured pure olive oil on me.[c]
11 With my own eyes,
I have seen my enemies fall.
With my own ears,
I have heard them cry out in pain.
12 Righteous people will do well,
like a palm tree that makes new leaves.
They will become strong,
like a tall cedar tree in Lebanon.
13 They are like trees that someone has planted in the Lord's house.
They grow well in the yard of our God's temple.
14 When they are old,
they will still give fruit!
They will always be strong,
with fresh, green leaves.
15 They will tell everyone,
‘The Lord always does what is right.
He is my strong, safe rock.
There is nothing bad in him.’
The Lord is King![d]
93 The Lord rules as King!
He wears royal power as his clothes.
His strength is like a belt round his body.[e]
So the world is safe and strong.
Nothing can shake it from its place.
2 You, Lord, have always ruled as King,
since before the beginning of time.
3 The floods of water have risen up, Lord.
They have risen with a loud noise.
Their waves beat against the land.[f]
4 But the Lord rules as King
high above everything!
He rules over the powerful waves of the sea,
with all their great noise!
5 Lord, your rules remain strong and true.
Your house will always be holy,
because you are holy.
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