M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Ark is Placed in the Temple(A)
5 As soon as Solomon had completed the Lord’s Temple, he installed the holy items that had belonged to his father David, including the silver, gold, and all the other items in the treasure rooms of God’s Temple. 2 Then Solomon called Israel’s elders together, including all the leaders of the tribes and families of Israel. They met in Jerusalem to transfer the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Zion, the City of David. 3 All the men of Israel assembled in front of the king during the Festival of Tents[a] that takes place in the seventh month[b] of the year.[c]
4 As soon as all of Israel’s elders had arrived, the descendants of Levi lifted the ark 5 and carried it, the tent where God met with his people,[d] and all of the sacred implements that belonged in the tent. The Levitical priests carried these up to the City of David.[e] 6 King Solomon and all the Israelis who had assembled together proceeded ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and oxen than could be counted or recorded due to the number of sacrifices.[f]
7 The priests transported the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to the place created for it within the inner sanctuary of the Temple, into the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim. 8 The wings of the cherubim extended over where the ark and its carrying poles[g] had been placed, 9 but the poles were long enough for their ends to extend to the front of the inner sanctuary, even though they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day. 10 There was nothing in the ark except for the two tablets that Moses had placed there while Israel was encamped[h] at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelis after he had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
11 After this, the priests vacated the Holy Place. (Meanwhile, all the priests who were participating consecrated themselves, irrespective of their Levitical divisions. 12 All the musicians who were descendants of Levi, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives wore linen and played cymbals and stringed instruments as they stood east of the altar. Accompanied by 120 priests who played trumpets, 13 the trumpeters and musicians played in union, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. They praised the Lord loudly and sang, “He is good, and his gracious love is eternal,” accompanied by the trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments.) As they did this,[i] a cloud filled the Temple, that is, the Lord’s Temple, 14 and the priests were unable to complete their duties because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled God’s Temple.
Solomon Dedicates the Temple(B)
6 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives shrouded in darkness. 2 Now I have constructed a magnificent temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever.”
3 Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing. 4 Then Solomon[j] prayed:
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who made a commitment[k] to my father David and then personally[l] fulfilled what he had promised when he said:[m]
5 ‘From the day I brought out my people from the land of Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. And I never chose any man to become Commander-in-Chief[n] over my people Israel. 6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, where my name will reside. And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
7 “My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 8 The Lord told my father David:
‘Therefore, since you determined[o] to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice[p] to do so. 9 Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born[q] to you is to build a temple for my name.’
10 “The Lord has brought to fulfillment[r] what he promised, and now here I stand,[s] having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 11 I have placed in it the ark in which the covenant that the Lord made with the Israelis is stored.”
Test What People Say
4 Dear friends, stop believing[a] every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize God’s Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus the Messiah[b] has become human—and remains so—is from God. 3 But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world. 4 Little children, you belong to God and have overcome them, 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 is why they speak from the world’s perspective,[c] and the world listens to them. 6 We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.
God’s Love Lives in Us
7 Dear friends, let us continuously love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent his uniquely existing Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved[d] God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God. 16 We have come to know and rely on[e] the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him. 18 There is no fear where love exists.[f] Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.
19 We love[g] because God[h] first loved us. 20 Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love the God whom he has not seen. 21 And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.
The Coming Judgment of Nineveh
3 Woe to this city, contaminated with shed blood,
all full of lies and robberies—
it is[a] never without victims!
2 The crack of whips
and the clamor of wheels!
The galloping horses
and the bounding chariots!
3 The cavalry attacks—
the flashing sword
and the glittering spear!
Many are the slain—
so many casualties!—
No end to bodies,
and the soldiers[b] trip over the corpses.
4 Innumerable are the harlotries of this well-favored whore,
this mistress of witchcraft,
who enslaves nations through her fornication
and families through her sorcery.
God’s Decree against Nineveh
5 “Look, I am against you,” declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
“so I will pull up your dress over your face.
I will show your nakedness to the nations,
and your disgrace to the kingdoms.
6 I will hurl abominable filth upon you,
making you look foolish,
and making an example of you.
7 It will be that everyone who looks at you will run away, saying,
‘Nineveh has been violently overthrown!
Who will mourn for her?
Where will I find anyone to comfort you?’”
Thebes: an Example of God’s Justice
8 “Are you any better than Thebes,[c]
which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water?
The sea was her defense,
the waters her wall of protection.[d]
9 Sudan[e] was her source of strength, along with Egypt—
there were no limits.
Put and the Libyans were her allies.
10 But she, too, was exiled—
she went into captivity!
Her young children were dashed to pieces
at every crossroad of their streets,
and her famous citizens were sold by lottery,
while all of her aristocrats were put in chains.
11 You will also become drunk.
You will disappear,
trying to hide from your enemies.
12 All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe early fruit—
when shaken, it falls right into the devourer’s mouth.
13 Look at your people—[f]
they are women!
Your borders stand wide open to your enemies,
while fire consumes the bars of your gates.”
The Futility of Avoiding God’s Judgment
14 “Draw water, because a siege is coming![g]
Strengthen your fortresses!
Make the clay good and strong!
Mix the mortar!
Go get your brick molds![h]
15 In that place fire will consume you,
the sword will cut you down,
consuming you as locusts do.
Multiply yourself like locusts,
increase like swarming grasshoppers.
16 You added to your inventory of businessmen—
they number more than the stars of heaven.
The creeping locust sheds its skin and flies away.
17 Your imperial guards are like the swarming grasshopper;
your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers,
settling in the stone walls on a chilly day.
The sun rises, and they flee away;
no one knows where they went.
18 Hey king of Assyria! Your shepherds are asleep
and your nobles are lying down!
Your people lie scattered on the mountains,
and there is no one to gather them together.
19 There is no healing for your injury—
your wound is fatal.
Everyone who hears about you will applaud,
because who hasn’t escaped your endless evil?”
Jesus and Zacchaeus
19 As Jesus[a] entered Jericho and was passing through it, 2 a man named Zacchaeus appeared. He was a leading tax collector, and a rich one at that! 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he couldn’t do so due to the crowd, since he was a short man. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus,[b] who was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the tree,[c] he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.” 6 Zacchaeus[d] came down quickly and was glad to welcome him into his home.[e]
7 But all the people who saw this began to complain: “Jesus[f] is going to be the guest of a notorious[g] sinner!”
8 Later, Zacchaeus stood up and announced to the Lord, “Look! I’m giving half of my possessions to the destitute, and if I have accused anyone falsely, I’m repaying four times as much as I owe.”[h]
9 Then Jesus told him, “Today salvation has come to this home, because this man[i] is also a descendant of Abraham, 10 and the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
The Parable about the Coins
11 As they were listening to this, Jesus[j] went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and because the people[k] thought that the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 So he said, “A prince went to a distant country to be appointed king and then to return. 13 He called ten of his servants and gave them ten coins.[l] He told them, ‘Invest this money until I come back.’ 14 But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation to follow him and to announce, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us!’
15 “After he was appointed king, the prince[m] came back. He ordered the servants to whom he had given the money to be called so he could find out what they had earned by investing. 16 The first servant[n] came and said, ‘Sir, your coin has earned ten more coins.’ 17 The king[o] told him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second servant[p] came and said, ‘Your coin, sir, has earned five coins.’ 19 The king[q] told him, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then the other servant[r] came and said, ‘Sir, look! Here’s your coin. I’ve kept it in a cloth for safekeeping 21 because I was afraid of you. You are a hard man. You withdraw what you didn’t deposit and harvest what you didn’t plant.’ 22 The king[s] told him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you evil servant! You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, and that I withdraw what I didn’t deposit and harvest what I didn’t plant? 23 Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? When I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’
24 “So the king[t] told those standing nearby, ‘Take the coin away from him and give it to the man who has the ten coins.’ 25 They answered him, ‘Sir, he already[u] has ten coins!’ 26 ‘I tell you, to everyone who has something, more will be given, but from the person who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence!’”
The King Enters Jerusalem(A)
28 After Jesus[v] had said this, he traveled on and went up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples on ahead. 30 “Go into the village ahead of you,” he said. “As you enter, you will find a colt tied up that no one has ever ridden.[w] Untie it and bring it along. 31 If anyone asks you why you are untying it, say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So those who were sent went off and found it as Jesus[x] had told them. 33 While they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 The disciples[y] answered, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and Jesus sat upon it.
36 As he was riding along, people[z] kept spreading their coats on the road. 37 He was now approaching the descent from the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice because of all the miracles they had seen. 38 They said,
“How blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord![aa]
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd told Jesus,[ab] “Teacher, tell your disciples to be quiet.”
40 He replied, “I tell you, if they were quiet, the stones would cry out!”
41 When he came closer and saw the city, he began to grieve over it: 42 “If you[ac] had only known today what could have brought you peace! But now it is hidden from your sight, 43 because the days will come[ad] when your enemies will build walls around you, surround you, and close you in on every side. 44 They will level you to the ground—you and those who live[ae] within your city limits.[af] They will not leave one stone on another within your walls,[ag] because you didn’t recognize the time when you were visited.”[ah]
Confrontation in the Temple over Money(B)
45 Then Jesus[ai] went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were selling things. 46 He told them, “It is written, ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer,’[aj] but you have turned it into a hideout[ak] for bandits!”
47 Then he began teaching in the Temple every day. The high priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him, 48 but they couldn’t find a way to do it, because all the people were eager to hear him.
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