M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
1 Solomon, David’s son, became a powerful king, because the Lord his God was with him and made him very great.
2 Solomon spoke to all the people of Israel—the commanders of a hundred men and of a thousand men, the judges, every leader in all Israel, and the leaders of the families. 3 Then Solomon and all the people with him went to the place of worship at the town of Gibeon. God’s Meeting Tent, which Moses the Lord’s servant had made in the desert, was there. 4 David had brought the Ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem, where he had made a place for it and had set up a tent for it. 5 The bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, who was the son of Hur, had made was in Gibeon in front of the Holy Tent. So Solomon and the people worshiped there. 6 Solomon went up to the bronze altar in the presence of the Lord at the Meeting Tent and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
8 Solomon answered, “You have been very kind to my father David, and you have made me king in his place. 9 Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David come true. You have made me king of a people who are as many as the dust of the earth. 10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead these people in the right way, because no one can rule them without your help.”
11 God said to Solomon, “You have not asked for wealth or riches or honor, or for the death of your enemies, or for a long life. But since you have asked for wisdom and knowledge to lead my people, over whom I have made you king, 12 I will give you wisdom and knowledge. I will also give you more wealth, riches, and honor than any king who has lived before you or any who will live after you.”
13 Then Solomon left the place of worship, the Meeting Tent, at Gibeon and went back to Jerusalem. There King Solomon ruled over Israel.
Solomon’s Wealth
14 Solomon had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He kept some in special cities for the chariots, and others he kept with him in Jerusalem. 15 In Jerusalem Solomon made silver and gold as plentiful as stones and cedar trees as plentiful as the fig trees on the western hills. 16 He imported horses from Egypt and Kue; his traders bought them in Kue. 17 They imported chariots from Egypt for about fifteen pounds of silver apiece, and horses cost nearly four pounds of silver apiece. Then they sold the horses and chariots to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.
1 We write you now about what has always existed, which we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, we have looked at, and we have touched with our hands. We write to you about the Word[a] that gives life. 2 He who gives life was shown to us. We saw him and can give proof about it. And now we announce to you that he has life that continues forever. He was with God the Father and was shown to us. 3 We announce to you what we have seen and heard, because we want you also to have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to you so we may be full of joy.[b]
God Forgives Our Sins
5 Here is the message we have heard from Christ and now announce to you: God is light,[c] and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 So if we say we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars and do not follow the truth. 7 But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and we do not accept God’s teaching.
The Evil That People Do
7 Poor me! I am like a hungry man,
and all the summer fruit has been picked—
there are no grapes left to eat,
none of the early figs I love.
2 All of the faithful people are gone;
there is not one good person left in this country.
Everyone is waiting to kill someone;
everyone is trying to trap someone else.
3 With both hands they are doing evil.
Rulers ask for money,
and judges’ decisions are bought for a price.
Rich people tell what they want,
and they get it.
4 Even the best of them is like a thornbush;
the most honest of them is worse than a prickly plant.
The day that your watchmen[a] warned you about has come.
Now they will be confused.
5 Don’t believe your neighbor
or trust a friend.
Don’t say anything,
even to your wife.
6 A son will not honor his father,
a daughter will turn against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law;
a person’s enemies will be members of his own family.
The Lord’s Kindness
7 Israel says, “I will look to the Lord for help.
I will wait for God to save me;
my God will hear me.
8 Enemy, don’t laugh at me.
I have fallen, but I will get up again.
I sit in the shadow of trouble now,
but the Lord will be a light for me.
9 I sinned against the Lord,
so he was angry with me,
but he will defend my case in court.
He will bring about what is right for me.
Then he will bring me out into the light,
and I will see him set things right.
10 Then my enemies will see this,
and they will be ashamed,
those who said to me,
‘Where is the Lord your God?’
I will look down on them.
They will get walked on, like mud in the street.”
Israel Will Return
11 The time will come when your walls will be built again,
when your country will grow.
12 At that time your people will come back to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the Euphrates River,
and from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
13 The earth will be ruined for the people who live in it
because of their deeds.
A Prayer to God
14 So shepherd your people with your stick;
tend the flock of people who belong to you.
That flock now lives alone in the forest
in the middle of a garden land.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in days long ago.
15 “As in the days when I brought you out of Egypt,
I will show them miracles.”
16 When the nations see those miracles,
they will no longer brag about their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths,
refusing to listen.
17 They will crawl in the dust like a snake,
like insects crawling on the ground.
They will come trembling from their holes to the Lord our God
and will turn in fear before you.
18 There is no God like you.
You forgive those who are guilty of sin;
you don’t look at the sins of your people
who are left alive.
You will not stay angry forever,
because you enjoy being kind.
19 You will have mercy on us again;
you will conquer our sins.
You will throw away all our sins
into the deepest part of the sea.
20 You will be true to the people of Jacob,
and you will be kind to the people of Abraham
as you promised to our ancestors long ago.
True Wealth
16 Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can’t be my manager any longer.’ 3 The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe?’ 6 He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.’ 7 Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.’ 8 So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.”
God’s Law Cannot Be Changed
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God’s sight.
16 “The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John[a] came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force. 17 It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes and lived in luxury every day. 20 And a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores, was laid at the rich man’s gate. 21 He wanted to eat only the small pieces of food that fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 Later, Lazarus died, and the angels carried him to the arms of Abraham. The rich man died, too, and was buried. 23 In the place of the dead, he was in much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus at his side. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am suffering in this fire!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember when you were alive you had the good things in life, but bad things happened to Lazarus. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Besides, there is a big pit between you and us, so no one can cross over to you, and no one can leave there and come here.’ 27 The rich man said, ‘Father, then please send Lazarus to my father’s house. 28 I have five brothers, and Lazarus could warn them so that they will not come to this place of pain.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets; let them learn from them.’ 30 The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! If someone goes to them from the dead, they would believe and change their hearts and lives.’ 31 But Abraham said to him, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not listen to someone who comes back from the dead.’”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.