M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Wants to Build a Temple

7 King David was living in his palace, and the Lord had given him peace from all his enemies around him. ² Then David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace made of cedar wood, but the Ark of God is in a tent!”

³ Nathan said to the king, “Go and do what you really want to do, because the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But that night the Lord spoke his word to Nathan, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Will you build a house for me to live in? ⁶ From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until now I have not lived in a house. I have been moving around all this time with a tent as my home. ⁷ As I have moved with the Israelites, I have never said to the tribes, whom I commanded to take care of my people Israel, “Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?”’

⁸ “You must tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I took you from the pasture and from tending the sheep and made you leader of my people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you everywhere you have gone and have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you as famous as any of the great people on the earth. ¹⁰ Also I will choose a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so they can live in their own homes. They will not be bothered anymore. Wicked people will no longer bother them as they have in the past ¹¹ when I chose judges for my people Israel. But I will give you peace from all your enemies. I also tell you that I will make your descendants kings of Israel after you.

¹² “‘When you die and join your ancestors, I will make one of your sons the next king, and I will set up his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a house for me, and I will let his kingdom rule always. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he sins, I will use other people to punish him. They will be my whips. ¹⁵ I took away my love from Saul, whom I removed before you, but I will never stop loving your son. ¹⁶ But your family and your kingdom will continue always before me. Your throne will last forever.’”

¹⁷ Nathan told David everything God had said in this vision.

David Prays to God

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord. David said, “Lord God, who am I? What is my family? Why did you bring me to this point? ¹⁹ But even this is not enough for you, Lord God. You have also made promises about my future family. This is extraordinary, Lord God.

²⁰ “What more can I say to you, Lord God, since you know me, your servant, so well! ²¹ You have done this great thing because you said you would and because you wanted to, and you have let me know about it. ²² This is why you are great, Lord God! There is no one like you. There is no God except you. We have heard all this ourselves! ²³ There is no nation like your people Israel. They are the only people on earth that God chose to be his own. You made your name well known. You did great and wonderful miracles for them. You went ahead of them and forced other nations and their gods out of the land. You freed your people from slavery in Egypt. ²⁴ You made the people of Israel your very own people forever, and, Lord, you are their God.

²⁵ “Now, Lord God, keep the promise forever that you made about my family and me, your servant. Do what you have said. ²⁶ Then you will be honored always, and people will say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful is God over Israel!’ And the family of your servant David will continue before you.

²⁷ “Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, you have said to me, ‘I will make your family great.’ So I, your servant, am brave enough to pray to you. ²⁸ Lord God, you are God, and your words are true. And you have promised these good things to me, your servant. ²⁹ Please, bless my family. Let it continue before you always. Lord God, you have said so. With your blessing let my family always be blessed.”

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy our brother in Christ.

To the church of God in Corinth, and to all of God’s people everywhere in Southern Greece:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. ⁵ We share in the many sufferings of Christ. In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ. ⁶ If we have troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation, and if we have comfort, you also have comfort. This helps you to accept patiently the same sufferings we have. ⁷ Our hope for you is strong, knowing that you share in our sufferings and also in the comfort we receive.

⁸ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there that were beyond our own strength. We even gave up hope of living. ⁹ Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead. ¹⁰ God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again. ¹¹ And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers.

The Change in Paul’s Plans

¹² This is what we are proud of, and I can say it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest^[a] and sincere heart from God. We did this by God’s grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has. ^13-14 We write to you only what you can read and understand. And I hope that as you have understood some things about us, you may come to know everything about us. Then you can be proud of us, as we will be proud of you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

¹⁵ I was so sure of all this that I made plans to visit you first so you could be blessed twice. ¹⁶ I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. ¹⁷ Do you think that I made these plans without really meaning it? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, so that I say yes, yes and at the same time no, no.

¹⁸ But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I preached to you, was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. ²⁰ The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God. ²¹ Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people. ²² He put his mark on us to show that we are his, and he put his Spirit in our hearts to be a guarantee for all he has promised.

²³ I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was to keep you from being punished or hurt. ²⁴ We are not trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own joy.

Story of the Vine

15 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ² “Human, is the wood of the vine better than the wood of any tree in the forest? ³ Can wood be taken from the vine to make anything? Can you use it to make a peg on which to hang something? ⁴ If the vine is thrown into the fire for fuel, and the fire burns up both ends and starts to burn the middle, is it useful for anything? ⁵ When the vine was whole, it couldn’t be made into anything. When the fire has burned it completely, it certainly cannot be made into anything.”

⁶ So this is what the Lord God says: “Out of all the trees in the forest, I have given the wood of the vine as fuel for fire. In the same way I have given up the people who live in Jerusalem ⁷ and will turn against them. Although they came through one fire, fire will still destroy them. When I turn against them, you will know that I am the Lord. ⁸ So I will make the land empty, because the people have not been loyal, says the Lord God.”

Trusting God for Help

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Dove in the Distant Oak.” A miktam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.

A Prayer in Troubled Times

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A miktam of David when he escaped from Saul in the cave.