M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Solomon’s Officers

4 King Solomon ruled over all Israel. ² These are the names of his leading officers:

Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, recorded what happened in the courts;

Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud recorded the history of the people;

⁴ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander of the army;

Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵ Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the district governors;

Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;

⁶ Ahishar was responsible for everything in the palace;

Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the labor force.

⁷ Solomon placed twelve governors over the districts of Israel, who gathered food from their districts for the king and his family. Each governor was responsible for bringing food to the king one month of each year. ⁸ These are the names of the twelve governors:

Ben-Hur was governor of the mountain country of Ephraim.

⁹ Ben-Deker was governor of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Bethhanan.

¹⁰ Ben-Hesed was governor of Arubboth, Socoh, and all the land of Hepher.

¹¹ Ben-Abinadab was governor of Naphoth Dor. (He was married to Taphath, Solomon’s daughter.)

¹² Baana son of Ahilud was governor of Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan. This was below Jezreel from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across from Jokmeam.

¹³ Ben-Geber was governor of Ramoth in Gilead. (He was governor of all the towns of Jair in Gilead. Jair was the son of Manasseh. Ben-Geber was also over the district of Argob in Bashan, which had sixty large, walled cities with bronze bars on their gates.)

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo was governor of Mahanaim.

¹⁵ Ahimaaz was governor of Naphtali. (He was married to Basemath, Solomon’s daughter.)

¹⁶ Baana son of Hushai was governor of Asher and Aloth.

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat son of Paruah was governor of Issachar.

¹⁸ Shimei son of Ela was governor of Benjamin.

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri was governor of Gilead. Gilead had been the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. But Geber was the only governor over this district.

Solomon’s Kingdom

²⁰ There were as many people in Judah and Israel as grains of sand on the seashore. The people ate, drank, and were happy. ²¹ Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought Solomon the payments he demanded, and they were under his control all his life.

²² Solomon needed much food each day to feed himself and all the people who ate at his table: one hundred ninety-five bushels of fine flour, three hundred ninety bushels of grain, ²³ ten cows that were fed on good grain, twenty cows that were raised in the fields, one hundred sheep, three kinds of deer, and fattened birds.

²⁴ Solomon controlled all the countries west of the Euphrates River—the land from Tiphsah to Gaza. And he had peace on all sides of his kingdom. ²⁵ During Solomon’s life Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,^[a] also lived in peace; all of his people were able to sit under their own fig trees and grapevines.

²⁶ Solomon had four thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horses. ²⁷ Each month one of the district governors gave King Solomon all the food he needed—enough for every person who ate at the king’s table. The governors made sure he had everything he needed. ²⁸ They also brought enough barley and straw for Solomon’s chariot and work horses; each person brought this grain to the right place.

Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹ God gave Solomon great wisdom so he could understand many things. His wisdom was as hard to measure as the grains of sand on the seashore. ³⁰ His wisdom was greater than any wisdom of the East, or any wisdom in Egypt. ³¹ He was wiser than anyone on earth. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, as well as Heman, Calcol, and Darda—the three sons of Mahol. King Solomon became famous in all the surrounding countries. ³² During his life he spoke three thousand wise sayings and also wrote one thousand five songs. ³³ He taught about many kinds of plants—everything from the great cedar trees of Lebanon to the weeds that grow out of the walls. He also taught about animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. ³⁴ People from all nations came to listen to King Solomon’s wisdom. The kings of all nations sent them to him, because they had heard of Solomon’s wisdom.

Preparing to Build the Temple

5 Hiram, the king of Tyre, had always been David’s friend. When Hiram heard that Solomon had been made king in David’s place, he sent his messengers to Solomon. ² Solomon sent this message back to King Hiram: ³ “You remember my father David had to fight many wars with the countries around him, so he was never able to build a temple for worshiping the Lord his God. David was waiting until the Lord allowed him to defeat all his enemies. ⁴ But now the Lord my God has given me peace on all sides of my country. I have no enemies now, and no danger threatens my people.

⁵ “The Lord promised my father David, ‘I will make your son king after you, and he will build a temple for worshiping me.’ Now, I plan to build that temple for worshiping the Lord my God. ⁶ So send your men to cut down cedar trees for me from Lebanon. My servants will work with yours, and I will pay them whatever wages you decide. We don’t have anyone who can cut down trees as well as the people of Sidon.”

⁷ When Hiram heard what Solomon asked, he was very happy. He said, “Praise the Lord today! He has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation!” ⁸ Then Hiram sent back this message to Solomon: “I received the message you sent, and I will give you all the cedar and pine trees you want. ⁹ My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. There I will tie them together and float them along the shore to the place you choose. Then I will separate the logs there, and you can take them away. In return it is my wish that you give food to all those who live with me.” ¹⁰ So Hiram gave Solomon as much cedar and pine as he wanted. ¹¹ And Solomon gave Hiram about one hundred twenty-five thousand bushels of wheat each year to feed the people who lived with him. Solomon also gave him about one hundred fifteen thousand gallons of pure olive oil every year.

¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he had promised. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; these two kings made a treaty between themselves.

¹³ King Solomon forced thirty thousand men of Israel to help in this work. ¹⁴ He sent a group of ten thousand men each month to Lebanon. Each group worked in Lebanon one month, then went home for two months. A man named Adoniram was in charge. ¹⁵ Solomon forced eighty thousand men to work in the hill country, cutting stone, and he had seventy thousand men to carry the stones. ¹⁶ There were also thirty-three hundred men who directed the workers. ¹⁷ King Solomon commanded them to cut large blocks of fine stone to be used for the foundation of the Temple. ¹⁸ Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders and the men from Byblos carved the stones and prepared the stones and the logs for building the Temple.

We Now Have Life

2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. ² Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. ³ In the past all of us lived like them, trying to please our sinful selves and doing all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.

⁴ But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. ⁵ Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. ⁶ And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those in Christ Jesus ⁷ so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. ⁹ It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.

One in Christ

¹¹ You were not born Jewish. You are the people the Jews call “uncircumcised.”^[a] Those who call you “uncircumcised” call themselves “circumcised.” (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies.) ¹² Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreements^[b] with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. ¹⁴ Christ himself is our peace. He made both Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body. ¹⁵ The Jewish law had many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make peace. ¹⁶ It was also Christ’s purpose to end the hatred between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did all this with his death on the cross. ¹⁷ Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away from God, and to those who were near to God. ¹⁸ Yes, it is through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.

¹⁹ Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. ²⁰ You are like a building that was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone^[c] in that building, ²¹ and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Christ you, too, are being built together with the Jews into a place where God lives through the Spirit.

Prophecy Against Edom

35 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ² “Human, look toward Edom and prophesy against it. ³ Say to it: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Edom. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you an empty desert. ⁴ I will destroy your cities, and you will become empty. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁵ “‘You have always been an enemy of Israel. You let them be defeated in war when they were in trouble at the time of their final punishment. ⁶ So the Lord God says, as surely as I live, I will let you be murdered. Murder will chase you. Since you did not hate murdering people, murder will chase you. ⁷ I will make Edom an empty ruin and destroy everyone who goes in or comes out of it. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with those who are killed. Those killed in war will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. ⁹ I will make you a ruin forever; no one will live in your cities. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “‘You said, “These two nations, Israel and Judah, and these two lands will be ours. We will take them for our own.” But the Lord was there. ¹¹ So this is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, I will treat you just as you treated them. You were angry and jealous because you hated them. So I will punish you and show the Israelites who I am. ¹² Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all your insults against the mountains of Israel. You said, “They have been ruined. They have been given to us to eat.” ¹³ You have not stopped your proud talk against me. I have heard you. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord God says: All the earth will be happy when I make you an empty ruin. ¹⁵ You were happy when the land of Israel was ruined, but I will do the same thing to you. Mount Seir and all Edom, you will become an empty ruin. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’

A Prayer for the Nation

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.