M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Many Wives
11 King Solomon loved many women who were not from Israel. He loved the daughter of the king of Egypt, as well as women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 The Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not marry people of other nations. If you do, they will cause you to follow their gods.” But Solomon fell in love with these women. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were from royal families and three hundred slave women who gave birth to his children. His wives caused him to turn away from God. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives caused him to follow other gods. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon, and Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what the Lord said was wrong and did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built two places for worship. One was a place to worship Chemosh, the hated god of the Moabites, and the other was a place to worship Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon did the same thing for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord had appeared to Solomon twice, but the king turned away from following the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord was angry with Solomon, 10 because he had commanded Solomon not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have chosen to break your agreement with me and have not obeyed my commands, I will tear your kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officers. 12 But I will not take it away while you are alive because of my love for your father David. I will tear it away from your son when he becomes king. 13 I will not tear away all the kingdom from him, but I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this because of David, my servant, and because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”
Solomon’s Enemies
14 The Lord caused Hadad the Edomite, a member of the family of the king of Edom, to become Solomon’s enemy. 15 Earlier, David had defeated Edom. When Joab, the commander of David’s army, went into Edom to bury the dead, he killed all the males. 16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed in Edom for six months and killed every male in Edom. 17 At that time Hadad was only a young boy, so he ran away to Egypt with some of his father’s officers. 18 They left Midian and went to Paran, where they were joined by other men. Then they all went to Egypt to see the king, who gave Hadad a house, some food, and some land.
19 The king liked Hadad so much he gave Hadad a wife—the sister of Tahpenes, the king’s wife. 20 They had a son named Genubath. Queen Tahpenes brought him up in the royal palace with the king’s own children.
21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had died and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead also. So Hadad said to the king, “Let me go; I will return to my own country.”
22 “Why do you want to go back to your own country?” the king asked. “What haven’t I given you here?”
“Nothing,” Hadad answered, “but please, let me go.”
23 God also caused another man to be Solomon’s enemy—Rezon son of Eliada. Rezon had run away from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 After David defeated the army of Zobah, Rezon gathered some men and became the leader of a small army. They went to Damascus and settled there, and Rezon became king of Damascus. 25 Rezon ruled Aram, and he hated Israel. So he was an enemy of Israel all the time Solomon was alive. Both Rezon and Hadad made trouble for Israel.
26 Jeroboam son of Nebat was one of Solomon’s officers. He was an Ephraimite from the town of Zeredah, and he was the son of a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam turned against the king.
27 This is the story of how Jeroboam turned against the king. Solomon was filling in the land and repairing the wall of Jerusalem, the city of David, his father. 28 Jeroboam was a capable man, and Solomon saw that this young man was a good worker. So Solomon put him over all the workers from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh, who was wearing a new coat, met him on the road. The two men were alone out in the country. 30 Ahijah took his new coat and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces of this coat for yourself. The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear the kingdom away from Solomon and give you ten tribes. 32 But I will allow him to control one tribe. I will do this for the sake of my servant David and for Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. 33 I will do this because Solomon has stopped following me and has worshiped the Sidonian god Ashtoreth, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Molech. Solomon has not obeyed me by doing what I said is right and obeying my laws and commands, as his father David did.
34 “‘But I will not take all the kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him rule all his life because of my servant David, whom I chose, who obeyed all my commands and laws. 35 But I will take the kingdom away from his son, and I will allow you to rule over the ten tribes. 36 I will allow Solomon’s son to continue to rule over one tribe so that there will always be a descendant of David, my servant, in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to be worshiped. 37 But I will make you rule over everything you want. You will rule over all of Israel, 38 and I will always be with you if you do what I say is right. You must obey all my commands. If you obey my laws and commands as David did, I will be with you. I will make your family a lasting family of kings, as I did for David, and give Israel to you. 39 I will punish David’s children because of this, but I will not punish them forever.’”
Solomon’s Death
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he stayed until Solomon died.
41 Everything else King Solomon did, and the wisdom he showed, is written in the book of the history of Solomon. 42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 43 Then he died and was buried in Jerusalem, the city of David, his father. And his son Rehoboam became king in his place.
2 Does your life in Christ give you strength? Does his love comfort you? Do we share together in the spirit? Do you have mercy and kindness? 2 If so, make me very happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and having one mind and purpose. 3 When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead, be humble and give more honor to others than to yourselves. 4 Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.
Be Unselfish Like Christ
5 In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.
6 Christ himself was like God in everything.
But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit.
7 But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing.
He was born as a man
and became like a servant.
8 And when he was living as a man,
he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God,
even when that caused his death—death on a cross.
9 So God raised him to the highest place.
God made his name greater than every other name
10 so that every knee will bow to the name of Jesus—
everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
11 And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
and bring glory to God the Father.
Be the People God Wants You to Be
12 My dear friends, you have always obeyed God when I was with you. It is even more important that you obey now while I am away from you. Keep on working to complete your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 because God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing. 15 Then you will be innocent and without any wrong. You will be God’s children without fault. But you are living with crooked and mean people all around you, among whom you shine like stars in the dark world. 16 You offer the teaching that gives life. So when Christ comes again, I can be happy because my work was not wasted. I ran the race and won.
17 Your faith makes you offer your lives as a sacrifice in serving God. If I have to offer my own blood with your sacrifice, I will be happy and full of joy with all of you. 18 You also should be happy and full of joy with me.
Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I will be happy to learn how you are. 20 I have no one else like Timothy, who truly cares for you. 21 Other people are interested only in their own lives, not in the work of Jesus Christ. 22 You know the kind of person Timothy is. You know he has served with me in telling the Good News, as a son serves his father. 23 I plan to send him to you quickly when I know what will happen to me. 24 I am sure that the Lord will help me to come to you soon.
25 Epaphroditus, my brother in Christ, works and serves with me in the army of Christ. When I needed help, you sent him to me. I think now that I must send him back to you, 26 because he wants very much to see all of you. He is worried because you heard that he was sick. 27 Yes, he was sick, and nearly died, but God had mercy on him and me too so that I would not have more sadness. 28 I want very much to send him to you so that when you see him you can be happy, and I can stop worrying about you. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with much joy. Give honor to people like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to give me the help you could not give in your service to me.
The Holy Place of the Temple
41 The man brought me to the Holy Place and measured its side walls, which were each ten and one-half feet thick. 2 The entrance was seventeen and one-half feet wide. The walls alongside the entrance were each about nine feet wide. The man measured the Holy Place, which was seventy feet long and thirty-five feet wide.
3 Then the man went inside and measured the side walls of the next doorway. Each was three and one-half feet thick. The doorway was ten and one-half feet wide, and the walls next to it were each more than twelve feet thick. 4 Then the man measured the room at the end of the Holy Place. It was thirty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide. The man said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
5 Then the man measured the wall of the Temple, which was ten and one-half feet thick. There were side rooms seven feet wide all around the Temple. 6 The side rooms were on three different stories, each above the other, with thirty rooms on each story. All around the Temple walls there were ledges for the side rooms. The upper rooms rested on the ledges but were not attached to the Temple walls. 7 The side rooms around the Temple were wider on each higher story, so rooms were wider on the top story. A stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story.
8 I also saw that the Temple had a raised base all around. Its edge was the foundation for the side rooms, and it was ten and one-half feet thick. 9 The outer wall of the side rooms was about nine feet thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the Temple 10 and some other rooms. It was thirty-five feet wide and went all around the Temple. 11 The side rooms had doors which led to the open area around the outside of the Temple. One door faced north, and the other faced south. The open area was about nine feet wide all around.
12 The building facing the private area at the west side was one hundred twenty-two and one-half feet wide. The wall around the building was about nine feet thick and one hundred fifty-seven and one-half feet long.
13 Then the man measured the Temple. It was one hundred seventy-five feet long. The private area, including the building and its walls, was in all one hundred seventy-five feet long. 14 Also the front of the Temple and the private area on its east side were one hundred seventy-five feet wide.
15 The man measured the length of the building facing the private area on the west side, and it was one hundred seventy-five feet from one wall to the other.
The Holy Place, the Most Holy Place, and the outer porch 16 had wood panels on the walls. By the doorway, the Temple had wood panels on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor up to the windows, 17 up to the part of the wall above the entrance.
All the walls inside the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place, and on the outside, in the porch, 18 had carvings of creatures with wings and palm trees. A palm tree was between each carved creature, and every creature had two faces. 19 One was a human face looking toward the palm tree on one side. The other was a lion’s face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all around the Temple walls. 20 From the floor to above the entrance, palm trees and creatures with wings were carved. The walls of the Holy Place 21 had square doorposts. In front of the Most Holy Place was something that looked like 22 an altar of wood. It was more than five feet high and three feet wide. Its corners, base, and sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is in the presence of the Lord.” 23 Both the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place had double doors. 24 Each of the doors had two pieces that would swing open. 25 Carved on the doors of the Holy Place were palm trees and creatures with wings, like those carved on the walls. And there was a wood roof over the front Temple porch. 26 There were windows and palm trees on both side walls of the porch. The side rooms of the Temple were also covered by a roof over the stairway.
Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is good to praise you, Lord,
to sing praises to God Most High.
2 It is good to tell of your love in the morning
and of your loyalty at night.
3 It is good to praise you with the ten-stringed lyre
and with the soft-sounding harp.
4 Lord, you have made me happy by what you have done;
I will sing for joy about what your hands have done.
5 Lord, you have done such great things!
How deep are your thoughts!
6 Stupid people don’t know these things,
and fools don’t understand.
7 Wicked people grow like the grass.
Evil people seem to do well,
but they will be destroyed forever.
8 But, Lord, you will be honored forever.
9 Lord, surely your enemies,
surely your enemies will be destroyed,
and all who do evil will be scattered.
10 But you have made me as strong as an ox.
You have poured fine oils on me.
11 When I looked, I saw my enemies;
I heard the cries of those who are against me.
12 But good people will grow like palm trees;
they will be tall like the cedars of Lebanon.
13 Like trees planted in the Temple of the Lord,
they will grow strong in the courtyards of our God.
14 When they are old, they will still produce fruit;
they will be healthy and fresh.
15 They will say that the Lord is good.
He is my Rock, and there is no wrong in him.
The Majesty of the Lord
93 The Lord is king. He is clothed in majesty.
The Lord is clothed in majesty
and armed with strength.
The world is set,
and it cannot be moved.
2 Lord, your kingdom was set up long ago;
you are everlasting.
3 Lord, the seas raise,
the seas raise their voice.
The seas raise up their pounding waves.
4 The sound of the water is loud;
the ocean waves are powerful,
but the Lord above is much greater.
5 Lord, your laws will stand forever.
Your Temple will be holy forevermore.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.