M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Prayer
12 Then he stood before the altar of Adonai in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands. 13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high and placed it in the midst of the court. He stood on it and knelt down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven 14 and he said,
“Adonai, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the heavens or in the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart. 15 You have kept the promise You made to Your servant David, my father. Surely you spoke with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand—as it is today.
16 “Now therefore, Adonai, God of Israel, keep for Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised him saying:
‘For you will never be cut off, you will not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne—if only your sons pay attention to their way, to walk in My Torah as you have walked before Me.’[a]
17 “Now therefore, Adonai God of Israel, let Your word, which You spoke to Your servant David, be confirmed.
18 “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold—heaven even the highest heaven—cannot contain You. How much less this House that I have built! 19 Yet attend to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, Adonai my God, to hear the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You 20 that Your eyes may be open toward this House day and night, toward the place where You have said You would put Your Name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant will pray toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven, and when You hear, forgive.
22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is required to swear an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this House, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge Your servants, repaying the wicked by bringing down on his own head what he has done and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.[b]
24 “If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, yet when they return and confess Your Name, praying and making supplication before You in this House, 25 then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and to their fathers.
26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and confess Your Name, turning from their sin because You afflicted them, 27 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel. Indeed may You teach them the good way in which they should walk. Send rain upon Your land that You have given to Your people for an inheritance.
28 “When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locust or grasshopper, when their enemies besiege them in the land by their gates, whatever plague or sickness may come, 29 and any prayer or plea is offered by any individual or by all Your people Israel—each acknowledging his own afflictions and pain, even spreading his hands toward this House— 30 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place and forgive. May You give to every man according to all his ways, as You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of the children of men— 31 so that they will fear You and walk in Your ways all the days that they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
32 “Moreover, concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but comes from a distant land for the sake of Your great Name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this House, 33 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place and do whatever the foreigner asks of You. Then all the peoples of the earth will acknowledge Your Name and revere You, as Your people Israel do, and they will know that this House which I have built is called by Your Name.
34 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and they pray to You toward this city that You have chosen and the House that I have built for Your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their petition, and uphold their cause.
36 When they sin against You—for there is no man that does not sin[c]—and You become angry with them and hand them over to the enemy who takes them captive to a land far off or near, 37 when they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and they repent and seek You in the land of their captivity saying,
‘We have sinned,
we have committed inquity,
we have acted wickedly,’
38 “and they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and they pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers and the city which You have chosen and toward the House which I have built for Your Name, 39 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions and uphold their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.
40 “Now my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open, and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.
41 Now arise, Adonai Elohim,
to Your resting place,
You and the Ark of Your might.
May Your kohanim, Adonai Elohim, be clothed with salvation,
and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.
42 Adonai Elohim, do not reject Your anointed one.
Remember the loyalty of Your servant David.”
5 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the one born of Him.
Love God—Live God’s Word
2 We know that we love God’s children by this—when we love God and obey His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God—that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And the victory that has overcome the world is this—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim?
Believe God’s Own Testimony of Yeshua
6 Messiah Yeshua is the One who came by water and blood—not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify— 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one. [a] 9 If we accept men’s testimony, God’s testimony is greater—for this it is the testimony that God has given about His Son. 10 The one who trusts in Ben-Elohim has the testimony in himself; the one who does not trust in God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. 11 And the testimony is this—that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have Ben-Elohim does not have life.
Walk Now in Eternal Privileges
13 I wrote these things to you who believe in the name of Ben-Elohim, so you may know that you have eternal life. 14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him—that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and God will give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death—I am not saying you should ask about that. [b] 17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not leading to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; rather, the One born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that Ben-Elohim has come and given us insight, so that we may know Him who is true—and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Yeshua the Messiah. This One is the true God and eternal life.
21 Children, guard yourselves from idols.[c]
Burden for Justice in Judah
1 The oracle[a] that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 How long, Adonai, have I cried for help,
yet You do not hear?
I cry out to You—‘Violence!’
yet You do not deliver.
3 Why do You show me wickedness,
and why must I behold mischief?
Yes, devastation and violence are before me.
There is strife, and contention arises.
4 Therefore, Torah has no effect,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked encircle the righteous
Therefore justice comes out perverted.
Adonai’s Answer: Chaldeans
5 “Look among the nations! Observe!
Astonish yourself! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days.
You will not believe it if it were told.[b]
6 For I am about to raise up the Chaldeans,
that bitter, impetuous nation,
marching all over the land,
to seize dwellings not its own.
7 Dreadful and terrifying,
Its justice and dignity derive from itself.
8 Its horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Its horsemen come galloping.
Its horsemen are coming from afar.
They fly like a vulture,[c] swooping down to eat.
9 All of them come for violence—
an assembling of faces to the east.
He gathers captives like sand.
10 He scoffs at kings,
and rulers are a joke to him.
He laughs at every stronghold—
he heaps up dirt and takes it.
11 Then a wind sweeps through and passes on.
He is guilty—This, his strength, is his god.”
Appeal for Justice on Chaldea
12 Are not You from antiquity—
Adonai my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
Adonai, You have ordained him for judgment—
as You, O Rock, have established him to chasten.
13 With eyes too pure to see evil
You cannot look at such trouble!
Why do You look at the treacherous?
Why do You remain silent when a wicked one
swallows up those more righteous than him?
14 You made man like the fish of the sea,
like a creeping thing—with no one ruling over him.
15 He brings up all with hook in jaw,
drags away in his dragnet,
or gathers with his fishing-net.
Therefore he rejoices with glee.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet,
and offers incense to his fishing-net.
For through them his portion is rich
and his food abundant.
17 Will he empty his net for this reason
—continually slaying nations—with no compassion?
20 On one of the days while Yeshua was teaching the people in the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars, together with the elders, confronted Him. 2 And they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is the one who gave You this authority?”
3 But answering, Yeshua said to them, “I also will ask you a question, and you tell Me: 4 the immersion of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5 They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ then all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John is a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they didn’t know where it came from.
8 And Yeshua said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,[a] leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time. 10 And at the season, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him part of the vineyard’s fruit. But the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. 11 So he proceeded to send another servant. They beat him too and treated him shamefully, and they sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he proceeded to send a third one. They wounded this one too, and they threw him out.
13 “Now the master of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Probably they will show him respect.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they discussed the matter among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the master of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
But when they heard this, they said, “May it never happen!”
17 Then Yeshua looked right at them and said, “Then what is this that has been written,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
this has become the chief cornerstone’?[b]
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be shattered; but the one upon whom it falls, it will crush him.”[c]
19 The Torah scholars and the ruling kohanim tried to grab Him that very hour, because they realized that He spoke this parable against them—but they feared the people.
Silencing the Opposition
20 Now they watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to trap Him in His words so they could hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 And they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You tell it straight and You teach it straight. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God according to the truth. 22 Is it permitted for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 But carefully considering their treachery, Yeshua said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius.[d] Whose image and inscription does it have?”
And they said, “Caesar’s.”
25 Then He said to them, “Well then, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they could not trap Him in His words in the presence of the people. Astonished by His answer, they kept silent.
27 Then some of the Sadducees (who deny there is a resurrection) came and questioned Yeshua. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies’ having a wife ‘but no children, then his brother should take the widow and father children for his brother.’ [e] 29 Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died childless; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her, but in this same way, each of the seven brothers died and left no children. 32 Finally the woman died too. 33 So in the resurrection, whose wife is she? For all seven had married her.
34 Yeshua said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those considered worthy to reach the olam ha-ba and the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 For they can no longer die, because they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But at the burning bush even Moses revealed that the dead are raised, when he calls Adonai ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ [f] 38 Now He is God not of the dead but of the living, for to Him they all are living.”
39 Some of the Torah scholars replied, “Teacher, You have said it well.” 40 For they no longer dared to question Him about anything.
41 Then Yeshua said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is Ben-David? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
‘Adonai said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
43 until I make Your enemies a footstool
for Your feet.”’[g]
44 David then calls Him ‘Lord’; so how is He his son?”
45 Then with all the people listening, Yeshua said to the disciples, 46 “Beware of the Torah scholars, who like to walk around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at feasts. 47 They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers as a show. These men will receive greater condemnation!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.