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 slaves.

⁷ Solomon placed 12 governors over the districts of Israel. They had to gather food from their districts. Then they were to give it to the king and his family. Each governor was responsible for giving food to the king one month of each year. ⁸ These are the names of the 12 governors:

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

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

¹⁰ Ben-Hesed was governor over Arubboth, Socoh and Hepher.

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

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

¹³ Ben-Geber was governor over Ramoth in Gilead. (He was governor over all the Towns of Jair in Gilead. Jair was the son of Manasseh. Ben-Geber was also over the district of Argob in Bashan. It had 60 large, walled cities with bronze bars on their gates.)

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo was governor over Mahanaim.

¹⁵ Ahimaaz was governor over Naphtali. (He was married to Basemath daughter of Solomon.)

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

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat son of Paruah was governor over Issachar.

¹⁸ Shimei son of Ela was governor over Benjamin.

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri was governor over Gilead. (Gilead was the country where Sihon king of the Amorite people lived. Og king of Bashan also lived there.) But Geber was the only governor over the district.

Solomon’s Kingdom

²⁰ There were many people in Judah and Israel. There were as many people as there were 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 Philistine people. His kingdom went as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought Solomon the payments he demanded. And they obeyed him all his life.

²² Solomon needed much food each day to feed himself and all the people who ate at his table. It took 185 bushels of fine flour and 375 bushels of meal. ²³ It also took 10 cows that were fed good grain, 20 cows that were raised in the fields and 100 sheep. And it took 3 different kinds of deer and fat birds.

²⁴ Solomon ruled over all the countries west of the Euphrates River. This was the land from Tiphsah to Gaza. And Solomon had peace on all sides of his kingdom. ²⁵ During Solomon’s life Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,^[a] lived in peace. Each man was able to sit under his own fig trees and grapevines.

²⁶ Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses. And he had 12,000 chariot soldiers. ²⁷ Each month one of the district governors gave King Solomon all the food he needed. This was enough for every person who ate at the king’s table. The governors made sure he had everything he needed. ²⁸ They also gave the king enough barley and straw for the chariot and work horses. Each person brought this grain to the required places.

Solomon’s Wisdom

²⁹ God gave great wisdom to Solomon. Solomon could understand many things. His wisdom was as hard to measure as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰ His wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men in the East. And his wisdom was greater than all the wisdom of the men in Egypt. ³¹ He was wiser than any other man on earth. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite. He was wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda. They were the sons of Mahol. King Solomon became famous in all the countries around Israel and Judah. ³² During his life King Solomon spoke 3,000 wise teachings. He also knew 1,005 songs. ³³ He taught about many different kinds of plants. He taught about everything from the great cedar trees of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows 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 listen to him. These kings had heard of Solomon’s wisdom.

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple

5 Now King Hiram was the king of Tyre. He had always been a friend of David. Hiram heard that Solomon had been made king in David’s place. So he sent his messengers to Solomon. ² Then Solomon sent this message back to King Hiram: ³ “You remember that my father David had to fight many wars with the countries around him. So he was never able to build a temple for worship to 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. There is peace on all sides of my country. I have no enemies now. My people are in no danger.

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

⁷ When Hiram heard what Solomon asked, he was very happy. He said, “I thank 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. 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. Then I will float them down the shore to the place you choose. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. In return you will 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 125,000 bushels of wheat each year. It was to feed all those who lived with Hiram. And Solomon gave him about 115,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year.

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

¹³ King Solomon forced 30,000 men of Israel to help in this work. ¹⁴ He put a man named Adoniram over them. Solomon sent a group of 10,000 men each month to Lebanon. So each group worked in Lebanon one month. Then it went home for two months. ¹⁵ Solomon forced 80,000 men to work in the hill country, cutting stone. And he had 70,000 men to carry the stones. ¹⁶ There were also 3,300 men who directed the workers. ¹⁷ King Solomon commanded them to cut large blocks of fine stone. These were to be used for the foundation of the Temple. ¹⁸ Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders and the men from Byblos carved the stones. They prepared the stones and the logs for building the Temple.

From Death to Life

2 In the past your spiritual lives were dead because of your sins and the things you did wrong against God. ² Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives. You followed 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. We lived trying to please our sinful selves. We did 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 We were spiritually dead because of the things we did wrong against God. But God 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 of us who are in Christ Jesus. ⁷ He did this so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace. He shows that grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believe. You did not save yourselves. It was a gift from God. ⁹ You cannot brag that you are saved by the work you have done. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had planned for us to live our lives doing them.

One in Christ

¹¹ You were born non-Jews. 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 Yes, at one time you were far away from God. But now in Christ Jesus you are brought near to God through the blood of Christ’s death. ¹⁴ Because of Christ we now have peace. Christ made both Jews and non-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. Christ’s purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him. By doing this Christ would make peace. ¹⁶ Through the cross Christ ended the hatred between the two groups. And after Christ made the two groups to be one body, he wanted to bring them back to God. Christ did this with his death on the cross. ¹⁷ Christ came and preached peace to you non-Jews who were far away from God. And he preached peace to those Jews who were near to God. ¹⁸ Yes, through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.

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

Prophecy Against Edom

35 The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: ² “Human being, look toward Mount Edom and prophesy against it. ³ Say to it: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Mount Edom. I will stretch out my hand against you. And I will 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 “‘This is because you have always been an enemy of Israel. You let them be defeated in war when they were in trouble. It was 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. You did not hate murdering people, so murder will chase you. ⁷ And I will make Mount Edom an empty ruin. And I will 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. They will fall 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, this is true. I will treat you just as you treated them. When you were angry and jealous, you acted hatefully against them. I will punish you. And that is how I will show the Israelites who I am. ¹² Then you will know that I, the Lord God, have heard all your insults. Those insults were 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 Edom and all Edom, you will become an empty ruin. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.’”

A Prayer for the Nation

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