M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh’s house. ² The house which King Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits,^[a] and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. ³ The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house. ⁴ He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. ⁵ Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around. ⁶ The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. ⁷ The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. ⁸ The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. ⁹ So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰ He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹ Yahweh’s word came to Solomon, saying, ¹² “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. ¹³ I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it. ¹⁵ He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. He covered the floor of the house with cypress boards. ¹⁶ He built twenty cubits of the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place. ¹⁷ In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. ¹⁹ He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there. ²⁰ Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He covered the altar with cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. ²² He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.

²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim^[b] of olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits was the length of the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits. ²⁵ The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. ²⁶ One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub. ²⁷ He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. ²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. ³¹ For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. ³² So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. ³³ He also made the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall, ³⁴ and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. ³⁶ He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

3 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, ² if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you, ³ how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words, ⁴ by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, ⁶ that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News, ⁷ of which I was made a servant according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. ⁸ To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make all men see what is the administration^[a] of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. ¹³ Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.

¹⁴ For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

36 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word. ² The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’ ³ therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” ⁴ therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; ⁵ therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’ ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” ⁷ Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’

⁸ “‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be built. ¹¹ I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹² Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”

¹³ “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’ ¹⁴ therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵ “I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁶ Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds. ²⁰ When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are Yahweh’s people, and have left his land.’ ²¹ But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

²² “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

²⁴ “‘“For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them. ²⁸ You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. ³⁰ I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.

³¹ “‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. ³² I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”

³³ “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. ³⁴ The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵ They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

³⁷ “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock. ³⁸ As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so the waste cities will be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

A Prayer by David.