M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God Speaks Against Bethel
13 The Lord commanded a man of God from Judah to go to the city of Bethel. King Jeroboam was standing at the altar offering incense when the man of God arrived. 2 The Lord had commanded the man of God to speak against the altar. He said,
“Altar, the Lord says to you: ‘David’s family will have a son. His name will be Josiah. The priests of the high places are now burning incense on you, but Josiah will offer the priests on you and burn human bones on you, so you can never be used again!’”
3 The man of God gave proof to the people that this would happen. He said, “This is the proof that the Lord told me about. He said, ‘This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall onto the ground.’”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the message from the man of God about the altar in Bethel, he took his hand off the altar and pointed at the man. He said, “Arrest that man!” But when the king said this, his arm became paralyzed. He could not move it. 5 Then the altar broke into pieces, and all its ashes fell onto the ground. This proved that what the man of God had said came from the Lord. 6 Then King Jeroboam said to the man of God, “Please pray to the Lord your God for me. Ask him to heal my arm.”
So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s arm was healed, as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Please come home with me. Come and eat with me. I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “I will not go home with you, even if you give me half of your kingdom! I will not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 The Lord commanded me not to eat or drink anything here. He also commanded me not to go back the same way I came.” 10 So he took a different road home. He did not go back the same way he came to Bethel.
11 There was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the man of God did in Bethel and what he said to King Jeroboam. 12 The old prophet said, “Which way did he go when he left?” So the sons showed their father which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 The old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey. They put the saddle on the donkey, and the prophet left.
14 The old prophet went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked him, “Are you the man of God who just came from Judah?”
The man of God answered, “Yes, I am.”
15 So the old prophet said, “Please come home and eat with me.”
16 But the man of God said, “I cannot go home with you. I cannot eat or drink anything in this place. 17 The Lord said to me, ‘You must not eat or drink anything in that place, and you must go back on a different road.’”
18 The old prophet lied to him and said, “But I am a prophet like you. And an angel from the Lord came to me and told me to bring you home and give you something to eat and drink.”
19 So the man of God went to the old prophet’s house and ate and drank with him. 20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke to the old prophet, 21 and the old prophet spoke to the man of God from Judah. He said, “The Lord said that you did not obey him! You did not do what he commanded. 22 He told you not to eat or drink anything in this place, but you came back here and ate and drank. So your body will not be buried in your family grave.”
23 The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet saddled the man’s donkey for him and the man left. 24 On the way home, a lion attacked and killed the man of God. His body was lying on the road while the lion stood next to it. The donkey stood nearby. 25 Some people came walking by and saw the body and the lion standing by it. They went into the city where the old prophet lived and told people what they had seen on the road.
26 The old prophet heard the story and said, “This is the man of God who did not obey the Lord’s command, so the Lord sent a lion to attack him. The lion has killed him, just as the Lord said would happen.” 27 Then the prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey, and they did so. 28 The old prophet went to find the body lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were still standing near it. The lion had not eaten the body or hurt the donkey.
29 The old prophet put the body on his donkey and carried it back to the city to cry for him and bury him. 30 The old prophet buried the man in his own family grave. The old prophet cried for him and said, “Oh, my brother, I am sorry for you.” 31 So the old prophet buried the body. Then he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in this same grave. Put my bones next to his. 32 The Lord used him to speak against the altar at Bethel and against the high places in the other towns in Samaria. And what he said will certainly happen.”
33 King Jeroboam did not change. He continued doing evil. He continued to choose people from different tribes to serve as priests[a] at the high places. Whoever wanted to be a priest was allowed to be one. 34 This is the sin that caused the ruin and destruction of his kingdom.
Some Things to Do
4 My dear brothers and sisters, I love you and want to see you. You bring me joy and make me proud of you. Continue following the Lord as I have told you.
2 Euodia and Syntyche, you both belong to the Lord, so please agree with each other. 3 For this I make a special request to my friend who has served with me so faithfully: Help these women. They worked hard with me in telling people the Good News, together with Clement and others who worked with me. Their names are written in the book of life.[a]
4 Always be filled with joy in the Lord. I will say it again. Be filled with joy.
5 Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. 7 And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.[b]
8 Brothers and sisters, continue to think about what is good and worthy of praise. Think about what is true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. 9 And do what you learned and received from me—what I told you and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.
Paul Thanks the Philippian Believers
10 I am so happy, and I thank the Lord that you have again shown your care for me. You continued to care about me, but there was no way for you to show it. 11 I am telling you this, but not because I need something. I have learned to be satisfied with what I have and with whatever happens. 12 I know how to live when I am poor and when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of how to live through any kind of situation—when I have enough to eat or when I am hungry, when I have everything I need or when I have nothing. 13 Christ is the one who gives me the strength I need to do whatever I must do.
14 But it was good that you helped me when I needed help. 15 You people in Philippi remember when I first told the Good News there. When I left Macedonia, you were the only church that gave me help. 16 Several times you sent me things I needed when I was in Thessalonica. 17 Really, it is not that I want to get gifts from you. But I want you to have the benefit that comes from giving. 18 I have everything I need. I have even more than I need. I have all I need because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. Your gift is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice offered to God. God accepts that sacrifice and it pleases him. 19 My God will use his glorious riches to give you everything you need. He will do this through Christ Jesus. 20 Glory to our God and Father forever and ever. Amen.
21 Give our greetings to God’s people there—to each one who belongs to Christ Jesus. Those in God’s family who are with me send you their greetings. 22 And greetings to you from all of God’s people here, especially those who work in the service of the emperor.
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The Lord Will Live Among His People
43 The man led me to the east gate. 2 There the Glory of the God of Israel came from the east. God’s voice was loud like the sound of the sea. The ground was bright with the light from the Glory of God. 3 The vision that I saw was like the vision I saw by the Kebar Canal. I bowed with my face to the ground. 4 The Glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the east gate.
5 Then the Spirit[a] picked me up and brought me into the inner courtyard. The Glory of the Lord filled the Temple. 6 I heard someone speaking to me from inside the Temple. The man was still standing beside me. 7 The voice from the Temple said to me, “Son of man,[b] this is the place with my throne and footstool. I will live in this place among the people of Israel forever. The family of Israel will not ruin my holy name again. The kings and their people will not bring shame to my name by committing sexual sins[c] or by burying the dead bodies of their kings in this place. 8 They will not bring shame to my name by putting their threshold next to my threshold, and their doorposts next to my doorposts. In the past, only a wall separated them from me. So they brought shame to my name every time they sinned and did those terrible things. That is why I became angry and destroyed them. 9 Now let them take their sexual sins and the dead bodies of their kings far away from me. Then I will live among them forever.
10 “Now, son of man, tell the family of Israel about the Temple. Then, when they learn about the plans for the Temple, they will be ashamed of their sins. 11 And they will be ashamed of all the bad things they have done. Let them know the design of the Temple. Let them know how it should be built, where the entrances and exits are, and all the designs on it. Teach them about all its rules and all its laws. Write these things for everyone to see so that they can obey all the laws and rules for the Temple. 12 This is the law of the Temple: The whole area surrounding it on the top of the mountain is most holy. This is the law of the Temple.
The Altar
13 “These are the measurements of the altar in cubits using the long measurement[d]: There was a gutter all the way around the base of the altar. It was 1 cubit[e] deep, and each side was 1 cubit wide. There was a rim around the edge 1 span[f] high. This is how tall the altar was: 14 From the ground to the lower ledge, the base measured 2 cubits.[g] It was 1 cubit wide. It measured 4 cubits[h] from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge. It was 2 cubits wide. 15 The place for the fire on the altar was 4 cubits high. The four corners were shaped like horns. 16 The place for the fire on the altar was 12 cubits[i] long by 12 cubits wide. It was perfectly square. 17 The ledge was also square, 14 cubits[j] long by 14 cubits wide. The border around it was 1/2 cubit[k] wide. (The gutter around the base was 1 cubit wide.) The steps going up to the altar were on the east side.”
18 Then the man said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Lord God says: ‘These are the rules for the altar: At the time you build the altar, use these rules to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood on it. 19 You will give a young bull as a sin offering to the men from Zadok’s family. These men are the priests from the tribe of Levi. They are the men who serve me by bringing the offerings to me.’” This is what the Lord God said. 20 “You will take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the altar’s four horns, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim around it. In this way you will make the altar pure. 21 Then take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the proper place in the Temple area, outside the Temple building.
22 “On the second day you will offer a male goat that has nothing wrong with it. It will be for a sin offering. The priests will make the altar pure the same way they made it pure with the bull. 23 When you have finished making the altar pure, you will offer a young bull that has nothing wrong with it and a ram from the flock that has nothing wrong with it. 24 Then you will offer them before the Lord. The priests will sprinkle salt on them. Then they will offer the bull and ram up as a burnt offering to the Lord. 25 You will prepare a goat every day for seven days for a sin offering. Also, you will prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. 26 For seven days, the priests will make the altar pure and ready for use in worshiping God. 27 On the eighth day, and every day after that, the priests must offer your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you.” This is what the Lord God said.
95 Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
2 Come and worship him with songs of thanks.[a]
Let us sing happy songs of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
the great King ruling over all the other “gods.”
4 The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him.
5 The ocean is his—he created it.
He made the dry land with his own hands.
6 Come, let us bow down and worship him!
Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
7 He is our God,
and we are the people he cares for,
his sheep that walk by his side.
Listen to his voice today:
8 “Don’t be stubborn, as you were at Meribah,
as you were at Massah[b] in the desert.
9 Your ancestors doubted and tested me,
even after they saw what I could do!
10 I was angry with them for 40 years.
I said, ‘They are not faithful to me.
They refuse to do what I say.’
11 So in my anger I made this vow:
‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”
96 Sing a new song[c] to the Lord!
Let the whole world sing to the Lord!
2 Sing to the Lord and praise his name!
Tell the good news every day about how he saves us!
3 Tell all the nations how wonderful he is!
Tell people everywhere about the amazing things he does.
4 The Lord is great and worthy of praise.
He is more awesome than any of the “gods.”
5 All the “gods” in other nations are nothing but statues,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 He lives in the presence of glory and honor.
His Temple is a place of power and beauty.
7 Praise the Lord, all people of every nation;
praise the Lord’s glory and power.
8 Give the Lord praise worthy of his glory!
Come, bring your offerings into his courtyard.
9 Worship the Lord in all his holy beauty.
Everyone on earth should tremble before him.
10 Tell the nations that the Lord is King!
The world stands firm and cannot be moved.
He will judge all people fairly.
11 Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be happy!
Let the sea and everything in it shout for joy!
12 Let the fields and everything in them be happy!
Let the trees in the forest sing for joy
13 when they see the Lord coming!
He is coming to rule[d] the world.
He will rule all the nations of the world
with justice and fairness.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International