M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Man of God Speaks Against Bethel
13 The Lord commanded a man of God from Judah to go to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2 The Lord had commanded the man of God to speak against the altar. The man said, “Altar, altar, the Lord says to you: ‘David’s family will have a son named Josiah. The priests for the places of worship now make their sacrifices on you, but Josiah will sacrifice those priests on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’” 3 That same day the man of God gave proof that these things would happen. “This is the Lord’s sign that this will happen,” he said. “This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall to the ground.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said about the altar in Bethel, the king raised his hand from the altar and pointed at the man. “Take him!” he said. But when the king said this, his arm was paralyzed, and he could not move it. 5 The altar also broke into pieces, and its ashes fell to the ground. This was the sign the Lord had told the man of God to give.
6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Please pray to the Lord your God for me, and ask him to heal my arm.”
So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s arm was healed, becoming as it was before.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Please come home and eat with me, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you gave me half of your kingdom, I would not go with you. I will not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 The Lord commanded me not to eat or drink anything nor to return on the same road by which I came.” 10 So he took a different road and did not return on the same road by which he had come to Bethel.
11 Now an old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to King Jeroboam. 12 The father asked, “Which road did he use when he left?” So his sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 Then the prophet told his sons to put a saddle on his donkey. So they saddled the donkey, and he left.
14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The prophet asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
The man answered, “Yes, I am.”
15 The prophet said, “Please come home and eat with me.”
16 “I can’t go home with you,” the man of God answered. “I can’t eat or drink with you in this place. 17 The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t eat or drink anything there or return on the same road by which you came.’”
18 Then the old prophet said, “But I also am a prophet like you.” Then he told a lie. He said, “An angel from the Lord came to me and told me to bring you to my home. He said you should eat and drink with me.” 19 So the man of God went to the old prophet’s house, and he ate and drank with him there.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet. 21 The old prophet cried out to the man of God from Judah, “The Lord said you did not obey him! He said you did not do what the Lord your God commanded you. 22 The Lord commanded you not to eat or drink anything in this place, but you came back and ate and drank. So your body will not be buried in your family grave.”
23 After the man of God finished eating and drinking, the prophet put a saddle on his donkey for him, and the man left. 24 As he was traveling home, a lion attacked and killed him. His body lay on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing nearby. 25 Some men who were traveling on that road saw the body and the lion standing nearby. So they went to the city where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.
26 The old prophet who had brought back the man of God heard what had happened. “It is the man of God who did not obey the Lord’s command,” he said. “So the Lord sent a lion to kill him, just as he said he would.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey,” which they did. 28 The old prophet went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion still standing nearby. The lion had not eaten the body or hurt the donkey. 29 The prophet put the body on his donkey and carried it back to the city to have a time of sadness for him and to bury him. 30 The prophet buried the body in his own family grave, and they were sad for the man of God and said, “Oh, my brother.”
31 After the prophet buried the body, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in this same grave. Put my bones next to his. 32 Through him the Lord spoke against the altar at Bethel and against the places of worship in the towns of Samaria. What the Lord spoke through him will certainly come true.”
33 After this incident King Jeroboam did not stop doing evil. He continued to choose priests for the places of worship from among all the people. Anyone who wanted to be a priest for the places of worship was allowed to be one. 34 In this way the family of Jeroboam sinned, and this sin caused its ruin and destruction from the earth.
What the Christians Are 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, so stand strong in the Lord as I have told you.
2 I ask Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 And I ask you, my faithful friend, to help these women. They served with me in telling the Good News, together with Clement and others who worked with me, whose names are written in the book of life.[a]
4 Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy.
5 Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. 6 Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks. 7 And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. 9 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 Christians
10 I am very happy in the Lord that you have shown your care for me again. You continued to care about me, but there was no way for you to show it. 11 I am not telling you this because I need anything. I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. 12 I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. 13 I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.
14 But it was good that you helped me when I needed it. 15 You Philippians remember when I first preached 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 receive gifts from you, but I want you to have the good that comes from giving. 18 And now I have everything, and more. I have all I need, because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. It is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice offered to God, who accepts that sacrifice and is pleased with it. 19 My God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. 20 Glory to our God and Father forever and ever! Amen.
21 Greet each of God’s people in Christ Jesus. Those who are with me send greetings to you. 22 All of God’s people greet you, particularly those from the palace of Caesar.
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
The Lord Among His People
43 Then the man led me to the outer east gateway, 2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. It sounded like the roar of rushing water, and its brightness made the earth shine. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when the Lord came to destroy the city and also like the vision I had seen by the Kebar River. I bowed facedown on the ground. 4 The glory of the Lord came into the Temple area through the east gateway.
5 Then the Spirit picked me up and brought me into the inner courtyard. There I saw the Lord’s glory filling the Temple. 6 As the man stood at my side, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the Temple. 7 The voice from the Temple said to me, “Human, this is my throne and the place where my feet rest. I will live here among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will not make my holy name unclean again. Neither the people nor their kings will make it unclean with their sexual sins or with the dead bodies of their kings. 8 The kings made my name unclean by putting their doorway next to my doorway, and their doorpost next to my doorpost so only a wall separated me from them. When they did their acts that I hate, they made my holy name unclean, and so I destroyed them in my anger. 9 Now let them stop their sexual sins and take the dead bodies of their kings far away from me. Then I will live among them forever.
10 “Human, tell the people of Israel about the Temple so they will be ashamed of their sins. Let them think about the plan of the Temple. 11 If they are ashamed of all they have done, let them know the design of the Temple and how it is built. Show them its exits and entrances, all its designs, and also all its rules and teachings. Write the rules as they watch so they will obey all the teachings and rules about the Temple. 12 This is the teaching about the Temple: All the area around the top of the mountain is most holy. This is the teaching about the Temple.
The Altar
13 “These are the measurements of the altar, using the measuring stick. The altar’s gutter is twenty-one inches high and twenty-one inches wide, and its rim is about nine inches around its edge. And the altar is this tall: 14 From the ground up to the lower ledge, it measures three and one-half feet. It is twenty-one inches wide. It measures seven feet from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge and is twenty-one inches wide. 15 The place where the sacrifice is burned on the altar is seven feet high, with its four corners shaped like horns and reaching up above it. 16 It is square, twenty-one feet long and twenty-one feet wide. 17 The upper ledge is also square, twenty-four and one-half feet long and twenty-four and one-half feet wide. The rim around the altar is ten and one-half inches wide, and its gutter is twenty-one inches wide all around. Its steps are on the east side.”
18 Then the man said to me, “Human, this is what the Lord God says: These are the rules for the altar. When it is built, use these rules to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood on it. 19 You must give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, the Levites who are from the family of Zadok and who come near me to serve me, says the Lord God. 20 Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the four corners of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. This is how you will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. 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 offer a male goat that has nothing wrong with it for a sin offering. The priests will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service as they did with the young bull. 23 When you finish making the altar pure and ready, offer a young bull and a male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. 24 You must offer them in the presence of the Lord, and the priests are to throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the Lord.
25 “You must prepare a goat every day for seven days as a sin offering. Also, the priests must prepare a young bull and male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. 26 For seven days the priests are to make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. Then they will give the altar to God. 27 After these seven days, on the eighth day, the priests must offer your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, says the Lord God.”
A Call to Praise and Obedience
95 Come, let’s sing for joy to the Lord.
Let’s shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
2 Let’s come to him with thanksgiving.
Let’s sing songs to him,
3 because the Lord is the great God,
the great King over all gods.
4 The deepest places on earth are his,
and the highest mountains belong to him.
5 The sea is his because he made it,
and he created the land with his own hands.
6 Come, let’s worship him and bow down.
Let’s kneel before the Lord who made us,
7 because he is our God
and we are the people he takes care of,
the sheep that he tends.
Today listen to what he says:
8 “Do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were at Meribah,
as they were that day at Massah in the desert.
9 There your ancestors tested me
and tried me even though they saw what I did.
10 I was angry with those people for forty years.
I said, ‘They are not loyal to me
and have not understood my ways.’
11 I was angry and made a promise,
‘They will never enter my rest.’”
Praise for the Lord’s Glory
96 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord and praise his name;
every day tell how he saves us.
3 Tell the nations of his glory;
tell all peoples the miracles he does,
4 because the Lord is great; he should be praised at all times.
He should be honored more than all the gods,
5 because all the gods of the nations are only idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 The Lord has glory and majesty;
he has power and beauty in his Temple.
7 Praise the Lord, all nations on earth;
praise the Lord’s glory and power.
8 Praise the glory of the Lord’s name.
Bring an offering and come into his Temple courtyards.
9 Worship the Lord because he is holy.
Tremble before him, everyone on earth.
10 Tell the nations, “The Lord is king.”
The earth is set, and it cannot be moved.
He will judge the people fairly.
11 Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad;
let the sea and everything in it shout.
12 Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 before the Lord, because he is coming.
He is coming to judge the world;
he will judge the world with fairness
and the peoples with truth.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.