M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
1 Solomon was David’s son, and he became a powerful king. This was because the Lord his God was with him. The Lord made Solomon very great.
2 Solomon spoke to all the people of Israel. He spoke to the commanders of 100 men and of 1,000 men. He spoke to the judges, to every leader in all Israel and to the leaders of the families. 3 Then Solomon and all the people gathered with him went to the place of worship. This was at the town of Gibeon. God’s Meeting Tent was there. Moses, the Lord’s servant, had made that Tent in the desert. 4 David had brought the Ark of the Covenant with God from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem. David had made a place for it there. He had set up a tent for it in Jerusalem. 5 Bezalel was Uri’s son, and Uri was Hur’s son. Bezalel had made a bronze altar. It was in Gibeon in front of the Holy Tent. So Solomon and the people worshiped the Lord there. 6 Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Meeting Tent. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on the altar.
7 That night God appeared to Solomon. God said, “Solomon, ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
8 Solomon answered, “You have been very kind to my father David. You have chosen me to be the king in his place. 9 Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David come true. You have made me king of a very large nation. There are so many of them they are like the dust of the earth. 10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead these people in the right way. No one can rule them without your help.”
11 God said to Solomon, “What you want is good. I have chosen you to be king of these people. You have not asked for wealth or riches or honor. You have not asked for your enemies to be killed. You have not asked for a long life. But you have asked for wisdom and knowledge to lead my people. 12 So I will give you wisdom and knowledge. I will also give you more wealth, riches and honor than any king who has lived before you. And the kings who will live after you will not have as much.”
13 Then Solomon left the place of worship at Gibeon. He left the Meeting Tent and went back to Jerusalem. There King Solomon ruled over Israel.
Solomon’s Wealth
14 Solomon gathered horses and chariots. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He put some horses and chariots in the cities where the chariots were kept. And he kept some with him in Jerusalem. 15 In Jerusalem, Solomon gathered much silver and gold. He got so much it was as common as rocks. He also gathered much cedar wood. It became as plentiful as the sycamore trees on the western mountain slopes. 16 Solomon imported horses from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought the horses in Kue. 17 They imported a chariot from Egypt for about 15 pounds of silver. And they imported a horse for nearly 4 pounds of silver. Then they sold the horses and chariots to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.
God Forgives Our Sins
1 We write you now about something that has always existed.
We have heard.
We have seen with our own eyes.
We have watched,
and we have touched with our hands.
We write to you about the Word[a] that gives life. 2 He who gives life was shown to us. We saw him, and we can give proof about it. And now we tell you that he has life that continues forever. The one who gives this life was with God the Father. God showed him to us. 3 Now we tell you what we have seen and heard because we want you to have fellowship with us. The fellowship we share together is with God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to you so that we may be full of joy.[b]
5 Here is the message we have heard from God and now tell to you: God is light,[c] and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 So if we say that we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, then we are liars. We do not follow the truth. 7 God is in the light. We should live in the light, too. If we live in the light, we share fellowship with each other. And when we live in the light, the blood of the death of Jesus, God’s Son, is making us clean from every sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, then we make God a liar. We do not accept God’s true teaching.
Micah Is Upset at the Evil That People Do
7 Poor me! I am like a hungry man.
And all the summer fruit has been picked.
There are no grapes left to eat.
There are none of the early figs I love.
2 All of the faithful people are gone.
There is not one good person left in this country.
Everyone is waiting to kill someone.
Everyone is trying to trap his brother.
3 People are good at doing evil with both hands.
Rulers ask for money.
And judges’ decisions are bought for a price.
Rich people make their wishes known.
They all join in their evil plans.
4 Even the best of them is like a thornbush.
Even the nicest of them is worse than a thornbush.
Your watchmen[a] warned you about this day.
Now it has come.
Now you will be punished.
Your punishment will amaze you.
5 Don’t trust your neighbor.
Don’t even trust a friend.
Be careful what you say,
even to your wife.
6 A son will not honor his father.
A daughter will turn against her mother.
A daughter-in-law will fight with her mother-in-law.
A person’s enemies will be members of his own family.
The Lord’s Kindness
7 Israel says, “I will look to the Lord for help.
I will wait for God to save me.
My God will hear me.
8 Enemy, don’t laugh at me.
I have fallen, but I will get up again.
I sit in the shadow of trouble now.
But the Lord will be a light for me.
9 I sinned against the Lord.
So he was angry with me.
But he will defend my case in court.
He will do what is right for me.
Then he will bring me out into the light.
I will see him set things right.
10 Then my enemies will see this,
and they will be ashamed.
My enemies said to me,
‘Where is the Lord your God?’
Now I will laugh at them.
They will fall down defeated, like the mud people walk on.”
The Jews to Return
11 The time will come when your walls will be built again.
At that time your country will grow.
12 Your people will come back to your land.
They will come from Assyria and the cities of Egypt.
They will come from the countries
between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates River.
They will come from the countries
between the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the mountains in the east.
13 The rest of the earth will be ruined.
This is because of what the people who lived in it did.
A Prayer to God
14 So shepherd your people with your stick.
Tend the flock of people who belong to you.
That flock now lives alone in the desert.
But there is fertile pasture nearby.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as they did long ago.
15 The Lord says, “I did many miracles when I brought you out of Egypt.
I will show you more miracles like that.”
16 The nations will see those miracles.
Then they will no longer brag about their power.
They will be amazed and put their hands over their mouths.
They will refuse to listen.
17 They will crawl in the dust like a snake.
They will shake with fear.
They will crawl on the ground
like insects crawling from their holes.
They will come trembling to you, Lord our God.
They will tremble in fear before you.
18 There is no God like you.
You forgive people who are guilty of sin.
You don’t look at the sins of your people
who are left alive.
You, Lord, will not stay angry forever.
You enjoy being kind.
19 Lord, you will have mercy on us again.
You will conquer our sins.
You will throw away all our sins
into the deepest sea.
20 You will be true to the people of Jacob!
You will be kind to the people of Abraham.
You will do what you promised
to our ancestors long ago.
True Wealth
16 Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He had a manager to take care of his business. Later, the rich man learned that his manager was cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can’t be my manager any longer!’ 3 Later, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me! I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. 4 I know! I’ll do something so that when I lose my job, people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He said to the first man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 The man answered, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; sit down quickly and make the bill less. Write 400 gallons.’ 7 Then the manager said to another man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The man answered, ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 800 bushels.’ 8 Later, the master praised the dishonest manager for being smart. Yes, worldly people are smarter with their own kind than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed in that home that continues forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with large things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in large things too. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then you will not be trusted with the true riches. 12 And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, then you will not be given things of your own.
13 “No servant can serve two masters. He will hate one master and love the other. Or he will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
God’s Law Cannot Be Changed
14 The Pharisees were listening to all these things. They made fun of Jesus because they all loved money. 15 Jesus said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people. But God knows what is really in your hearts. The things that are important to people are worth nothing to God.
16 “God wanted the people to live by the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But ever since John[a] came, the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told. Now everyone is trying hard to get into the kingdom. 17 Even the smallest part of a letter in the law cannot be changed. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. He lived in luxury every day. 20 There was also a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores. Lazarus was often placed at the rich man’s gate. 21 He wanted to eat only the small pieces of food that fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs would come and lick his sores! 22 Later, Lazarus died. The angels took Lazarus and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man died, too, and was buried. 23 But he was sent to where the dead are and had much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life, but all the bad things happened to Lazarus. Now Lazarus is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you. And no one can leave there and come here.’ 27 The rich man said, ‘Then please send Lazarus to my father’s house on earth! 28 I have five brothers. Lazarus could warn my brothers so that they will not come to this place of pain.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to read; let them learn from them!’ 30 The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! If someone came to them from the dead, they would believe and change their hearts and lives.’ 31 But Abraham said to him, ‘No! If your brothers won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, then they won’t listen to someone who comes back from death.’”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.