M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon Instructed to Build the Temple
28 David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king, and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors.(A) 2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.(B) 3 But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.’(C) 4 Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my ancestral house to be king over Israel forever, for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took delight in making me king over all Israel.(D) 5 And of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.(E) 6 He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.(F) 7 I will establish his kingdom forever, if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.’(G) 8 Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and search out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.
9 “And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart, for the Lord searches every mind and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.(H) 10 Take heed, now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.”(I)
11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plan of the vestibule and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the cover,(J) 12 and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the Lord, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts;(K) 13 for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, and all the work of the service in the house of the Lord; for all the vessels for the service in the house of the Lord,(L) 14 the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service, the weight of silver vessels for each service, 15 the weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, the weight of silver for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each in the service,(M) 16 the weight of gold for each table for the rows of bread, the silver for the silver tables, 17 and pure gold for the forks, the basins, and the cups; for the golden bowls and the weight of each; for the silver bowls and the weight of each; 18 for the altar of incense made of refined gold and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.(N)
19 “All this, in writing at the Lord’s direction, he made clear to me—the plan of all the works.”(O)
20 David said further to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.(P) 21 Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and with you in all the work will be every volunteer who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.”(Q)
False Prophets and Their Punishment
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.(A) 2 Even so, many will follow their debaucheries, and because of these teachers[a] the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.(B)
4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains[b] of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment;(C) 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;(D) 6 and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to destruction[c] and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;[d] 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the debauchery of the lawless(E) 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous until the day of judgment, when they will be punished(F) 10 —especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust and who despise authority.
Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,[e](G) 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgment.[f] 12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and as those creatures are destroyed,[g] they also will be destroyed, 13 suffering[h] the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures[i] while they feast with you.(H) 14 They have eyes full of adultery,[j] insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,[k] who loved the wages of doing wrong(I) 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.(J) 18 For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with debased[l] desires of the flesh they entice people who have just[m] escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them.(K) 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the[n] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.(L) 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.(M) 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
“The dog turns back to its own vomit,”
and,
“The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.”(N)
5 [a]Now you are walled around with a wall;[b]
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the ruler of Israel
upon the cheek.(A)
The Ruler from Bethlehem
2 [c]But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.(B)
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.(C)
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,(D)
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
If the Assyrians come into our land
and tread upon our soil,[d]
we will raise against them seven shepherds
and eight rulers.(E)
6 They shall rule the land of Assyria with the sword
and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword;[e]
they[f] shall rescue us from the Assyrians
if they come into our land
or tread within our border.(F)
The Future Role of the Remnant
7 Then the remnant of Jacob,
surrounded by many peoples,
shall be like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not depend upon people
or wait for any mortal.(G)
8 And among the nations the remnant of Jacob,
surrounded by many peoples,
shall be like a lion among the animals of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which, when it goes through, treads down
and tears in pieces, with no one to deliver.(H)
9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.(I)
10 On that day, says the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;(J)
11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
and destroy all your strongholds;(K)
12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more soothsayers;(L)
13 and I will cut off your images
and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands;
14 and I will uproot your sacred poles[g] from among you
and destroy your towns.(M)
15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.(N)
Jesus Heals the Man with Edema
14 On one occasion when Jesus[a] was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.(A) 2 Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had edema. 3 And Jesus asked the experts in the law and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?”(B) 4 But they were silent. So Jesus[b] took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child[c] or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?”(C) 6 And they could not reply to this.
Humility and Hospitality
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.(D) 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host,(E) 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.(F) 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”(G)
12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.(H) 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The Parable of the Great Dinner
15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”(I) 16 Then Jesus[d] said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17 At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’(J) 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ 20 Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’(K) 21 So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’(L) 22 And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you,[e] none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’ ”(M)
The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.(N) 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.(O) 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.(P)
About Salt
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?[f](Q) 35 It is useful neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. If you have ears to hear, then hear!”(R)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.