M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon begins to build
3 Then Solomon began to build the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. He built it on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had shown himself to his father David.[a] David had prepared a place for the temple there, at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.[b] 2 Solomon began to build the temple on the second day of the second month of the fourth year that he ruled Israel as king.[c]
3 The foundation for God's temple was 27 metres long and 9 metres wide. (They measured it in cubits.)
4 There was an entrance room at the front of the temple's big hall. It was as wide as the temple, 9 metres wide. It was 9 metres high.[d] Solomon's workers covered the inside of the entrance room with pure gold.
5 They covered the walls inside the big hall with boards of cypress wood. Then they covered the boards with pure gold. They drew pictures of palm trees and chains on the walls. 6 They used valuable stones to make the temple beautiful. The gold that they used came from Parvaim. 7 They used gold to cover all parts of the temple: the beams for its roof, the entrances, the walls and the doors. They cut pictures of cherubs on the walls.
The Most Holy Place in the temple
8 Solomon's workers built the Most Holy Place in the temple. It was 9 metres long and 9 metres wide. That was how wide the temple itself was. They used about 20,000 kilograms of pure gold to cover its walls. 9 The gold nails weighed the same as 50 gold coins. They also covered the walls of the upstairs rooms with gold.
10 In the Most Holy Place, they made models of two cherubs. They covered them with gold. 11-13 The cherubs stood side by side in the Most Holy Place. Their faces looked towards the big hall. Each cherub had two wings. Each wing was 2.2 metres long. They held their wings out so that one wing of each cherub touched a wing of the other cherub. The other wing of each cherub touched a wall of the Most Holy Place. The four wings of the two cherubs reached across 9 metres.
14 Solomon's workers used blue, purple and red material and good linen to make a special curtain. It had pictures of cherubs on it.
The two pillars
15 Solomon's workers made two pillars to stand at the front of the temple. They were 16 metres high.[e] There was a piece on the top of each pillar that was 2.2 metres high.
16 They made images of chains around the top pieces of the pillars. They also made 100 images of pomegranates among the chains. 17 Then they put the two pillars at the entrance of the temple. One pillar stood on the south side of the entrance. The other pillar stood on the north side. Solomon called the pillar on the south side ‘Jakin’. He called the pillar on the north side ‘Boaz’.[f]
Solomon's workers make things for the temple
4 Solomon's workers made a bronze altar. It was 9 metres long, 9 metres wide and 4 metres high. 2 They used bronze to make a big bath which they called ‘the Sea’. It was in the shape of a circle 4½ metres across. It was 2½ metres deep. It was 14 metres around the outside.[g] 3 All around its edge, below the top, there were two rows of images of things that looked like bulls. They were all part of the same piece of bronze as the big bath. There were 20 bulls for every metre around the edge.
4 They put the bronze ‘Sea’ on top of 12 bronze bulls. Three pointed north, three pointed west, three pointed south and three pointed east. Their backs were towards the middle of the ‘Sea’. 5 The bronze walls of the ‘Sea’ were 7½ centimetres thick. Its top edge was like a cup in the shape of a lily flower. The ‘Sea’ contained about 65,000 litres of water.
6 They made ten bowls to wash in. They put five bowls on the south side and five bowls on the north side. The priests used them to wash all the things that they used for the burnt offerings. But the priests washed themselves in the water from the bronze ‘Sea’.
7 They used gold to make ten lampstands. They made them in the way that Solomon told them. They put the lampstands in the temple, five lampstands on the south side and five lampstands on the north side.[h]
8 They also made ten tables. They put them in the temple, five tables on the south side and five tables on the north side. They also used gold to make 100 bowls.
9 They made a small yard for the priests and another big yard with doors. They covered the doors with bronze. 10 They put the bronze ‘Sea’ on the south side of the temple, at its south-east corner.
11 Huram-Abi also made more pots, small tools and bowls. So he finished all the work in God's temple that King Solomon had asked him to do. He made these things:
12 two pillars;
two pieces for the top of each pillar, with the shape of big bowls;
rows of chains on the tops of the pillars;
13 400 images of pomegranates for the two groups of chains (there were two rows of these images around the piece at the top of each pillar, which had the shape of a bowl);
14 the carts with the buckets that were on them;
15 the big bronze bath called ‘the Sea’ and the 12 bulls under it;
16 the pots, small tools and forks for meat.
King Solomon asked Huram-Abi to make all these things for the Lord's temple. He used bright bronze to make all these things. 17 The king told his workers to pour the hot bronze into shapes in the ground. They did that at a special place in the region of the Jordan Valley, between Succoth and Zarethan. 18 Solomon did not weigh any of these things, because there were so many of them. No one ever knew the weight of the bronze.
Inside the temple
19 Solomon's workers also made all these things for God's temple:
the gold altar;
the tables which had the special bread on them;
20 the pure gold lampstands with their lamps (the plans showed how the lamps had to burn at the entrance of the Most Holy Place);
21 the gold images of flowers;
the lamps;
the small tools that held things for the altar;
22 the small tools of pure gold that they used for the lamps;
the bowls for water;
the dishes for ashes;
the baskets that carried hot coals;
the gold pieces that held the doors of the Most Holy Place;
the gold pieces that held the doors of the temple's big hall.
We are God's children
3 Think about how much God the Father loves us. He calls us his children! God loves us so much that we really have become his children. The people who belong to this world do not understand who God is. Because of that, they do not understand who we are. 2 My friends, we are already children of God. We do not yet know clearly what we will become. But we do know this: when Christ returns to this world, we will become like him. We will be like him because we will see him as he really is. 3 Christ is completely good. So all of us who hope to see him then must keep ourselves clean from sin.
4 If a person continues to do wrong things, he is choosing not to obey God's rules. Sin is when we do not obey God's rules. 5 You know that Jesus came into the world so that he might take away our sins. He himself is completely clean from sin. 6 Anyone who lives together with Christ does not continue to do wrong things. If anyone continues to do wrong things, that person has not understood who Christ is. He does not know Christ.
7 My little children, do not let anyone deceive you about sin. It is people who live in a good way that God accepts as right. In the same way, Jesus did only what is good and right. 8 People who continue to do wrong things show that they belong to the Devil. The Devil has always been doing wrong things from the beginning. This is why the Son of God came to the world. He came to destroy everything that the Devil has done.
9 Everybody who is a child of God does not continue to do wrong things. This is because God has given them a new life. He has caused them to become his children. So they cannot continue to do wrong things. 10 In this way, we can see clearly who are God's children and who are the Devil's children. Anyone who does not live in a way that is good and right does not belong to God. People like that do not love other believers.
Christians must love one another
11 Yes, we must love one another. That is the message which you have heard from the beginning. 12 We should not be like Cain. He belonged to Satan and he even killed his brother, Abel. Why did he do that? Cain did bad things and he killed Abel because Abel did things that were right.
13 So, my Christian friends, do not be surprised when people who belong to this world hate you.
14 We know that we now have new life with God. Death no longer has power over us. We know this because we love our Christian friends. But anyone who does not love other believers is still under the power of death. 15 Anyone who hates other believers is like someone who murders other people. You know that a person like that does not have true life with God.
16 This is how we know what true love is: Jesus Christ gave his own life on the cross. He died on our behalf. So we too ought to give our lives for other believers. 17 When another believer has trouble, we need to be kind to him. Maybe you have all the things that you need to live. If you see another believer who needs things like that, you should help him. If you refuse to be kind to him, it shows that you do not belong to God. You do not love people in the way that God loves them.[a]
18 My little children, we should not show love for each other only by what we say. We should also show true love by the things that we do. 19 Then we will know that we truly belong to God. We will be obeying God's true message. As a result, our thoughts will not make us ashamed to come to God. 20 Even if our thoughts tell us that we have done something wrong, we still will not be afraid of God. We can trust God more than we trust our thoughts. He already knows everything about us.
21 My friends, if our thoughts do not tell us that we are guilty, we will not be afraid to come to God. 22 We can pray to God and we can ask him to help us. He will give us what we ask him for. That is because we obey his commands and we do the things that please him. 23 This is God's command to us: we must believe that Jesus Christ is his Son. And we must love each other, as Jesus commanded us. 24 Anyone who obeys God's commands lives together with God. God also lives in him. How do we know that God lives in us? It is because of his Holy Spirit that he has given to us.
God will destroy Nineveh
2 An enemy is coming to attack you, people of Nineveh. Watch carefully from the city's walls! Prepare your army to protect the city. Watch the road. Get ready to fight with all your strength!
2 Your soldiers have destroyed the great nations of Israel and Jacob. They have destroyed their fields and their vineyards. But, the Lord will make Israel and Jacob great again.[a]
3 Strong soldiers are coming to attack Nineveh! They have red shields and bright red clothes. The soldiers wave their spears in the air. The metal on their chariots shines brightly. 4 When the soldiers are ready for war they move quickly through the streets. Their chariots move very fast, like lightning in the sky. 5 The army leader chooses his best soldiers to go forward. They almost fall as they run! They hurry to the city wall and they prepare to attack. 6 They open the river gates and the water rushes into the city. It destroys the palace. 7 Nineveh's people must be led away to another country. They are ashamed. Her female slaves cry like doves and they hit themselves.
8 Nineveh is like a pool of water. But now its people run away, like water that is pouring away. ‘Stop, stop!’ they shout, but nobody comes back.
9 Take the silver. Take the gold. The city has so many valuable things.[b]
10 They take the valuable things from the city. They take everything that they can. And they destroy everything else. The people are very sad. Their knees and their bodies shake. Their faces become white because they are afraid. 11 The home of the lions has gone. The place where they fed their young lions has gone. This was the place where whole families of lions once lived. It is here where their young lions were not afraid. 12 The lion killed to give enough food to his young lions and he strangled animals to feed his female lion. He filled his home with the animals that he had killed.
13 The Lord Almighty says, ‘I am against you. I will burn your chariots and the sword will kill your young lions. I will take away all the animals that you attack. Nobody will hear the voices of your messengers.’[c]
Jesus talks about how to pray
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a story. He wanted to teach them that they must go on praying always. They must not get tired. 2 He said to them, ‘In a certain city, there was a judge.[a] He was not afraid of God. He did not respect people.
3 A woman lived in that same city. Her husband had died. She came to the judge many times with a problem. “Somebody is doing bad things against me. Please keep me safe from that person,” she was saying. 4 For a long time, the judge would not do anything to help her. Later, he thought, “I am not afraid of God. Nor do I respect people. 5 But this woman causes me trouble. If I do not do anything for her, she will continue to come to me again and again. She will make me ill. So I will help her to be safe. I will say that she is right.” ’
6 Jesus then said, ‘This judge was not a good man. But you should think about what he said. He helped the woman because she caused him trouble. 7 But as for God, he always helps those that he has chosen to be his children. When they continue to ask him for help, in the day and in the night, he will answer them. He will not wait. 8 I tell you this. He will show that they are right. He will help them quickly. I, the Son of Man, will return to earth. But will I find many people that still believe in me then, or not?’
Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying
9 Jesus told a story to teach other people. These people thought that they were very good in front of God. They thought that they were much better than other people.
10 Jesus said, ‘One day, two men went into the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee. The other man took taxes from people. 11 The Pharisee stood there by himself. He prayed like this: “Thank you, God, that I am different from all these other people. They are bad people. They rob other people. They have sex with women who are not their wife. Thank you, God, that I am not like this man who takes taxes on behalf of the government. 12 I fast for two days of each week. I give to you one tenth of all the things and money that I receive.”
13 But the other man stood far away. He would not even look up towards heaven. He was hitting his body with his hands to show how sorry he was. He prayed like this: “Please, God, be kind to me. I have done many bad things.” ’
14 Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
Little children come to Jesus
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. But Jesus' disciples did not like this. They told the people that they should not do it.
16 Then Jesus told the children to come to him. He said to his disciples, ‘Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of God is like. 17 I tell you this: A person must become like a little child for God to rule in his life. If he does not become like a child, he will not come into the kingdom of God.’
Jesus meets a rich ruler
18 A Jewish ruler came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
19 Jesus asked him, ‘Why do you say that I am good? Only God is good. Nobody else. 20 You know God's rules: “Do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not say things that are not true about people. Love your father and your mother, and obey them.” ’
21 The man replied, ‘I have obeyed all these laws since I was a young man.’
22 Jesus heard what he said and he replied, ‘There is still just one thing that you must do. You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
23 When the ruler heard this, he became very sad. This was because he was a very rich man.
24 Jesus saw that the ruler had become sad. He said, ‘It is very difficult for rich people to let God rule in their lives. 25 The hole in a needle is very small. A camel cannot go through it! But it is even more difficult than that for a rich person to let God rule in their life.’
26 The people who were listening to Jesus said, ‘So perhaps God will not save anyone!’ 27 Jesus replied, ‘God can do things that are impossible for people to do.’
28 Peter then said to Jesus, ‘Look! We have left everything that we had. Now we are your disciples.’
29 Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: Some people have left their homes. Or they may have left their wife or their brothers. Or they may have left their parents or their children. They have done this to work for the kingdom of God. 30 Now, in this world, God will give these people many more things than they have left behind. And in the future world they will live for ever with God.’
31 Jesus took the 12 disciples away from the other people. ‘Listen!’ he said to them. ‘We are going to Jerusalem. There, many bad things will happen to me. All the things that God's prophets wrote down long ago about the Son of Man will now happen to me. 32 The Jewish leaders will deliver me to people that are not Jews. They will laugh at me. They will say bad things against me. They will spit at me. 33 They will hit me with whips and then they will kill me. But after three days, I will become alive again.’
34 The 12 disciples did not understand any of these things. What Jesus said did not mean anything to them. So they did not know what Jesus was talking about.
Jesus makes a blind man well
35 When Jesus was getting near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the side of the road. He was asking people to give him money. 36 Then he heard a large crowd of people as they went along the road. So he asked the people near him what was happening. 37 They told him, ‘Jesus from Nazareth is walking past.’
38 The man began to shout out. ‘Jesus! Son of David! Please be kind to me and help me.’ 39 The people who were walking at the front of the crowd were angry with him. They told him that he should be quiet. But he started to shout even louder, ‘Son of David! Please help me!’
40 Then Jesus stopped. He said to the people, ‘Bring that man to me.’ When the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41 ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Sir,’ the blind man replied, ‘I want to see again.’
42 Jesus said to him, ‘See again! You are well now because you believed in me.’ 43 Immediately, the man could see again. He started to follow Jesus along the road. He was praising God.
Many people saw what had happened. They also praised God.
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