M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 5
Dedication of the Temple. 1 (A)When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the votive offerings of David his father, putting the silver, the gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion. 3 All the people of Israel assembled before the king during the festival of the seventh month.[a] 4 (B)When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites[b] took up the ark; 5 and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The levitical priests brought them up.
6 King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count. 7 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place: the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above. 9 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. (They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day.)[c] 10 There was nothing in the ark but the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from Egypt.
11 When the priests left the holy place (all the priests who were present had purified themselves regardless of the rotation of their various divisions), 12 the Levites who were singers, all who belonged to Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.
13 When the trumpeters and singers were heard as a single voice praising and giving thanks to the Lord, and when they raised the sound of the trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments to “Praise the Lord, who is so good, whose love endures forever,” the cloud filled the house of the Lord.(C) 14 The priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.(D)
Chapter 6
1 (E)Then Solomon said:
“The Lord intends to dwell in the dark cloud;
2 I have built you a princely house,
the base for your enthronement forever.”
3 (F)The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood. 4 He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying: 5 Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; nor have I chosen any man to be ruler of my people Israel; 6 but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name may be there, and I have chosen David[d] to rule my people Israel. 7 When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, 8 the Lord said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well. 9 But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins: he shall build the house for my name.
10 “Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has said, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 I have placed there the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the Israelites.”
Chapter 4
Testing the Spirits.[a] 1 Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.(A) 2 This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God,(B) 3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus[b] does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.(C) 4 You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them.(D) 6 We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.(E)
God’s Love and Christian Life. 7 [c]Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. 8 Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.(F) 10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.(G) 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.(H)
13 [d]This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. 14 Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. 15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. 16 We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 17 In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.(I) 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God[e] whom he has not seen.(J) 21 This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.(K)
Chapter 3
1 Ah! The bloody city,
all lies,
Full of plunder,
whose looting never stops!(A)
2 The crack of the whip,
the rumbling of wheels;
Horses galloping,
chariots bounding,
3 Cavalry charging,
the flash of the sword,
the gleam of the spear;
A multitude of slain,
a mass of corpses,
Endless bodies
to stumble upon!
4 For the many debaucheries of the prostitute,
a charming mistress of witchcraft,
Who enslaved nations with her prostitution,
and peoples by her witchcraft:(B)
5 [a]I now come against you—
oracle of the Lord of hosts—
and I will lift your skirt above your face;
I will show your nakedness to the nations,
to the kingdoms your shame!(C)
6 I will cast filth upon you,
disgrace you and make you a spectacle;
7 Until everyone who sees you
runs from you saying,
“Nineveh is destroyed;
who can pity her?
Where can I find
any to console you?”
Nineveh’s Inescapable Fate
8 Are you better than No-amon[b](D)
that was set among the Nile’s canals,
Surrounded by waters,
with the river for her rampart
and water for her wall?
9 Ethiopia was her strength,
and Egypt without end;
Put[c] and the Libyans
were her allies.
10 Yet even she became an exile,
and went into captivity;
Even her little ones were dashed to pieces
at the corner of every street;
For her nobles they cast lots,
and all her great ones were put into chains.
11 You, too, will drink of this;
you will be overcome;(E)
You, too, will seek
a refuge from the foe.
12 But all your fortresses are fig trees,
bearing early figs;[d]
When shaken, they fall
into the devourer’s mouth.
13 Indeed your troops
are women in your midst;
To your foes are open wide
the gates of your land,
fire has consumed their bars.
14 Draw water for the siege,[e]
strengthen your fortresses;
Go down into the mud
and tread the clay,
take hold of the brick mold!
15 There the fire will consume you,
the sword will cut you down;
it will consume you like the grasshoppers.
Multiply like the grasshoppers,
multiply like the locusts!(F)
16 You have made your traders[f] more numerous
than the stars of the heavens;
like grasshoppers that shed their skins and fly away.
17 Your sentries are like locusts,
and your scribes like locust swarms
Gathered on the rubble fences
on a cold day!
Yet when the sun rises, they vanish,
and no one knows where they have gone.
18 Your shepherds slumber,
O king of Assyria,
your nobles have gone to rest;
Your people are scattered upon the mountains,
with none to gather them.
19 There is no healing for your hurt,
your wound is fatal.
All who hear this news of you
clap their hands over you;
For who has not suffered
under your endless malice?
Chapter 19
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector.[a] 1 He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. 2 Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 3 was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 7 When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”(A) 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”(B) 9 [b]And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation(C) has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 10 [c](D)For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
The Parable of the Ten Gold Coins.[d] 11 (E)While they were listening to him speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God would appear there immediately. 12 So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.(F) 13 He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins[e] and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ 14 His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ 15 But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. 16 The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ 17 He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’(G) 18 Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ 19 And to this servant too he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ 20 Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding person; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ 22 He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding person, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; 23 why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ 24 And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’ 25 But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’ 26 ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.(H) 27 Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’”
VI. The Teaching Ministry in Jerusalem[f]
The Entry into Jerusalem.(I) 28 After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem. 29 As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples.(J) 30 He said, “Go into the village opposite you, and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.(K) 31 And if anyone should ask you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will answer, ‘The Master has need of it.’” 32 So those who had been sent went off and found everything just as he had told them.(L) 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying this colt?” 34 They answered, “The Master has need of it.” 35 (M)So they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the colt, and helped Jesus to mount. 36 As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; 37 and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. 38 They proclaimed:
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord.[g]
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest.”(N)
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”[h] 40 He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!”
The Lament for Jerusalem.[i] 41 (O)As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,(P) 42 saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.(Q) 43 [j]For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.(R) 44 They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”(S)
The Cleansing of the Temple. 45 (T)Then Jesus entered the temple area[k] and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things,(U) 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’”(V) 47 And every day he was teaching in the temple area.(W) The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death,(X) 48 but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.