M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

3 Then Shlomo began to build the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim on Mount Moriyah, where Adonai had appeared to David his father. Provision had been made for this at the place David had chosen, the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi. ² He began building in the fourth year of his reign, on the second day of the second month.

³ These are the foundations Shlomo laid for building the house of God: the length in old-standard cubits was sixty cubits [105 feet] and the width twenty cubits [thirty-five feet]. ⁴ The length of the hall fronting the house was the same as the house’s width, thirty-five feet and the height 210 [feet]; and he overlaid it with pure gold.

⁵ The larger house he covered with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold and embossed with palm trees and chains. ⁶ He also decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvayim, ⁷ overlaying the house and its beams, thresholds, walls and doors with gold and carving k’ruvim on the walls.

⁸ Then he made the Especially Holy Place; its length matched the width of the house, thirty-five feet, and its width was thirty-five feet. He overlaid it with twenty tons of fine gold. ⁹ The weight of the nails was one-and-a-quarter pounds of gold, and he overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰ Inside the Especially Holy Place he made two k’ruvim of cast metal, and they overlaid them with gold. ¹¹ The wings of the k’ruvim were thirty-five feet long — the wing of the one keruv was eight-and-three-quarters feet long and touched the wall of the house; the other wing was also eight-and-three-quarters feet long, so that it touched the wing of the other keruv. ¹² The wing of the other keruv was eight-and-three-quarters feet long, touching the wall of the house; and the other wing was also eight-and-three-quarters feet long, touching the wing of the first keruv. ¹³ The wings of these k’ruvim spread out over thirty-five feet. They stood on their feet with their faces turned inward.

¹⁴ He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson material and of fine linen, with a design of k’ruvim worked into it.

¹⁵ In front of the house he made two columns sixty-one-and-a-quarter feet high, with a capital of eight-and-three-quarters feet on top of each. ¹⁶ He made chains in the sanctuary and added them to the tops of the columns, and he made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷ He erected the columns in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left; the one on the right he called Yakhin, and the one on the left he called Bo‘az.

4 He made an altar of bronze thirty-five feet long, thirty-five feet wide and seventeen-and-a-half feet high.

² He made the cast metal “Sea” circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarters feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference. ³ Below the rim a ring of ox-like figures encircled it, ten for every twenty-one inches all the way around the Sea. The oxen were in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast. ⁴ It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them. ⁵ It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 16,500 gallons. ⁶ He also made ten basins for washing and put five on the right and five on the left. Items needed for the burnt offerings would be cleansed in these, but the Sea was for the cohanim to wash in.

⁷ He made the ten menorahs of gold in accordance with their specifications and set them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. ⁸ He also made ten tables and put them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

⁹ He made the courtyard for the cohanim and the great courtyard, also the doors to the courtyard, which he overlaid with bronze.

¹⁰ The Sea he placed on the right side [of the house], toward the southeast.

¹¹ Huram made the ash pots, shovels and sprinkling basins. With that, Huram completed the work he had been doing for King Shlomo in the house of God — ¹² the two columns, the two moldings, the two capitals on top of the columns, the two nettings covering the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns, ¹³ and the 400 pomegranates for the two nettings, two rows of pomegranates for each netting, to cover the two moldings of the capitals atop the columns. ¹⁴ He also made the trolleys, the basins on the trolleys, ¹⁵ the one Sea, the twelve oxen under it, ¹⁶ the ash pots, the shovels, the forks and all the other equipment for it. All these articles that Huram the master craftsman made for King Shlomo in the house of Adonai were of brilliant bronze. ¹⁷ The king cast them in the plain of the Yarden, in the clay ground between Sukkot and Tz’redah. ¹⁸ Shlomo made so many of these objects that the total weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹ Shlomo made all the objects that were inside the house of God: the gold altar; the table on which the showbread was displayed; ²⁰ the menorahs with their lamps to burn in front of the sanctuary as specified, of pure gold; ²¹ the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold, solid gold; ²² and the snuffers, bowls, cups and fire pans of pure gold. As for the entryway to the house, the inner doors for the Especially Holy Place and the doors of the house (that is, of the temple) were of gold.

3 See what love the Father has lavished on us in letting us be called God’s children! For that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it has not known him. ² Dear friends, we are God’s children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like him; because we will see him as he really is.

³ And everyone who has this hope in him continues purifying himself, since God is pure. ⁴ Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah — indeed, sin is violation of Torah. ⁵ You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him. ⁶ So no one who remains united with him continues sinning; everyone who does continue sinning has neither seen him nor known him.

⁷ Children, don’t let anyone deceive you — it is the person that keeps on doing what is right who is righteous, just as God is righteous. ⁸ The person who keeps on sinning is from the Adversary, because from the very beginning the Adversary has kept on sinning. It was for this very reason that the Son of God appeared, to destroy these doings of the Adversary. ⁹ No one who has God as his Father keeps on sinning, because the seed planted by God remains in him. That is, he cannot continue sinning, because he has God as his Father. ¹⁰ Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary: everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God.

Likewise, anyone who fails to keep loving his brother is not from God. ¹¹ For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning: that we should love each other ¹² and not be like Kayin, who was from the Evil One and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Don’t be amazed, brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We, for our part, know that we have passed from death to life because we keep loving the brothers. The person who fails to keep on loving is still under the power of death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

¹⁶ The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers! ¹⁷ If someone has worldly possessions and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can he be loving God? ¹⁸ Children, let us love not with words and talk, but with actions and in reality!

¹⁹ Here is how we will know that we are from the truth and will set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ if our hearts know something against us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts know nothing against us, we have confidence in approaching God; ²² then, whatever we ask for, we receive from him; because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.

²³ This is his command: that we are to trust in the person and power of his Son Yeshua the Messiah and to keep loving one another, just as he commanded us. ²⁴ Those who obey his commands remain united with him and he with them.

Here is how we know that he remains united with us: by the Spirit whom he gave us.

18 Then Yeshua told his talmidim a parable, in order to impress on them that they must always keep praying and not lose heart. ² “In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected other people. ³ There was also in that town a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me a judgment against the man who is trying to ruin me.’ ⁴ For a long time he refused; but after awhile, he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God, and I don’t respect other people; ⁵ but because this widow is such a nudnik, I will see to it that she gets justice — otherwise, she’ll keep coming and pestering me till she wears me out!’”

⁶ Then the Lord commented, “Notice what this corrupt judge says. ⁷ Now won’t God grant justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Is he delaying long over them? ⁸ I tell you that he will judge in their favor, and quickly! But when the Son of Man comes, will he find this trust on the earth at all?”

⁹ Also, to some who were relying on their own righteousness and looking down on everyone else, he told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Parush and the other a tax-collector. ¹¹ The Parush stood and prayed to himself, ‘O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, immoral, or like this tax-collector! ¹² I fast twice a week, I pay tithes on my entire income, . . . ’ ¹³ But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God! Have mercy on me, sinner that I am!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his home right with God rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵ People brought him babies to touch; but when the talmidim saw the people doing this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ However, Yeshua called the children to him and said, “Let the children come to me, and stop hindering them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Yes! I tell you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it at all!”

¹⁸ One of the leaders asked him, “Good rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” ¹⁹ Yeshua said to him, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good but God! ²⁰ You know the mitzvot — ‘Don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t give false testimony, honor your father and mother, . . .’”^{[a] 21} He replied, “I have kept all these since I was a boy.” ²² On hearing this Yeshua said to him, “There is one thing you still lack. Sell whatever you have, distribute the proceeds to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me!” ²³ But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.

²⁴ Yeshua looked at him and said, “How hard it is for people with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God! ²⁵ It’s easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” ²⁶ Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ He said, “What is impossible humanly is possible with God.”

²⁸ Kefa said, “Look, we have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹ Yeshua answered them, “Yes! I tell you that everyone who has left house, wife, brothers, parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ will receive many times as much in the ‘olam hazeh, and in the ‘olam haba eternal life.”

³¹ Then, taking the Twelve, Yeshua said to them, “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. ³² For he will be handed over to the Goyim and be ridiculed, insulted and spat upon. ³³ Then, after they have beaten him, they will kill him. But on the third day he will rise.” ³⁴ However, they understood none of this; its meaning had been hidden from them, and they had no idea what he was talking about.

³⁵ As Yeshua approached Yericho, a blind man was sitting by the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard the crowd going past, he asked what it was all about; ³⁷ and they told him, “Yeshua from Natzeret is passing by.” ³⁸ He called out, “Yeshua! Son of David! Have pity on me!” ³⁹ Those in front scolded him in order to get him to shut up, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David! Have pity on me!” ⁴⁰ Yeshua stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he had come, Yeshua asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Lord, let me be able to see.” ⁴² Yeshua said to him, “See again! your trust has healed you!” ⁴³ Instantly he received his sight and began following him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they too praised God.