M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

10 When the queen of Sh’va heard what was being said about Shlomo because of the name of Adonai, she came to test him with difficult questions. ² She arrived in Yerushalayim accompanied by a very great retinue, including camels bearing spices and gold in great abundance, and precious stones. When she appeared before Shlomo she spoke with him about everything on her heart, ³ and Shlomo answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴ After the queen of Sh’va had seen all Shlomo’s wisdom, the palace he had built, ⁵ the food at his table, the manner of seating his officials, the manner in which his staff served him, how they were dressed, his personal servants and his burnt offering which he offered in the house of Adonai, it left her breathless. ⁶ She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about your deeds and your wisdom is true, ⁷ but I couldn’t believe the report until I came and saw for myself. Actually, they didn’t tell me even the half of it — your wisdom and prosperity surpass the reports I heard. ⁸ How happy your people must be, how happy these servants of yours who are always here attending you and get to hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be Adonai your God, who took pleasure in you to put you on the throne of Isra’el. Because of Adonai’s eternal love for Isra’el, he has made you king, to administer judgment and justice fairly.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king four tons of gold, a huge amount of spices, and precious stones; never again did there arrive such an abundance of spices as those the queen of Sh’va gave to King Shlomo.

¹¹ Hiram’s fleet which had brought gold from Ofir now brought in from Ofir a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones. ¹² The king used the sandalwood to make columns for the house of Adonai and for the royal palace, and also lyres and lutes for the singers. No sandalwood like it has come or been seen to this day.

¹³ King Shlomo gave the queen of Sh’va everything she wanted, whatever she asked, in addition to the presents he gave her on his own initiative. After this, she returned and went back to her own country, she and her servants.

¹⁴ The weight of the gold Shlomo received annually came to twenty-two tons of gold, ¹⁵ besides that which came from sales taxes, customs duties and assessments collected by all the kings of the mixed peoples and by the district governors. ¹⁶ King Shlomo made 200 large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into one shield. ¹⁷ He made 300 more shields of hammered gold, with three-and-three-quarters pounds going into one shield; the king put these in the House of the L’vanon Forest.

¹⁸ The king also made a large throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, a back with a rounded top, arms on either side of the seat, two lions standing beside the arms, ²⁰ and twelve more lions standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made in any kingdom.

²¹ All King Shlomo’s drinking vessels were of gold; and all the utensils in the House of the L’vanon Forest were of pure gold; none was of silver, for in Shlomo’s time it was regarded as having little value. ²² The king had a fleet of large “Tarshish” ships along with Hiram’s fleet; once every three years the “Tarshish” fleet came in, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

²³ So King Shlomo surpassed all the kings on earth in both wealth and wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth sought to have an audience with Shlomo, in order to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Each one brought his present — articles of silver, articles of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses and mules; and this continued year after year.

²⁶ Shlomo amassed chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen; he assigned them to the chariot cities and to the king in Yerushalayim. ²⁷ The king made silver in Yerushalayim as common as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as sycamore-fig trees are in the Sh’felah. ²⁸ Shlomo’s horses had been brought from Egypt and from Keveh, with the king’s agents having bought them from the dealers in Keveh at the going price. ²⁹ A chariot from Egypt cost fifteen pounds of silver shekels and a horse three-and-three quarters pounds [of shekels]; all the kings of the Hittim and the kings of Aram purchased them at these prices through Shlomo’s agents.

1 From: Sha’ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua

To: All God’s people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and shammashim:

² Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

³ I thank my God every time I think of you. ⁴ Whenever I pray for all of you I always pray with joy, ⁵ because you have shared in proclaiming the Good News from the very first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua. ⁷ It is right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you on my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and establishing the Good News, you are all sharing with me in this privileged work. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the deep affection of the Messiah Yeshua.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may more and more overflow in fullness of knowledge and depth of discernment, ¹⁰ so that you will be able to determine what is best and thus be pure and without blame for the Day of the Messiah, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Yeshua the Messiah — to the glory and praise of God.

¹² Now, brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped in advancing the Good News. ¹³ It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains. ¹⁴ Also, my being in prison has given most of the brothers in the Lord confidence, so that they have become much more bold in speaking the word of God fearlessly. ¹⁵ True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry, but others are doing it in goodwill. ¹⁶ The latter act from love, aware that I am put where I am for defending the Good News; ¹⁷ while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison. ¹⁸ But so what? All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that this will work out for my deliverance,^[a] because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah. ²⁰ It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of; but rather, now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead. ²¹ For to me, life is the Messiah, and death is gain. ²² But if by living on in the body I can do fruitful work, then I don’t know which to choose. ²³ I am caught in a dilemma: my desire is to go off and be with the Messiah — that is better by far — ²⁴ but because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body. ²⁵ Yes, I am convinced of this; so I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have joy in it. ²⁶ Then, through my being with you again, you will have even greater reason for boasting about the Messiah Yeshua.

²⁷ Only conduct your lives in a way worthy of the Good News of the Messiah; so that whether I come and see you or I hear about you from a distance, you stand firm, united in spirit, fighting with one accord for the faith of the Good News, ²⁸ not frightened by anything the opposition does. This will be for them an indication that they are headed for destruction and you for deliverance. And this is from God; ²⁹ because for the Messiah’s sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf, ³⁰ to fight the same battles you once saw me fight and now hear that I am still fighting.

40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month — this was the fourteenth year after the city [of Yerushalayim] was struck — it was on that very day that the hand of Adonai was on me, and he took me there. ² In visions God brought me into the land of Isra’el and put me down on a very high mountain; on it, toward the south, it seemed that a city was being built. ³ That is where he took me, and there in front of me was a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a flax cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway. ⁴ The man said to me, “Human being, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and pay attention to all the things I am showing you; because the reason you were brought here is so that I could show them to you. Tell everything you see to the house of Isra’el.”

⁵ There was a wall surrounding the house. The man had in his hand a measuring rod six cubits long [ten-and-a-half feet], each cubit [twenty-one inches] being a normal cubit [eighteen inches] plus a handbreadth [three inches]. He measured the wall’s width at ten-and-a-half feet and its height ten-and-a-half feet. ⁶ He went to the east gate, climbed its steps and measured one of the gate’s doorposts at ten-and-a-half feet wide and the other one the same. ⁷ There were guardrooms, each ten-and-a-half feet square; the distance between the guardrooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet. The threshold of the gate adjoining the gate’s entranceway facing the house measured ten-and-a-half feet. ⁸ He measured the gate’s entranceway facing the house at ten-and-a-half feet. ⁹ Then he measured the gate’s entranceway itself, fourteen feet, and its supports, three-and-a-half feet; the gate’s entranceway was on the side facing the house. ¹⁰ There were three guardrooms on each side of the east gate, all the same size; and on each side the supports [between the guardrooms] were also all the same size. ¹¹ He measured the width of the opening to the gateway at seventeen-and-a-half feet and the width of the passage through the gateway at twenty-two-and-three-quarters feet. ¹² There was a partition in front of the guardrooms [on one side] twenty-one inches [wide] and a partition on the other side twenty-one inches [wide], with the guardrooms themselves being ten-and-a-half feet square. ¹³ He measured [inside] the gate from the back wall of one guardroom to the back wall of the other a distance of forty-three-and-three-quarters feet, the openings [to the guardrooms] being opposite each other. ¹⁴ He made the posts 105 feet, likewise the posts of the other gates around the courtyard. ¹⁵ The distance along the passage from the outer opening of the gateway to the far side of the entranceway at the inner end of the gateway was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet. ¹⁶ There were narrow windows to the guardrooms and to their supports facing inward all along the gate; also the vestibules had windows all around facing inward. On each side support were [carvings of] palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me into the outer courtyard. There I saw rooms and paved mosaic flooring made for the courtyard all around its perimeter, and thirty rooms facing the flooring. ¹⁸ The flooring was alongside the gates and corresponded to the length of the gates [from outside to inside], this lower flooring. ¹⁹ He measured at 175 feet the distance from inside this lower gate that faced east to the outside of the inner courtyard, and he did the same for the gate that faced north.

²⁰ Next he measured the length and width of the outer courtyard gate that faced north. ²¹ It had three guardrooms on each side, and its supports and vestibule were the same size as those at the first gate; its length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and its width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ²² Its windows, vestibule and palm trees were the same size as those at the east gate. Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside.

²³ There were gates to the inner courtyard across from the gates to the north and east; he measured 175 feet from each outer gate to its corresponding inner gate.

²⁴ He led me toward the south, and there I saw a gate that faced south. He measured its supports and vestibule; they were the same size as the others. ²⁵ There were windows in it and all around its vestibule like the other windows; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ²⁶ Seven steps led up to it [from the outside], while its vestibule was toward the inside. It had palm trees, one on each side, on its supports. ²⁷ The inner courtyard had a gate on the south; he measured from gate to gate toward the south 175 feet.

²⁸ He brought me to the inner courtyard through its south gate. He measured this south gate as being the same size; ²⁹ its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. ³⁰ There was a vestibule around it forty-three-and-three-quarters feet long and eight-and-three-quarters feet wide; ³¹ this vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³² He brought me into the inner courtyard, went toward the east and measured that gate as being the same size; ³³ its guardrooms, supports and vestibule were the same size; it had windows and a vestibule surrounding it; it was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet long and forty-three-and-three-quarters feet wide. ³⁴ Its vestibule faced the outer courtyard, palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³⁵ He brought me over to the north gate and measured it as being the same size; ³⁶ it had guardrooms, supports and a vestibule with windows all around; the length was eighty-seven-and-a-half feet and the width forty-three-and-three-quarters feet. ³⁷ Its supports faced the outer courtyard; palm trees were on its supports, both on the one side and on the other; and it had eight steps leading up to it.

³⁸ There was a room with its entry by the supports at the gates where the burnt offerings were washed. ³⁹ In the entranceway to the gate were two tables on the one side and two on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. ⁴⁰ On the outside, as one goes up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side of the entranceway to the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ So there were four tables on the one side and four on the other side, by the gate — eight tables on which to slaughter sacrifices. ⁴² There were four tables of cut stone for the burnt offering, thirty-one-and-a-half inches square and twenty-one inches high, on which to lay the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and other sacrifices. ⁴³ Hooks a handbreadth long were fastened all around the inside of the room; the flesh of the offerings was to be placed on the tables.

⁴⁴ Outside the inner gate, in the inner courtyard, were rooms for the singers, one facing south alongside the north gate, and one facing north alongside the east gate. ⁴⁵ He said to me, “This room facing south is for the cohanim in charge of the house; ⁴⁶ while the room facing north is for the cohanim in charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Tzadok, who are the descendants of Levi designated to approach Adonai and serve him.”

⁴⁷ Then he measured the courtyard at 175 feet long and 175 feet wide — it was square. The altar was in front of the house.

⁴⁸ He brought me to the vestibule of the house and measured at eight-and-three-quarters feet the thickness of the walls on either side of its entrance. On each side, these walls extended five-and-a-quarter feet from the side-walls of the vestibule. ⁴⁹ The length of the vestibule was thirty-five feet and the width nineteen-and-a-quarter feet; steps led up to it. There were columns on each side of the entrance.