M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David's Instructions for the Temple

28 King David commanded all the officials of Israel to assemble in Jerusalem. So all the officials of the tribes, the officials who administered the work of the kingdom, the leaders of the clans, the supervisors of the property and livestock that belonged to the king and his sons—indeed all the palace officials, leading soldiers, and important men—gathered in Jerusalem.

^2 (A)David stood before them and addressed them: “My friends, listen to me. I wanted to build a permanent home for the Covenant Box, the footstool of the Lord our God. I have made preparations for building a temple to honor him, ³ but he has forbidden me to do it, because I am a soldier and have shed too much blood. ⁴ The Lord, the God of Israel, chose me and my descendants to rule Israel forever. He chose the tribe of Judah to provide leadership, and out of Judah he chose my father's family. From all that family it was his pleasure to take me and make me king over all Israel. ⁵ He gave me many sons, and out of them all he chose Solomon to rule over Israel, the Lord's kingdom.

⁶ “The Lord said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who will build my Temple. I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. ⁷ I will make his kingdom last forever if he continues to obey carefully all my laws and commands as he does now.’

⁸ “So now, my people, in the presence of our God and of this assembly of all Israel, the Lord's people, I charge you to obey carefully everything that the Lord our God has commanded us, so that you may continue to possess this good land and so that you may hand it on to succeeding generations forever.”

⁹ And to Solomon he said, “My son, I charge you to acknowledge your father's God and to serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind. He knows all our thoughts and desires. If you go to him, he will accept you; but if you turn away from him, he will abandon you forever. ¹⁰ You must realize that the Lord has chosen you to build his holy Temple. Now do it—and do it with determination.”

¹¹ David gave Solomon the plans for all the Temple buildings, for the storerooms and all the other rooms, and for the Most Holy Place, where sins are forgiven. ¹² He also gave him the plans for all he had in mind for the courtyards and the rooms around them, and for the storerooms for the Temple equipment and the gifts dedicated to the Lord. ¹³ David also gave him the plans for organizing the priests and Levites to perform their duties, to do the work of the Temple, and to take care of all the Temple utensils. ¹⁴ He gave instructions as to how much silver and gold was to be used for making the utensils, ¹⁵ for each lamp and lampstand, ¹⁶ for the silver tables, and for each gold table on which were placed the loaves of bread offered to God. ¹⁷ He also gave instructions as to how much pure gold was to be used in making forks, bowls, and jars, how much silver and gold in making dishes, ¹⁸ and how much pure gold in making the altar on which incense was burned and in making the chariot for the winged creatures that spread their wings over the Lord's Covenant Box. ¹⁹ King David said, “All this is contained in the plan written according to the instructions which the Lord himself gave me to carry out.”

²⁰ King David said to his son Solomon, “Be confident and determined. Start the work and don't let anything stop you. The Lord God, whom I serve, will be with you. He will not abandon you, but he will stay with you until you finish the work to be done on his Temple. ²¹ The priests and the Levites have been assigned duties to perform in the Temple. Workers with every kind of skill are eager to help you, and all the people and their leaders are at your command.”

False Teachers

2 False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. ² Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth. ³ In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!

⁴ God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell, where they are kept chained in darkness,^[a] waiting for the Day of Judgment. ^5 (A)God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people. ^6 (B)God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying them with fire, and made them an example of what will happen to the godless. ^7 (C)He rescued Lot, a good man, who was distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people. ⁸ That good man lived among them, and day after day he suffered agony as he saw and heard their evil actions. ⁹ And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, ¹⁰ especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God's authority.

These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them. ¹¹ Even the angels, who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord. ¹² But these people act by instinct, like wild animals born to be captured and killed; they attack with insults anything they do not understand. They will be destroyed like wild animals, ¹³ and they will be paid with suffering for the suffering they have caused. Pleasure for them is to do anything in broad daylight that will satisfy their bodily appetites; they are a shame and a disgrace as they join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways! ¹⁴ They want to look for nothing but the chance to commit adultery; their appetite for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into a trap. Their hearts are trained to be greedy. They are under God's curse! ^15 (D)They have left the straight path and have lost their way; they have followed the path taken by Balaam son of Beor, who loved the money he would get for doing wrong ¹⁶ and was rebuked for his sin. His donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's insane action.

¹⁷ These people are like dried-up springs, like clouds blown along by a storm; God has reserved a place for them in the deepest darkness. ¹⁸ They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for we are slaves of anything that has conquered us. ²⁰ If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them. ^22 (E)What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: “A dog goes back to what it has vomited” and “A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.”

5 People of Jerusalem, gather your forces!^[a] We are besieged! They are attacking the leader of Israel!

God Promises a Ruler from Bethlehem

^2 (A)The Lord says, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.”

³ So the Lord will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people. ⁴ When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the Lord and with the majesty of the Lord God himself. His people will live in safety because people all over the earth will acknowledge his greatness, ⁵ and he will bring peace.

Deliverance and Punishment

When the Assyrians invade our country and break through our defenses, we will send our strongest leaders to fight them. ^6 (B)By force of arms they will conquer Assyria, the land of Nimrod, and they^[b] will save us from the Assyrians when they invade our territory.

⁷ The people of Israel who survive will be like refreshing dew sent by the Lord for many nations, like showers on growing plants. They will depend on God, not people. ⁸ Those who are left among the nations will be like a lion hunting for food in a forest or a pasture: it gets in among the sheep, pounces on them, and tears them to pieces—and there is no hope of rescue. ⁹ Israel will conquer her enemies and destroy them all.

¹⁰ The Lord says, “At that time I will take away your horses and destroy your chariots. ¹¹ I will destroy the cities in your land and tear down all your defenses. ¹² I will destroy the magic charms you use and leave you without any fortunetellers. ¹³ I will destroy your idols and sacred stone pillars; no longer will you worship the things that you yourselves have made. ¹⁴ I will pull down the images of the goddess Asherah in your land and destroy your cities. ¹⁵ And in my great anger I will take revenge on all nations that have not obeyed me.”

Jesus Heals a Sick Man

14 One Sabbath Jesus went to eat a meal at the home of one of the leading Pharisees; and people were watching Jesus closely. ² A man whose legs and arms were swollen came to Jesus, ³ and Jesus spoke up and asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, “Does our Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?”

⁴ But they would not say a thing. Jesus took the man, healed him, and sent him away. ^5 (A)Then he said to them, “If any one of you had a child or an ox that happened to fall in a well on a Sabbath, would you not pull it out at once on the Sabbath itself?”

⁶ But they were not able to answer him about this.

Humility and Hospitality

⁷ Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places, so he told this parable to all of them: ^8 (B)“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place. It could happen that someone more important than you has been invited, ⁹ and your host, who invited both of you, would have to come and say to you, ‘Let him have this place.’ Then you would be embarrassed and have to sit in the lowest place. ¹⁰ Instead, when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, ‘Come on up, my friend, to a better place.’ This will bring you honor in the presence of all the other guests. ^11 (C)For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors—for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did. ¹³ When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death.”

The Parable of the Great Feast^(D)

¹⁵ When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ ¹⁸ But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, ‘I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² Soon the servant said, ‘Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.’ ²³ So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!’”

The Cost of Being a Disciple^(E)

²⁵ Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, ^26 (F)“Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. ^27 (G)Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples. ²⁸ If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. ²⁹ If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. ³⁰ ‘You began to build but can't finish the job!’ they will say. ³¹ If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. ³² If he isn't, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. ³³ In the same way,” concluded Jesus, “none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.

Worthless Salt^(H)

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. ³⁵ It is no good for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown away. Listen, then, if you have ears!”