M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

King Solomon Prays for Wisdom^(A)

1 Solomon, the son of King David, took firm control of the kingdom of Israel, and the Lord his God blessed him and made him very powerful.

² King Solomon gave an order to all the officers in charge of units of a thousand men and of a hundred men, all the government officials, all the heads of families, and all the rest of the people, ³ commanding them to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon. They went there because that was where the Tent of the Lord's presence was located, which Moses, the Lord's servant, had made in the wilderness. (^4 (B)The Covenant Box, however, was in Jerusalem, kept in a tent which King David had set up when he brought the Box from Kiriath Jearim.) ^5 (C)The bronze altar which had been made by Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, was also in Gibeon in front of the Tent of the Lord's presence. King Solomon and all the people worshiped the Lord there. ⁶ In front of the Tent the king worshiped the Lord by offering sacrifices on the bronze altar; he had a thousand animals killed and burned whole on it.

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and asked, “What would you like me to give you?”

⁸ Solomon answered, “You always showed great love for my father David, and now you have let me succeed him as king. ^9 (D)O Lord God, fulfill the promise you made to my father. You have made me king over a people who are so many that they cannot be counted, ¹⁰ so give me the wisdom and knowledge I need to rule over them. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?”

¹¹ God replied to Solomon, “You have made the right choice. Instead of asking for wealth or treasure or fame or the death of your enemies or even for long life for yourself, you have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can rule my people, over whom I have made you king. ¹² I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again.”

King Solomon's Power and Wealth^(E)

¹³ So Solomon left^[a] the place of worship at Gibeon, where the Tent of the Lord's presence was, and returned to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel. ^14 (F)He built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem, and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ¹⁵ During his reign silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ^16 (G)The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri^[b] and Cilicia,^{[c] 17} and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.^[d]

The Word of Life

1 ^(A)We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it. ^2 (B)When this life became visible, we saw it; so we speak of it and tell you about the eternal life which was with the Father and was made known to us. ³ What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this in order that our^[a] joy may be complete.

God Is Light

⁵ Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him. ⁶ If, then, we say that we have fellowship with him, yet at the same time live in the darkness, we are lying both in our words and in our actions. ⁷ But if we live in the light—just as he is in the light—then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make a liar out of God, and his word is not in us.

Israel's Moral Corruption

7 It's hopeless! I am like a hungry person who finds no fruit left on the trees and no grapes on the vines. All the grapes and all the tasty figs have been picked. ² There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people. ³ They are all experts at doing evil. Officials and judges ask for bribes. The influential people tell them what they want, and so they scheme together.^{[a] 4} Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds.

The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion. ⁵ Don't believe your neighbor or trust your friend. Be careful what you say even to your husband or wife. ^6 (A)In these times sons treat their fathers like fools, daughters oppose their mothers, and young women quarrel with their mothers-in-law; your enemies are the members of your own family.

⁷ But I will watch for the Lord; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

The Lord Brings Salvation

⁸ Our enemies have no reason to gloat over us. We have fallen, but we will rise again. We are in darkness now, but the Lord will give us light. ⁹ We have sinned against the Lord, so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light; we will live to see him save us. ¹⁰ Then our enemies will see this and be disgraced—the same enemies who taunted us by asking, “Where is the Lord your God?” We will see them defeated, trampled^[b] down like mud in the streets.

¹¹ People of Jerusalem, the time to rebuild the city walls is coming. At that time your territory will be enlarged. ¹² Your people will return to you from everywhere—from Assyria in the east, from Egypt in the south, from the region of the Euphrates River, from distant seas and far-off mountains. ¹³ But the earth will become a desert because of the wickedness of those who live on it.

The Lord's Compassion on Israel

¹⁴ Be a shepherd to your people, Lord, the people you have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures of Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.

¹⁵ Work miracles for us,^[c] Lord, as you did in the days when you brought us out of Egypt. ¹⁶ The nations will see this and be frustrated in spite of all their strength. In dismay they will close their mouths and cover their ears. ¹⁷ They will crawl in the dust like snakes; they will come from their fortresses, trembling and afraid. They will turn in fear to the Lord our God.

¹⁸ There is no other god like you, O Lord; you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love. ¹⁹ You will be merciful to us once again. You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea! ²⁰ You will show your faithfulness and constant love to your people, the descendants of Abraham and of Jacob, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

The Shrewd Manager

16 Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master's money, ² so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ ³ The servant said to himself, ‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’ ⁵ So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ ‘One hundred barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he asked another one, ‘And you—how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write eight hundred.’ ⁸ As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.”

^9 (A)And Jesus went on to say, “And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home. ¹⁰ Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. ¹¹ If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth? ¹² And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?

^13 (B)“No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Some Sayings of Jesus^(C)

¹⁴ When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.

^16 (D)“The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in. ^17 (E)But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to be done away with.

^18 (F)“Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day. ²⁰ There was also a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man's door, ²¹ hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried, ^23 (G)and in Hades,^[a] where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ So he called out, ‘Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. ²⁶ Besides all that, there is a deep pit lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are.’ ²⁷ The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house, ²⁸ where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain.’ ²⁹ Abraham said, ‘Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.’ ³⁰ The rich man answered, ‘That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins.’ ³¹ But Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.’”