M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Beginning of Solomon’s Reign
3 Solomon had made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the City of David until he had finished building his own house, the Lord’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.
2 The people were still offering sacrifices at the high places[a] because a house for the Name of the Lord had not yet been built in those days. 3 Solomon loved the Lord, so he followed the instructions of his father David, though he was still offering sacrifices and burning incense at the high places.
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
4 So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because it was the most important high place. Solomon offered one thousand whole burnt offerings on that altar. 5 The Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream at night.
God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy and faithfulness[b] to your servant, my father David, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have shown this great mercy and faithfulness to him and have given him a son who is seated on his throne to this very day. 7 O Lord my God, now you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And I, your servant, am among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, who cannot be counted or numbered because they are so many. 9 Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
10 In the eyes of the Lord, Solomon’s request was good. 11 So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and you have not asked for a long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but you have asked for discernment to reach just verdicts, 12 therefore I will act according to your words. Yes, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you before you, nor will anyone like you rise up after you. 13 In addition, I will give you what you have not asked for: such riches and honor that there will not be anyone like you among the other kings throughout all your days. 14 If you walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and commands just as your father David did, then I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it was a dream. So Solomon went to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.[c] He offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and he made a feast for all his officials.
Solomon Demonstrates God’s Wisdom
16 Later, two prostitutes came and stood before the king.
17 One woman said, “Hear me, my lord! This woman and I live in the same house. While she was living in the house, I gave birth. 18 Three days after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together. There was no one else in the house with us. Only the two of us were there. 19 One night this woman’s son died because she lay on top of him. 20 Then she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I, your servant, was sleeping. She laid him next to her, and her dead son she laid next to me. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, there he was—dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, I saw it was not my son, to whom I had given birth!”
22 But the other woman said, “No! The living child is really my son, and your son is the dead one!”
But the first one kept saying, “No! Your son is really the dead one, and my son is the living one!” They kept arguing like this before the king.
23 The king said, “This woman says, ‘My son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.’ But this other woman says, ‘No, your son is really the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword to the king.
25 Then the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to this woman and half to that woman.”
26 But the woman to whom the living child belonged spoke up, because her feelings for her son were very strong. She said, “Listen to me, my lord. Give her the living child. Please don’t kill him.”
But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
27 The king answered, “Give the living child to the first woman, and do not kill him. She is his mother.”
28 All Israel heard about the judgment which the king had rendered. They were filled with awe[d] in his presence, because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to administer justice.
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, who are believers in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
4 He did this when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. He did this in accordance with the good purpose of his will, 6 and for the praise of his glorious grace, which he has graciously given us in the one he loves.
7 In him we also have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in keeping with the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will in keeping with his good purpose, which he planned in Christ. 10 This was to be carried out when the time had fully come, in order to bring all things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have also obtained an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in keeping with the purpose of his will. 12 He did this so that his glory would be praised as a result of us, who were the first to hope in Christ.
13 In him, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him, when you also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 14 He is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own possession, so that his glory would be praised.
A Prayer for Knowledge and Strength
15 This is why, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation in knowing Christ fully. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, just how rich his glorious inheritance among the saints is, 19 and just how surpassingly great his power is for us who believe. 20 It is as great as the working of his mighty strength, which God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, and above every name that is given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church. 23 The church is his body, the fullness of him[b] who fills everything in every way.
The Lord’s Shepherd Will Save His Sheep
34 The word of the Lord came to me.
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds that this is what the Lord God says.
Woe to you, shepherds of Israel, who have been shepherding for themselves. Aren’t shepherds supposed to shepherd for the benefit of the sheep? 3 You eat the fat.[a] You wear the wool. You slaughter the fattened ones—but you do not shepherd the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak. You have not healed the sick. You have not bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays, and you have not searched for the lost. Instead you have abused them with force and with violence. 5 So they scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep scattered and 6 wandered all over the mountains and on every high hill. Over the face of the whole earth, my flock was scattered, with no one looking for them and no one searching for them.
7 Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 8 As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because my flock has become plunder, and because my flock has become food for all the wild animals, because they have no shepherd and my shepherds did not concern themselves about my flock, but the shepherds took care of themselves instead of taking care of my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord God says. I am against the shepherds. Watch! I will remove my flock from their hand. I will remove them from taking care of the sheep, and no longer will those shepherds take care of themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them.
11 For this is what the Lord God says. Here I am. I myself will seek the welfare of my flock and carefully search for them. 12 As a shepherd searches for his flock when his sheep that were with him have been scattered, so I will search for my flock and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the settlements of the land. 14 I will lead them into good pasture, and their grazing land will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and they will pasture on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will shepherd my flock. I myself will let them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak. I will destroy the fat and the strong, and I will shepherd them with justice.
17 What about you, my flock? This is what the Lord God says. I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you that you feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Then my flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied. 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them. I myself am going to judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep. 21 Because you have shoved them with your side and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns, until you scattered them abroad, 22 I will save my flock so that they will not become plunder anymore. In this way I will judge between one sheep and another.
23 Then I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he will tend them. My servant David will tend them, and he will be their shepherd. 24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be the prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken. 25 Then I will establish a covenant of peace with them, and I will rid the land of wild animals, so they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.
26 I will make them and the area around my hill a blessing. I will send the rain showers down in their season. They will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees in the field will yield their fruit, and the earth will yield its produce. They will be secure on their own land and know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 No more will they be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in security, with no one to make them afraid. 29 I will establish for them farmland famous for its crops, so that they will no longer be carried off by famine that is taking place in the land. They will no longer bear the scorn of the nations. 30 They will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 You are my flock of sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and you are my people, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.
Psalm 83
Surrounded by Enemies
Heading
A song. A psalm by Asaph.
Opening Plea
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, God.
A Catalog of Enemies
2 Look! Your enemies are in an uproar,
and those who hate you have raised their head.
3 Against your people they devise deceptive schemes,
and they plot together against the people you treasure.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,
so the name of Israel will not be remembered anymore.”
5 Indeed, with one mind they plot together.
They form an alliance against you—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal[a] and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Ashshur has joined with them. Interlude
They have become the arm of the sons of Lot.[b]
Prayer for Destruction of the Enemies
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the stream Kishon.
10 They perished at Endor.
They became like manure for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession of God’s pastures for ourselves.”
13 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire burns the forest,
or as a flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 so pursue them with your violent wind,
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame
so that they will seek your name, O Lord.
17 May they be ashamed and terrified forever.
May they be disgraced and perish.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 84
How Loved Is Your Dwelling Place
Heading
For the choir director. According to gittith.[c] By the Sons of Korah.[d]
A psalm.
How Loved Is Your Dwelling Place
1 How I love your dwelling place, O Lord of Armies.
2 My soul grows weak and even wastes away,
as I long for the courtyards of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow has found a nest for herself,
where she may place her young near your altars,
O Lord of Armies, my King and my God.
The Blessings of Being There
4 How blessed are those who live in your house. Interlude
They are always praising you.
5 How blessed is everyone whose strength is found in you.
The highways to Jerusalem[e] are in their hearts.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,[f]
it becomes full of springs.[g]
The autumn rain also covers it with pools.[h]
7 They go from strength to strength.
Each one will appear before God in Zion.
Prayer
8 O Lord, God of Armies, hear my prayer. Interlude
Give ear, O God of Jacob.
9 Look upon our Shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your Anointed One.[i]
The Blessings of Being There
10 Yes, one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather wait at the doorway of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord is a sun and shield.
God gives grace and glory.
The Lord does not withhold any good thing
from those who walk with integrity.
12 O Lord of Armies, how blessed is everyone who trusts in you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.