M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Solomon’s Prayer. 12 (A)Then he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and stretched forth his hands. 13 [a]Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, which he had placed in the middle of the courtyard. Having ascended it, Solomon knelt in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and stretched forth his hands toward heaven. 14 He said: “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you keep the covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart, 15 the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father. That which you promised him, your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day. 16 And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking by my law, as you have. 17 Now, Lord, God of Israel, may the words which you spoke to David your servant be confirmed.
18 “Is God indeed to dwell with human beings on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built! 19 Regard kindly the prayer and petition of your servant, Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you. 20 May your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have decreed your name shall be; listen to the prayer your servant makes toward this place. 21 Listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer toward this place. Listen, from the place of your enthronement, heaven, and listen and forgive.
22 “If someone sins against a neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by a curse, and comes and takes the oath before your altar in this house, 23 listen in heaven: act and judge your servants. Condemn the wicked, requiting their ways; acquit the just, rewarding their justice. 24 When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then they turn, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you in this house, 25 listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave them and their ancestors. 26 When the heavens are closed so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, but they pray toward this place and praise your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27 listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. (For you teach them the good way in which they should walk.) Give rain upon this land of yours which you have given to your people as their heritage.
28 “If there is famine in the land or pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or locusts swarm, or caterpillars; when their enemies besiege them at any of their gates; whatever plague or sickness there may be; 29 whatever prayer of petition any may make, any of your people Israel, who know affliction and pain and stretch out their hands toward this house, 30 listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement, and forgive. Render to each and all according to their ways, you who know every heart; for it is you alone who know the heart of every human being. 31 So may they revere you and walk in your ways as long as they live on the land you gave our ancestors.
32 “To the foreigners, likewise, who are not of your people Israel, but who come from a distant land for the sake of your great name, your mighty hand and outstretched arm, and come in prayer to this house, 33 listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, may revere you as do your people Israel, and may know that your name has been invoked upon this house that I have built.
34 “When your people go out to war against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, 35 listen from heaven to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause. 36 When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to an enemy, so that their captors carry them off to another land, far or near, 37 and they have a change of heart in the land of their captivity and they turn and entreat you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,’ 38 if with all their heart and soul they turn back to you in the land of those who took them captive, and pray toward their land which you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name, 39 listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement, to their prayer and petitions, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to the prayer of this place. 41 And now:
“Arise, Lord God, come to your resting place,
you and your majestic ark.
Your priests, Lord God, will be clothed with salvation,
your faithful ones rejoice in good things.
42 Lord God, do not reject the plea of your anointed,
remember the devotion of David, your servant.”(B)
Chapter 5
Faith Is Victory over the World. 1 [a]Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the father loves [also] the one begotten by him.(A) 2 In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,(B) 4 for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.(C) 5 Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D)
6 This is the one who came through water and blood,[b] Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies, and the Spirit is truth.(E) 7 So there are three that testify, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.(F) 9 If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on behalf of his Son.(G) 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son.(H) 11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.(I) 12 Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.
IV. Epilogue[c]
Prayer for Sinners. 13 I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.(J) 14 And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.(K) 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. 16 If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.(L) 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
18 We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.(M) 21 Children, be on your guard against idols.
Chapter 1
1 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision.
Habakkuk’s First Complaint
2 How long, O Lord, must I cry for help[a]
and you do not listen?(A)
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
and you do not intervene?
3 Why do you let me see iniquity?
why do you simply gaze at evil?
Destruction and violence are before me;(B)
there is strife and discord.
4 This is why the law is numb[b]
and justice never comes,
For the wicked surround the just;(C)
this is why justice comes forth perverted.
God’s Response
5 [c]Look over the nations and see!
Be utterly amazed!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe, were it told.(D)
6 For now I am raising up the Chaldeans,(E)
that bitter and impulsive people,
Who march the breadth of the land
to take dwellings not their own.
7 They are terrifying and dreadful;
their right and their exalted position are of their own making.
8 Swifter than leopards are their horses,
and faster than desert wolves.
Their horses spring forward;
they come from far away;
they fly like an eagle hastening to devour.
9 All of them come for violence,
their combined onslaught, a stormwind
to gather up captives like sand.
10 They scoff at kings,
ridicule princes;
They laugh at any fortress,
heap up an earthen ramp, and conquer it.
11 Then they sweep through like the wind and vanish—
they make their own strength their god![d]
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not from of old, O Lord,
my holy God, immortal?(F)
Lord, you have appointed them for judgment,[e]
O Rock,[f] you have set them in place to punish!
13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon wickedness,
and the sight of evil you cannot endure.
Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence
while the wicked devour those more just than themselves?
14 You have made mortals like the fish in the sea,
like creeping things without a leader.
15 He[g] brings them all up with a hook,
and hauls them away with his net;
He gathers them in his fishing net,
and then rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore he makes sacrifices to his net,[h]
and burns incense to his fishing net;
For thanks to them his portion is rich,
and his meal lavish.
17 Shall they, then, keep on drawing his sword
to slaughter nations without mercy?
Chapter 20[a]
The Authority of Jesus Questioned.(A) 1 One day as he was teaching the people in the temple area and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and scribes, together with the elders, approached him 2 and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is the one who gave you this authority?”(B) 3 He said to them in reply, “I shall ask you a question. Tell me, 4 was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin?”(C) 5 They discussed this among themselves, and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’(D) 6 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ then all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know from where it came. 8 Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Parable of the Tenant Farmers.[b] 9 (E)Then he proceeded to tell the people this parable. “[A] man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and then went on a journey for a long time.(F) 10 At harvest time he sent a servant(G) to the tenant farmers to receive some of the produce of the vineyard. But they beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. 11 So he proceeded to send another servant, but him also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. 12 Then he proceeded to send a third, but this one too they wounded and threw out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I shall send my beloved son; maybe they will respect him.’(H) 14 But when the tenant farmers saw him they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him that the inheritance may become ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.[c] What will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and put those tenant farmers to death and turn over the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they exclaimed, “Let it not be so!” 17 But he looked at them and asked, “What then does this scripture passage mean:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?(I)
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 19 The scribes and chief priests sought to lay their hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people, for they knew that he had addressed this parable to them.(J)
Paying Taxes to the Emperor.(K) 20 [d]They watched him closely and sent agents pretending to be righteous who were to trap him in speech,(L) in order to hand him over to the authority and power of the governor. 21 They posed this question to him, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is correct, and you show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.(M) 22 Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar or not?”[e] 23 Recognizing their craftiness he said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius;[f] whose image and name does it bear?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” 25 So he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”(N) 26 They were unable to trap him by something he might say before the people, and so amazed were they at his reply that they fell silent.
The Question About the Resurrection.(O) 27 Some Sadducees,[g] those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him,(P) 28 [h]saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’(Q) 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.[i] 37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;(R) 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”(S) 39 Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” 40 And they no longer dared to ask him anything.(T)
The Question About David’s Son.[j] 41 (U)Then he said to them, “How do they claim that the Messiah is the Son of David? 42 For David himself in the Book of Psalms says:(V)
‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
43 till I make your enemies your footstool.”’
44 Now if David calls him ‘lord,’ how can he be his son?”
Denunciation of the Scribes.(W) 45 Then, within the hearing of all the people, he said to [his] disciples, 46 “Be on guard against the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and love greetings in marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.(X) 47 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.