M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 2
Final Preparations for the Temple. 1 Solomon then resolved to build a house to honor the Lord as well as a palace for himself. 2 Therefore, he conscripted seventy thousand men to carry the stone and eighty thousand men to serve as stonecutters, as well as three thousand six hundred men to oversee them.
3 Then Solomon sent this message to King Huram of Tyre: “Some time ago you dealt with my father David, sending him cedars to build a palace in which he would dwell. 4 Now I am preparing to build a house in honor of the Lord, my God, and to consecrate it to him so that fragrant incense can be burned before him, along with the perpetual display of the loaves of permanent offering, for burnt offerings morning and evening, and for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the festivals of the Lord, our God, as is ordained forever for Israel.
5 “The house that I intend to build must be large, since our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who is really able to build a house for him when the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? And who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?
7 “Therefore, now send me an artisan who is highly skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, and who is expert in the art of engraving. I want him to work with the skilled craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem who were provided by my father David. 8 Also send me cedar, cypress, and juniper timber from Lebanon, for I am well aware that your servants are skilled in felling the trees of Lebanon.
“My servants will work with your servants 9 in order to prepare for me a vast quantity of timber, for the house that I intend to build will be great in size and a marvel to behold. 10 Furthermore, I will provide for your servants the woodcutters who fell the trees, twenty thousand kors of wheat, and twenty thousand kors of barley, along with twenty thousand measures of wine and twenty thousand measures of oil.”[a]
11 In a letter that he sent to King Solomon in response, King Huram of Tyre replied: “Because of the love that the Lord has for his people, he has appointed you as their king.” 12 Then Huram went on to say: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth. He has given King David a wise son blessed with intelligence and discernment who will build a house for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13 “I have now sent you Huram-abi,[b] a skilled artisan and a man of intelligence. 14 He is the son of a Danite woman and of a father from Tyre. He is skilled in the art of working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics and fine linen. He also is competent to do all sorts of engraving and to execute any design that may be assigned to him, in collaboration with your own skilled craftsmen and those of my lord David, your father.
15 “And now, let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine which he has promised. 16 We shall cut down all the timber you need from Lebanon and float it all down to you as rafts by sea to Joppa. Then it will be your responsibility to transport it to Jerusalem.”
17 Shortly thereafter Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, similar to the census that his father David had taken. There were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred aliens. 18 Solomon designated seventy thousand of them to be porters, eighty thousand to be stonecutters in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to ensure that the people were doing the work assigned to them.
Chapter 2
1 My dear children,
I am writing this to you
so that you may avoid committing sin.
However, if anyone does sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is himself the sacrifice for our sins—
and not only for our sins
but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Commandment of Love[a]
3 Now we may be certain that we know him
if we obey his commandments.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,”
but does not keep his commandments,
is a liar,
and the truth is not in him.[b]
5 However, the love of God is truly perfected
in the one who obeys his word.
This is how we can be certain
that we are in union with him:
6 whoever claims to abide in him
must live just as he himself lived.
7 Beloved,
I am not writing a new commandment[c] for you,
but an old commandment
that you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word
that you have heard.
8 And yet I am writing you a new commandment,
whose truth is in him and in you,
because the darkness is passing away
and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever says, “I am in the light,”
yet hates his brother,
is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light,
and there is nothing in him
to make him stumble.
11 Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness,
and he walks about in darkness.
He does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded him.
The Concupiscences of the World[d]
12 I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have known him
who has existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you have conquered the evil one.
14 I am writing to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have known him
who has existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
15 Do not love the world
or what is in the world.
If anyone does love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything that is in the world—
the concupiscence of the flesh,
the concupiscence of the eyes,
and the pride of life—
comes not from the Father
but from the world.[e]
17 And the world with all its enticements
is passing away,
but whoever does the will of God
abides forever.
Behold the Antichrist[f]
18 Dear children,
this is the last hour.
You have heard that the Antichrist was coming,
and now many antichrists have already come.[g]
Thus, we know
that it is the final hour.
19 They went out from us,
but they never really belonged to us.
If they had belonged to us,
they would have remained with us.
By departing from us,
they made it clear
that none of them belonged to us.
20 However, you have been anointed
by the Holy One,[h]
and you all have knowledge.
21 I write to you
not because you do not know the truth
but because you do know it,
and because no lie can come from the truth.
22 Who is the liar
but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
The antichrist is
anyone who denies both the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son
does not have the Father,
but whoever acknowledges the Son
has the Father also.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning
remain in you.
If what you heard from the beginning
remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son
and in the Father
25 And this is the promise he made to us:
eternal life.
26 I write these things to you
in reference to those
who seek to lead you astray.
27 But as for you,
the anointing you received from him
remains in you,
and therefore you do not need anyone
to teach you.
This same anointing
teaches you everything
and is true and not false,
so abide in him just as he taught you.
28 And now, dear children,
abide in him,
so that when he appears
we may have confidence
and not be put to shame by him
at his coming.
Children of God
Everyone Whose Life Is Righteous Has Been Born of God[i]
29 If you know that he is righteous,
you also know that everyone whose life is righteous
is born of him.
Chapter 1
Title.1 This is an oracle about Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.[a]
The Fury of God[b]
In the Face of His Ardent Anger, Who Could Resist Him?[c]
Chapter 1
Title. This is an oracle about Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.[d]
The Fury of God[e]
In the Face of His Ardent Anger, Who Could Resist Him?[f]
2 The Lord is a jealous God
who does not hesitate to wreak vengeance
or to show his anger.
The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and stores up wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
and he will never allow the guilty
to escape punishment.
He makes his way in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and leaves it dry,
and he dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither,
and the greenery of Lebanon fades.[g]
5 The mountains quake before him,
and the hills dissolve;
the earth collapses before him,
the world and all who live in it.
6 When confronted by his anger,
who can stand firm?
Who can endure his burning wrath?
His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are shattered before him.
7 The Lord is good,
an unfailing refuge in a time of distress.
He takes care of those who place their trust in him,
8 even if they are in peril from a raging flood.
He will make an end of those who oppose him,
and he will pursue his enemies into darkness.
They Will Be Wasted Like Dry Straw[h]
9 Why do you devise plots against the Lord?
He will make an end of you.
None of his adversaries rise up to confront him
for a second time.
10 Like a thicket of thornbushes, they are entangled;
like dry straw they will be utterly consumed.
11 From your number, one has emerged
who plots evil against the Lord
and counsels wickedness.
12 Thus says the Lord:
No matter how numerous they are,
no matter how great their strength,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Even though I have afflicted you,
I will make you suffer no more.
13 Now I will break off their yoke from your neck
and snap the shackles that bind you.
14 In regard to you, Nineveh,
the Lord has decreed
that no more descendants will be born
to perpetuate your name.
I will remove carved images and sculpted idols
from the temple of your gods.
And I will prepare your grave,
for you are worthless.
Various Episodes and Instructions
Chapter 17
Warning against Giving Scandal.[a] 1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Scandals are bound to occur, but woe to the man through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were fastened around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Be on your guard!
The Need To Forgive.[b] “If your brother should sin, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times a day, and comes back to you seven times to say, ‘I am sorry,’ you must forgive him.”
Faith Knows How To Make Miracles.[c] 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Unprofitable Servants.[d] 7 “Which of you, when your servant returns from plowing or tending sheep in the fields, would say to him, ‘Come right away and sit down to eat’? 8 Would you not rather say, ‘Prepare my dinner, put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink, and then afterward you yourself may eat and drink’? 9 Would you be grateful to that servant for doing what he was commanded? 10 So should it be with you. When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”
11 Jesus Heals Ten Men with Leprosy.[e] As he continued on his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 When he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Standing some distance away, 13 they called out to him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he realized that he had been cured, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. This man was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten made clean? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one except this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 19 Then he said to him, “Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.”
20 The Coming of the Kingdom of God.[f] Once, the Pharisees asked him when the kingdom of God was coming. He answered, “The coming of the kingdom of God will not occur with signs that can be observed. 21 Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 The Day of the Son of Man.[g] Then he said to his disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go running after them. 24 For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must endure great suffering and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed all of them. 28 “The same thing happened in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But on the day that Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed all of them.
30 “It will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, the one who is standing on the roof, with his possessions inside, must not come down to collect them, and someone who is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it.
34 “I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. 35 And there will be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left. [ 36 Two men will be out in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left.]”[h]
37 They asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said in reply, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
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