M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 5
Dedication of the Temple. 1 When all the work that Solomon had done was completed, he brought in the treasures that his father David had dedicated, and he deposited the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.
2 Then Solomon summoned the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes and the princes of the families of Israel, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. 3 All the men of Israel assembled before the king at the festival of the seventh month.
4 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites lifted up the Ark, 5 and the priests and the Levites carried it and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that it contained. 6 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who were present with him assembled before the Ark and sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or reckoned.
7 Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place where the Ark stood, so that they sheltered the Ark and its poles.
9 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They are still there to this very day.[a] 10 There was nothing inside the Ark aside from the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb when the Lord had made a covenant with the people of Israel after they had departed from Egypt.
11 When the priests emerged from the Holy Place—for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to their divisions— 12 all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and brothers, dressed themselves in fine linen, with cymbals, lyres, and harps. They were standing to the east of the altar with one hundred and twenty priests, blowing the trumpets.
13 The trumpeters and the singers joined in unison to offer praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the volume was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise of the Lord:
“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever,”[b]
the temple was filled with the cloud of the glory of the Lord, 14 and as a result of the cloud the priests could not continue to minister, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Chapter 6
1 Then Solomon said:
“The Lord has said
that he has chosen to dwell in thick darkness.
2 I have built you a magnificent temple, O Lord,
a dwelling place in which you may reside forever.”
3 Then the king turned around and blessed the entire assembly of Israelites as they stood before him. 4 He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with his hand what he promised with his mouth to my father David, when he said: 5 ‘From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to have a temple built to honor my name, nor did I choose any man to be the ruler over my people Israel. 6 However, now I have chosen Jerusalem, where I shall be honored, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
7 “My father David was determined to build a temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 However, the Lord said to him: ‘In wishing to build a temple in my honor, you did well. 9 But nevertheless you shall not build the temple. Rather, your son who shall be born to you shall be the one who will build the temple in my name.’
10 “Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have succeeded my father David and taken his place on the throne of Israel, as the Lord foretold. In addition, I have built the temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 There I have installed the Ark containing the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”
Chapter 4
The Spirit of the Antichrist in the World[a]
1 Beloved,
do not trust every spirit,
but test the spirits
to see whether they are from God.
For many false prophets
have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh[b]
is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
is not from God.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist,
about whose coming you have been told,
and that it is already in the world.
4 Dear children,
you are from God[c]
and you have conquered them,
for the one who is in you is greater
than the one who is in the world.
5 They are from the world;
therefore, what they say is from the world,
and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God.
Anyone who knows God listens to us,
while anyone who is not from God
refuses to listen to us.
This is how we can distinguish
the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.[d]
Remain in Love[e]
What Love Is
7 Beloved,
let us love one another,
because love is from God.[f]
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love
does not know God,
because God is love.
9 God’s love was revealed to us in this way:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
10 This is what love is:
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.[g]
11 Beloved,
since God loved us so much,
we should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God,
but if we love one another,
God abides in us,
and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we can be certain
that we abide in him
and that he abides in us:
he has given us a share in his Spirit.[h]
14 Moreover, we have seen for ourselves
and can testify
that the Father has sent the Son
as the Savior of the world.
15 God abides in anyone who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
and that person abides in God.
16 We have come to know
and to believe in
the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and whoever abides in love
abides in God,
and God in him.
17 This is how love is made perfect in us,
enabling us to have confidence
on the Day of Judgment,
because even in this world
we have become like him.
18 In love there is no fear;
indeed, perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears
has not yet achieved perfection in love.
19 Therefore, we love because he first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,”
but at the same time hates his brother,
he is a liar.
For whoever does not love the brother
whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 This is the commandment
we have received from him:
whoever loves God
must also love his brother.
Chapter 3
Woe to the Bloodstained City[a]
1 Woe to the bloodstained city,
festering with lies,
full of booty,
never ceasing in its plunder.
2 Endless are the crack of the whip
and the rumbling of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots,
3 charging cavalry,
flashing swords,
shimmering spears,
endless piles of the slain,
heaps of corpses,
endless bodies to stumble over.
4 Because of the persistent debaucheries of the harlot,
with her alluring facade as a mistress of sorcery,
who enslaved nations by her harlotries
and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you,”
says the Lord of hosts.
“I will lift up your skirts over your face
and exhibit your nakedness to the nations,
your shame to the kingdoms.
6 I will pelt you with filth,
and treat you with contempt,
and make a spectacle of you.
7 Then all those who see you
will shrink from you and say,
‘Nineveh is destroyed.’
Who will console her?
Where can anyone be found to comfort you?”
Are You Better than No-amon?[b]
8 [c]Are you better than No-amon,
a city situated among streams
and surrounded by water,
with the seas serving as her rampart
and water as her wall?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
and that strength was boundless;
Put and the Lybians were her allies.
10 Nevertheless, even she became an exile
and went into captivity.
Even her infants were dashed to pieces
at every street corner.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
and all her leaders were put in chains.
11 You, too, will become drunk
and go into hiding.
You, too, will flee,
seeking a refuge from the enemy.
The Situation of Nineveh Is Desperate[d]
12 All your fortresses are fig trees
that bear early fruit.
As soon as they are shaken,
they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your troops.
You are a nation of women.
The gates of your country
lie open to your enemies;
fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
14 Draw yourselves water for the siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
15 Then the fire will consume you
and the sword will cut you off.
Multiply yourselves like the locusts,
make yourselves as numerous as the grasshoppers.
Like the Locusts, Strip the Land and Fly Away[e]
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
until they now outnumber the stars of the heavens,
but like the locusts, they strip the land
and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts,
and your scribes are like swarms of grasshoppers
that settle in the walls
on a cold day.
However, when the sun rises, they fly away,
and no one knows where they have gone.
Incurable Is Your Sickness[f]
18 Alas, your shepherds are asleep,
O king of Assyria;
your neighbors lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
19 There is no way to relieve your wound;
your injury is mortal.
All who hear this news about your fate
clap their hands over your downfall.
For who has not suffered
as a result of your relentless cruelty?
Chapter 19
Jesus and Zacchaeus, the Rich Tax Collector.[a] 1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man there, named Zacchaeus, was a chief tax collector and a rich man. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but since he was short in stature, he could not see him because of the crowd. 4 Therefore, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to catch a glimpse of him for he was going to pass that way.
5 When he reached that spot, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 Zacchaeus came down quickly and welcomed him joyfully.
7 When the people observed this, they began to complain, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, I intend to give half of everything I possess to the poor, and if I have defrauded someone of anything, I will repay that amount four times over.”
9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek out and to save what was lost.”
11 The Parable of the Ten Gold Coins.[b] While the people were listening to him speak, Jesus went on to tell them a parable, because now he was near Jerusalem and because they thought that the kingdom of God might appear immediately. 12 He said, “A man of noble birth was preparing to go to a distant country to receive a kingdom and then return. 13 So he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins,[c] instructing them, ‘Trade with the money I have given you until I return.’ 14 But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him to give this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’
15 “When he returned after having been made king, he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money to ascertain what profit they had made through their trading. 16 The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your money has increased tenfold in value.’ 17 He said to him, ‘Well done, my good servant. Because you have proved trustworthy in this very small matter, you shall be in charge of ten cities.’
18 “Next, the second servant came forward and said, ‘Sir, your money has increased fivefold in value.’ 19 He said to him, ‘You shall be in charge of five cities.’
20 “Then the third one came forward, saying, ‘Sir, here is your money. I kept it wrapped up in a handkerchief. 21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put down, and you reap what you did not sow.’
22 “The master said to him, ‘I will condemn you by your own words, you wicked servant. You knew I was a hard man, taking out what I did not put down, and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not deposit my money into a bank so that on my return I could have drawn it out with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take the money from him and give it to the one with the ten gold coins.’ 25 They said to him, ‘But sir, he already has ten gold coins.’ 26 He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he does have will be taken away. 27 But as for those enemies of mine who did not want me for their king, bring them here and put them to death in my presence.’ ”
The Activity of Jesus at Jerusalem[d]
28 Jesus Enters Jerusalem as the Messiah.[e] After he had said this, Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem. 29 As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent off two of the disciples, saying, 30 “Go into the village directly ahead, and upon entering it, you will find tied there a colt on which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ simply say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”
32 The two disciples who had been sent went off and found everything just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They answered, “The Lord needs it.”
35 Then they brought the colt to Jesus, and after spreading their cloaks over the colt, they helped Jesus to mount it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 And when he approached the downward path of the Mount of Olives, the entire multitude of his disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen him perform, 38 proclaiming:
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens.”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out.”
41 The Lament over Jerusalem.[f] As Jesus drew near and beheld the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If only you had recognized on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your sight. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will raise up fortifications all around you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will smash you to the ground, you and your children with you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
45 Jesus Cleanses the Temple.[g] Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were engaging in selling, 46 saying to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’
but you have made it a den of thieves.”
47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people plotted to kill him. 48 However, they were unable to do so because all the people hung on his every word.
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