M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
4 King Solomon reigned over Israel, and these are the men who helped him do so. 2 The following were his officers and administrators: The priest was Azariah (Zadok’s son); 3 the secretaries were Elihoreph and Ahijah (Shisha’s sons); the recorder was Jehoshaphat (Ahilud’s son); 4 the commander of the army was Benaiah (Jehoiada’s son); the priests were Zadok and Abiathar; 5 the commander of all the administrators was Azariah (Nathan’s son); the king’s confidant and priest was Zabud (Nathan’s son); 6 the household manager was Ahishar; the commander of the compulsory labor force was Adoniram (Abda’s son).
7 Solomon commissioned 12 administrators over the entire community of Israel. They each gave provisions for the king and his house. Each administrator provided supplies for one month out of every year. 8 The following were his administrators: Ben-hur from the hills of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker from Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed from Arubboth (he possessed Socoh and all of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab from the height of Dor (he was married to Taphath, Solomon’s daughter); 12 Baana (Ahilud’s son) from Taanach, Megiddo, and Beth-shean, which is next to Zarethan below Jezreel (from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah) all the way to the far end of Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber (Manasseh’s son) from Ramoth-gilead, which is the whole of all the towns of Jair, the towns in Gilead, the sector of Argob in Bashan, and 60 large cities which were fortified by walls and bronze bars; 14 Ahinadab (Iddo’s son) from Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz from Naphtali (Ahimaaz was married to Basemath, Solomon’s daughter); 16 Baana (Hushai’s son) from Asher and Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat (Paruah’s son) from Issachar; 18 Shimei (Ela’s son) from Benjamin; 19 and finally Geber (Uri’s son) from Gilead (the land of Sihon the Amorite king, and the land of Og, Bashan’s king). Geber was the only administrator who lived in the country.
20 The people of Judah and Israel were innumerable, like the grains of sand on the beach. They ate and drank and celebrated.
21 Solomon reigned over all the countries from the Euphrates River to Philistia and to Egypt’s border. These countries honored Solomon with gifts and remained in Solomon’s service for his entire life. 22 Solomon’s provisions for his house for one day were just over 195 bushels of the best flour and about 391 bushels of meal, 23 10 fattened oxen, 20 pastured oxen, 100 sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened birds.
24 Solomon reigned over all places and people and kings to the west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah all the way to Gaza on the Mediterranean. Solomon’s reign had peace on all sides: 25 Judah and Israel lived in peace from Dan to Beersheba, with each man under his vine and beneath his fig tree, for Solomon’s entire life.
26 Solomon owned 40,000[a] horse stalls for the chariot horses, and he had 12,000 horsemen under his command. 27 The 12 administrators made provisions for King Solomon and all who sat at King’s Solomon’s table. Each agent was responsible for one month out of the year, and not one of them ever did an insufficient job. 28 They also provided barley and straw for the chariot horses and war horses in their specified stalls throughout the kingdom. Each agent fulfilled his responsibilities for his appointed month.
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and discernment: his mind was as expansive as the sands of the beach; 30 his wisdom was far beyond that of the wise men of the East and of Egypt. 31 He was the wisest of any other man. He was even wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and Calcol and Darda (Mahol’s sons). Solomon was immensely famous in all the nearby countries. 32 He also wrote 3,000 proverbs and composed 1,005 songs. 33 He reflected upon trees, from Lebanon’s cedars to the hyssop that blankets the walls. He reflected upon animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. 34 People came from every corner of the earth—sent by kings who were fascinated by Solomon’s wise reputation—to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.
5 News of Solomon’s succession of David reached the ears of Hiram, king of Tyre. Because Hiram was a friend of David,[b] he sent a group of his servants to visit Solomon. 2 Solomon gave a message to Hiram’s servants, which they took back to Hiram.
Solomon’s Message: 3 You remember that David did not have the opportunity to construct a temple honoring the reputation of the Eternal his God, because of my father’s involvement in the warfare which plagued him until the Eternal suppressed all of his enemies under his feet. 4 But the Eternal One my God now grants me rest everywhere. We are not plagued by enemies or troubles. 5 Therefore, I am going to construct a temple for the name of the Eternal my God. It will be just as He told David, my father: “Your son, whom I will put upon your throne after you are gone, will construct a temple honoring Me.”[c] 6 So tell your people to start cutting down Lebanon’s cedars for my project. My servants will work alongside your servants, and I will pay you whatever you ask for your servants’ work. It is no secret that the best timber cutters around are the Sidonians who are at your command.
7 When Hiram received this message from Solomon, he celebrated.
Hiram: Blessed is the Eternal today! Praise Him for giving David Solomon, the wise son who rules a great people!
8 (replying to Solomon) I have received your message, and I will do exactly as you have asked. We will start the timberwork with the cedars and cypress immediately. 9 Those who serve me will transport them from Lebanon to the sea. I will make rafts out of the timber and float the logs to the place of your choosing. There I will have them break apart the rafts, and you can carry the logs to wherever it is that you want them. Then all I ask is that you feed my house and my servants.
10 Hiram sent all the cedar and cypress trees Solomon had requested. 11 In return, Solomon presented Hiram with food for his house and servants: 130,000 bushels of wheat and 1,200 gallons of purified oil. Solomon gave this same amount to Hiram every year.
12 The Eternal One upheld His promise to Solomon and granted him much wisdom. Hiram and Solomon were at peace with each other, and they entered into a covenant.
13 King Solomon assembled forced laborers from all over Israel—30,000 men in all. 14 He sent them to Lebanon in cycles—10,000 men per month. They stayed in Lebanon for an entire month, then they were able to return home for two months. Adoniram was the head administrator of the workers.
15 Solomon enlisted 70,000 men to transport the materials and 80,000 stonecutters to quarry, carve, and dress stone from the mountains. 16 These numbers do not include Solomon’s 3,300[d] agents who were head administrators over the project and the workers. 17 The king gave instructions, and the workers laid the giant, expensive stones to form the foundation of the temple. 18 Both Solomon’s construction workers and Hiram’s skilled workers, along with the Gebalites, cut the materials to make the timber and stones ready for the temple.
Often in his letters, Paul records his prayers for his churches. He is constantly talking with God about those he considers his spiritual children. He prays that God will grant them wisdom, knowledge, and great power. This is the same power that was at work when God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heaven. Ultimately Paul knows all powers have been subjected to Jesus, the God-man, and He is destined to be head over all creation. In the resurrection of Jesus, the ultimate redemption of the cosmos has begun, and the church is the first act of God’s glorious drama.
2 As for you, don’t you remember how you used to just exist? Corpses, dead in life, buried by transgressions, 2 wandering the course of this perverse world. You were the offspring of the prince of the power of air—oh, how he owned you, just as he still controls those living in disobedience. I’m not talking about the outsiders alone; 3 we were all guilty of falling headlong for the persuasive passions of this world; we all have had our fill of indulging the flesh and mind, obeying impulses to follow perverse thoughts motivated by dark powers. As a result, our natural inclinations led us to be children of wrath, just like the rest of humankind.
4 But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, 5 united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life—even though we were buried under mountains of sin—and saved us by His grace. 6 He raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly realms with our beloved Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King. 7 He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed. 8-9 For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. You didn’t earn it, not one of us did, so don’t go around bragging that you must have done something amazing. 10 For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago.
The relationship between faith and works is often misunderstood. Some think that salvation is God’s reward for good deeds. If that’s true, then it can’t possibly be a gift. If it were a reward, then heaven would be a place where people might compare notes on what they did to make it through the gates. But Paul is confident in the truth of the gospel. The truth is that salvation is God’s gift through Jesus. Grace and faith make salvation real in us. When we are transformed by grace, then we become His new creation and begin to live out the good works He has planned for us. Works, then, aren’t the cause of salvation; they are its result. To put it another way, works aren’t the means of salvation; they are its presence.
11 So never forget how you used to be. Those of you born as outsiders to Israel were outcasts, branded “the uncircumcised” by those who bore the sign of the covenant in their flesh, a sign made with human hands. 12 You had absolutely no connection to the Anointed; you were strangers, separated from God’s people. You were aliens to the covenant they had with God; you were hopelessly stranded without God in a fractured world. 13 But now, because of Jesus the Anointed and His sacrifice, all of that has changed. God gathered you who were so far away and brought you near to Him by the royal blood of the Anointed, our Liberating King.
14 He is the embodiment of our peace, sent once and for all to take down the great barrier of hatred and hostility that has divided us so that we can be one. 15 He offered His body on the sacrificial altar to bring an end to the law’s ordinances and dictations that separated Jews from the outside nations. His desire was to create in His body one new humanity from the two opposing groups, thus creating peace. 16 Effectively the cross becomes God’s means to kill off the hostility once and for all so that He is able to reconcile them both to God in this one new body.
17 The Great Preacher of peace and love came for you, and His voice found those of you who were near and those who were far away. 18 By Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit. 19 And so you are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household. 20 You are being built on a solid foundation: the message of the prophets and the voices of God’s chosen emissaries[a] with Jesus, the Anointed Himself, the precious cornerstone. 21 The building is joined together stone by stone—all of us chosen and sealed in Him, rising up to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In Him you are being built together, creating a sacred dwelling place among you where God can live in the Spirit.
35 The word of the Eternal came to me with a message for Edom.
Eternal One: 2 Son of man, turn toward Mount Seir and preach against it. 3 Tell the Edomites that this is what the Eternal Lord has to say:
Pay attention! I oppose you, Mount Seir!
I will raise My hand against you, strike you,
and leave you an empty wasteland.
4 I will turn your cities to rubble,
and you will lie desolate and deserted.
Then you will know that I am the Eternal One.
5 You held an old grudge against the Israelites, and you handed them over to death and defeat when they were in the midst of disaster, at a crucial moment of their final punishment.
Israel has no more implacable enemy than Edom. As the descendants of Esau, whose brother Jacob stole his birthright and his father’s blessing, the Edomites view the Israelites as illegitimate rulers and thieves. So shortly after Nebuchadnezzar razes Jerusalem in 586 b.c., Edom seizes its opportunity for revenge and swoops in to fill the political vacuum that results. The Edomites are not operating as God’s instruments. They attack Israel out of their own greed, thinking no one is left to oppose them. They are wrong. The land of Israel never belongs to the people themselves; it belongs to God. When the Edomites sneak in to pillage the land of Israel, they find the stewards of the land gone or severely weakened, but the true Owner is at home and is ready to prosecute them for their actions.
Eternal One: 6 As surely as I, the Eternal Lord, live, what you have given, you will receive! I will hand you over to bloodshed, and it will come after you. Because you have been quick to shed blood, I will make your blood flow! 7 I will leave Mount Seir an empty wasteland and destroy any who come and go. 8 I will spread your corpses upon the mountains; all those slaughtered in battle will fill the hills and valleys and riverbeds! 9 I will turn you into an eternal wasteland; your cities and towns will lie empty and silent. Then you will know that I am the Eternal.
10 You keep saying, “We will take possession of these two countries and two nations—Israel and Judah. We will own them.” And you have the nerve to say this right in front of Me! 11 Consequently, as surely as I, the Eternal Lord, live, the rage and jealousy you have shown as a result of your hatred of them will be returned to you. When I judge you, I will show them who I am and remind them they are still mine. 12 When that day arrives, you will know that I, the Eternal One, have overheard all the despicable threats you made against Israel’s mountains: “They’re nothing but rubble! They’re as good as ours; let’s take what we want!” 13 You said so many haughty things against Me, and I heard every word of it.
14 This is what the Eternal God has to say.
Eternal One: While everyone else in the world sings songs and has happy feasts, I will leave you empty and desolate. 15 Since you celebrated the destruction of the land Israel was meant to inherit, I’m going to treat you the same way. O Mount Seir, you and the rest of Edom will be turned into an empty wasteland! Then you will know that I am the Eternal One.
Psalm 85
For the worship leader. A song of the sons of Korah.
1 O Eternal One, there was a time when You were gracious to Your land;
You returned Jacob’s descendants from their captivity.
2 You forgave the iniquity of Your people,
covered all of their sins.
[pause][a]
3 There was a time when You restrained all of Your fierce wrath,
when You cooled Your hot anger.
4 O God of our salvation, bring us back again—as You did before—
and put away Your anger toward us.
5 Will You be mad at us forever?
Will You continue to be angry with our children and theirs?
6 Will You not bring us back to life once more
so that we, Your people, will find joy and pleasure in You?
7 O Eternal One, show us Your unfailing love;
give us what we truly need: Your salvation.
8 I will hear what the True God—the Eternal—will say,
for He will speak peace over His people,
peace over those who faithfully follow Him, [but do not let them abuse His gift and return to foolish ways].[b]
9 Without a doubt, His salvation is near for those who revere Him
so that He will be with us again and all His glory will fill this land.
10 Unfailing love and truth have met on their way;
righteousness and peace have kissed one another.
11 Truth will spring from the earth like a plant,
and justice will look down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Eternal will plant goodness in the earth,
and our land will yield great abundance.
13 Justice will come before Him,
marking out a path, setting a way for His feet.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.