M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
5 So the Temple was finally finished. Then Solomon brought in the gifts dedicated to the Lord by his father, King David. They were stored in the Temple treasuries.
2 Solomon now summoned to Jerusalem all of the leaders of Israel—the heads of the tribes and clans—for the ceremony of transferring the Ark from the Tabernacle in the[a] City of David, also known as Zion, to its new home in the Temple. 3 This celebration took place in October at the annual Festival of Tabernacles. 4-5 As the leaders of Israel watched, the Levites lifted the Ark and carried it out of the Tabernacle, along with all the other sacred vessels. 6 King Solomon and the others sacrificed sheep and oxen before the Ark in such numbers that no one tried to keep count!
7-8 Then the priests carried the Ark into the inner room of the Temple—the Holy of Holies—and placed it beneath the wings of the Guardian Angels; their wings spread over the Ark and its carrying poles. 9 These carrying poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the outer room, but not from the outside doorway.
The Ark is still there at the time of this writing. 10 Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were leaving Egypt.
11-12 When the priests had undergone the purification rites for themselves, they all took part in the ceremonies without regard to their normal duties. And how the Levites were praising the Lord as the priests came out of the Holy of Holies! The singers were Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and brothers, dressed in finespun linen robes and standing at the east side of the altar. The choir was accompanied by 120 priests who were trumpeters, while others played the cymbals, lyres, and harps. 13-14 The band and chorus united as one to praise and thank the Lord; their selections were interspersed with trumpet obbligatos, the clashing of cymbals, and the loud playing of other musical instruments—all praising and thanking the Lord. Their theme was “He is so good! His loving-kindness lasts forever!”
And at that moment the glory of the Lord, coming as a bright cloud, filled the Temple so that the priests could not continue their work.
6 1-2 This is the prayer prayed by Solomon on that occasion:
“The Lord has said that he would live in the thick darkness,
But I have made a Temple for you, O Lord, to live in forever!”
3 Then the king turned around to the people and they stood to receive his blessing:
4 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,” he said to them, “the God who talked personally to my father David and has now fulfilled the promise he made to him. For he told him, 5-6 ‘I have never before, since bringing my people from the land of Egypt, chosen a city anywhere in Israel as the location of my Temple where my name will be glorified; and never before have I chosen a king for my people Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem as that city, and David as that king.’
7 “My father David wanted to build this Temple, 8 but the Lord said not to. It was good to have the desire, the Lord told him, 9 but he was not the one to build it: his son was chosen for that task. 10 And now the Lord has done what he promised, for I have become king in my father’s place, and I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel 11 and placed the Ark there. And in the Ark is the Covenant between the Lord and his people Israel.”
4 Dearly loved friends, don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God: test it first to see if it really is. For there are many false teachers around, 2 and the way to find out if their message is from the Holy Spirit is to ask: Does it really agree that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, actually became man with a human body? If so, then the message is from God. 3 If not, the message is not from God but from one who is against Christ, like the “Antichrist” you have heard about who is going to come, and his attitude of enmity against Christ is already abroad in the world.
4 Dear young friends, you belong to God and have already won your fight with those who are against Christ because there is someone in your hearts who is stronger than any evil teacher in this wicked world. 5 These men belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs and the world pays attention to them. 6 But we are children of God; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won’t. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God; for if it is, the world won’t listen to it.
7 Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better. 8 But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God—for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. 10 In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too. 12 For though we have never yet seen God, when we love each other God lives in us, and his love within us grows ever stronger. 13 And he has put his own Holy Spirit into our hearts as a proof to us that we are living with him and he with us. 14 And furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now tell all the world that God sent his Son to be their Savior. 15 Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in him, and he is living with God.
16 We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him. 17 And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too.
18 We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. 19 So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first.
20 If anyone says “I love God,” but keeps on hating his brother, he is a liar; for if he doesn’t love his brother who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has never seen? 21 And God himself has said that one must love not only God but his brother too.
3 Woe to Nineveh, City of Blood, full of lies, crammed with plunder. 2 Listen! Hear the crack of the whips as the chariots rush forward against her, wheels rumbling, horses’ hoofs pounding, and chariots clattering as they bump wildly through the streets! 3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears in the upraised arms of the cavalry! The dead are lying in the streets—bodies, heaps of bodies, everywhere. Men stumble over them, scramble to their feet, and fall again.
4 All this because Nineveh sold herself to the enemies of God. The beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty, then taught them all to worship her false gods,[a] bewitching people everywhere.
5 “No wonder I stand against you,” says the Lord Almighty; “and now all the earth will see your nakedness and shame. 6 I will cover you with filth and show the world how really vile you are.” 7 All who see you will shrink back in horror: “Nineveh lies in utter ruin.” Yet no one anywhere regrets your fate!
8 Are you any better than Thebes,[b] straddling the Nile, protected on all sides by the river? 9 Ethiopia and the whole land of Egypt were her mighty allies, and she could call on them for infinite assistance, as well as Put and Libya. 10 Yet Thebes fell and her people were led off as slaves; her babies were dashed to death against the stones of the streets. Soldiers drew straws to see who would get her officers as servants. All her leaders were bound in chains.
11 Nineveh, too, will stagger like a drunkard and hide herself in fear. 12 All your forts will fall. They will be devoured like first-ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees. 13 Your troops will be weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned. 14 Get ready for the siege! Store up water! Strengthen the forts! Prepare many bricks for repairing your walls! Go into the pits to trample the clay, and pack it in the molds!
15 But in the middle of your preparations, the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down; the enemy will consume you like young locusts that eat up everything before them. There is no escape, though you multiply like grasshoppers. 16 Merchants, numerous as stars, filled your city with vast wealth, but your enemies swarm like locusts and carry it away. 17 Your princes and officials crowd together like grasshoppers in the hedges in the cold, but all of them will flee away and disappear, like locusts when the sun comes up and warms the earth.
18 O Assyrian king, your princes lie dead in the dust; your people are scattered across the mountains; there is no shepherd now to gather them. 19 There is no healing for your wound—it is far too deep to cure. All who hear your fate will clap their hands for joy, for where can one be found who has not suffered from your cruelty?
19 1-2 As Jesus was passing through Jericho, a man named Zacchaeus, one of the most influential Jews in the Roman tax-collecting business (and, of course, a very rich man), 3 tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowds. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree beside the road, to watch from there.
5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name! “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick! Come down! For I am going to be a guest in your home today!”
6 Zacchaeus hurriedly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
7 But the crowds were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “Sir, from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor, and if I find I have overcharged anyone on his taxes, I will penalize myself by giving him back four times as much!”
9-10 Jesus told him, “This shows[a] that salvation has come to this home today. This man was one of the lost sons of Abraham, and I, the Messiah, have come to search for and to save such souls as his.”
11 And because Jesus was nearing Jerusalem, he told a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.
12 “A nobleman living in a certain province was called away to the distant capital of the empire to be crowned king of his province. 13 Before he left he called together ten assistants and gave them each $2,000 to invest while he was gone. 14 But some of his people hated him and sent him their declaration of independence, stating that they had rebelled and would not acknowledge him as their king.
15 “Upon his return he called in the men to whom he had given the money, to find out what they had done with it, and what their profits were.
16 “The first man reported a tremendous gain—ten times as much as the original amount!
17 “‘Fine!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good man. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, and as your reward, you shall be governor of ten cities.’
18 “The next man also reported a splendid gain—five times the original amount.
19 “‘All right!’ his master said. ‘You can be governor over five cities.’
20 “But the third man brought back only the money he had started with. ‘I’ve kept it safe,’ he said, 21 ‘because I was afraid you would demand my profits, for you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and even confiscating the crops that others plant.’ 22 ‘You vile and wicked slave,’ the king roared. ‘Hard, am I? That’s exactly how I’ll be toward you! If you knew so much about me and how tough I am, 23 then why didn’t you deposit the money in the bank so that I could at least get some interest on it?’
24 “Then turning to the others standing by he ordered, ‘Take the money away from him and give it to the man who earned the most.’
25 “‘But, sir,’ they said, ‘he has enough already!’
26 “‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘but it is always true that those who have, get more, and those who have little, soon lose even that. 27 And now about these enemies of mine who revolted—bring them in and execute them before me.’”
28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking along ahead of his disciples. 29 As they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead, 30 with instructions to go to the next village, and as they entered they were to look for a donkey tied beside the road. It would be a colt, not yet broken for riding.
“Untie him,” Jesus said, “and bring him here. 31 And if anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs him.’”
32 They found the colt as Jesus said, 33 and sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners demanded an explanation.
“What are you doing?” they asked. “Why are you untying our colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs him!” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw some of their clothing across its back for Jesus to sit on.
36-37 Then the crowds spread out their robes along the road ahead of him, and as they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, the whole procession began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles Jesus had done.
38 “God has given us a King!” they exulted. “Long live the King! Let all heaven rejoice! Glory to God in the highest heavens!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Sir, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones along the road will burst into cheers!”
41 But as they came closer to Jerusalem and he saw the city ahead, he began to cry. 42 “Eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down,” he wept, “and now it is too late. 43 Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you, 44 and crush you to the ground, and your children within you; your enemies will not leave one stone upon another—for you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”
45 Then he entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls, 46 saying to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple is a place of prayer; but you have turned it into a den of thieves.’”
47 After that he taught daily in the Temple, but the chief priests and other religious leaders and the business community[b] were trying to find some way to get rid of him. 48 But they could think of nothing, for he was a hero to the people—they hung on every word he said.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.