M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

5 Thus all the work that Shlomo did for the house of Adonai was finished. Then Shlomo brought in the gifts which David his father had consecrated — the silver, the gold and all the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

² Shlomo assembled all the leaders of Isra’el and all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the paternal clans of the people of Isra’el, to Yerushalayim, to bring the ark for the covenant of Adonai out of the City of David, also known as Tziyon. ³ All the people of Isra’el assembled before the king at the festival in the seventh month. ⁴ All the leaders of Isra’el came. The L’vi’im took the ark ⁵ and brought up the ark, the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils that were in the tent; these are what the cohanim and L’vi’im brought up. ⁶ King Shlomo and the whole community of Isra’el who had assembled in his presence were in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen in numbers beyond counting or recording. ⁷ The cohanim brought the ark for the covenant of Adonai in to its place inside the sanctuary of the house, to the Especially Holy Place, under the wings of the k’ruvim. ⁸ For the k’ruvim spread out their wings over the place for the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above. ⁹ The poles were so long that their ends could be seen [extending] from the ark into the sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moshe put there at Horev, when Adonai made the covenant with the people of Isra’el at the time of their leaving Egypt.

¹¹ When the cohanim came out of the Holy Place (for all the cohanim who were present had consecrated themselves; they didn’t keep to their divisions; ¹² also the L’vi’im who were the singers, all of them — Asaf, Heman, Y’dutun and their sons and relatives — dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, lutes and lyres, stood on the east side of the altar; and with them 120 cohanim sounding trumpets), ¹³ then, when the trumpeters and singers were playing in concord, to be heard harmoniously praising and thanking Adonai, and they lifted their voices together with the trumpets, cymbals and other musical instruments to praise Adonai: “for he is good, for his grace continues forever” — then, the house, the house of Adonai, was filled with a cloud; ¹⁴ so that because of the cloud, the cohanim could not stand up to perform their service; for the glory of Adonai filled the house of God.

6 Shlomo said, “Adonai said he would live in thick darkness. ² But I have built you a magnificent house, a place where you can live forever.”

³ Then the king turned around and blessed the whole community of Isra’el. The whole community of Isra’el stood ⁴ as he said, “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Isra’el, who spoke to my father David with his mouth and fulfilled his promise with his hand. He said, ⁵ ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I chose no city from any of the tribes of Isra’el to build a house, so that my name might be there; nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my people Isra’el. ⁶ But now I have chosen Yerushalayim, so that my name can be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Isra’el.’ ⁷ It was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Adonai the God of Isra’el; ⁸ but Adonai said to David my father, ‘Although it was in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well that it was in your heart, ⁹ nevertheless you will not build the house. Rather, you will father a son, and it will be he who will build the house for my name.’ ¹⁰ Now Adonai has fulfilled this spoken word of his; for I have succeeded my father and sit on the throne of Isra’el, as Adonai promised; and I have built the house for the name of Adonai the God of Isra’el. ¹¹ And there I have placed the ark containing the covenant of Adonai, which he made with the people of Isra’el.”

4 Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit. On the contrary, test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² Here is how you recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges that Yeshua the Messiah came as a human being is from God, ³ and every spirit which does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God — in fact, this is the spirit of the Anti-Messiah. You have heard that he is coming. Well, he’s here now, in the world already!

⁴ You, children, are from God and have overcome the false prophets, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world; therefore, they speak from the world’s viewpoint; and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

⁷ Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. ⁸ Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. ⁹ Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. ¹⁰ Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins.

¹¹ Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal in us. ¹³ Here is how we know that we remain united with him and he with us: he has given to us from his own Spirit. ¹⁴ Moreover, we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as Deliverer of the world. ¹⁵ If someone acknowledges that Yeshua is the Son of God, God remains united with him, and he with God. ¹⁶ Also we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them.

¹⁷ Here is how love has been brought to maturity with us: as the Messiah is, so are we in the world. This gives us confidence for the Day of Judgment. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. On the contrary, love that has achieved its goal gets rid of fear, because fear has to do with punishment; the person who keeps fearing has not been brought to maturity in regard to love.

¹⁹ We ourselves love now because he loved us first. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ Yes, this is the command we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother too.

19 Yeshua entered Yericho and was passing through, ² when a man named Zakkai appeared who was a chief tax-collector and a wealthy man. ³ He was trying to see who Yeshua was; but, being short, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed a fig tree in order to see him, for Yeshua was about to pass that way. ⁵ When he came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zakkai! Hurry! Come down, because I have to stay at your house today!” ⁶ He climbed down as fast as he could and welcomed Yeshua joyfully. ⁷ Everyone who saw it began muttering, “He has gone to be the house-guest of a sinner.” ⁸ But Zakkai stood there and said to the Lord, “Here, Lord, I am giving half of all I own to the poor; and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.” ⁹ Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, inasmuch as this man too is a son of Avraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.”

¹¹ While they were listening to this, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because he was near Yerushalayim, and the people supposed that the Kingdom of God was about to appear at any moment. ¹² Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a country far away to have himself crowned king and then return. ¹³ Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten manim [a maneh is about three months’ wages] and said to them, ‘Do business with this while I’m away.’ ¹⁴ But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’

¹⁵ “However, he returned, having been made king, and sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what each one had earned in his business dealings. ¹⁶ The first one came in and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned ten more manim.’ ¹⁷ ‘Excellent!’ he said to him. ‘You are a good servant. Because you have been trustworthy in a small matter, I am putting you in charge of ten towns.’ ¹⁸ The second one came and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned five more manim; ¹⁹ and to this one he said, ‘You be in charge of five towns.’

²⁰ “Then another one came and said, ‘Sir, here is your maneh. I kept it hidden in a piece of cloth, ²¹ because I was afraid of you — you take out what you didn’t put in, and you harvest what you didn’t plant.’ ²² To him the master said, ‘You wicked servant! I will judge you by your own words! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, taking out what I didn’t put in and harvesting what I didn’t plant? ²³ Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then, when I returned, I would have gotten it back with interest!’ ²⁴ To those standing by, he said, ‘Take the maneh from him and give it to the one with ten manim.’ ²⁵ They said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten manim!’ ²⁶ But the master answered, ‘I tell you, everyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. ²⁷ However, as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence!’”

²⁸ After saying this, Yeshua went on and began the ascent to Yerushalayim. ²⁹ As he approached Beit-Pagei and Beit-Anyah, by the Mount of Olives, he sent two talmidim, ³⁰ instructing them, “Go into the village ahead; on entering it, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks why you are untying it, tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² Those who were sent went off and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ and they said, “Because the Lord needs it.” ³⁵ They brought it to Yeshua; and, throwing their robes on the colt, they put Yeshua on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people carpeted the road with their clothing; ³⁷ and as he came near Yerushalayim, where the road descends from the Mount of Olives, the entire band of talmidim began to sing and praise God at the top of their voices for all the powerful works they had seen:

³⁹ Some of the P’rushim in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi! Reprimand your talmidim!” ⁴⁰ But he answered them, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones will shout!”

⁴¹ When Yeshua had come closer and could see the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for shalom! But for now it is hidden from your sight. ⁴³ For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, encircle you, hem you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, leaving not one stone standing on another — and all because you did not recognize your opportunity when God offered it!”

⁴⁵ Then Yeshua entered the Temple grounds and began driving out those doing business there, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “The Tanakh says, ‘My House is to be a house of prayer,’^[b] but you have made it into a den of robbers!”^[c]

⁴⁷ Every day he taught at the Temple. The head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the leaders of the people tried to find a way of putting an end to him; ⁴⁸ but they couldn’t find any way of doing it, because all the people were hanging onto his every word.