M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Now that the Jews are rebuilding Jerusalem in the postexilic period, they should take David’s words to Solomon as their own charge. They, too, must make their relationships with God of primary importance. He will guide them as they rebuild His temple and His nation, if they continue to follow His purpose. The Jews must not be daunted by the size of the project before them. God will use great leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah to guide them through every step of rebuilding His temple and rebuilding His nation.
29 David (to the entire assembly): Although my son Solomon was chosen by God and has the ability to build a beautiful temple, he is still young and inexperienced for such a great work. This work is not for men—it is for the Eternal God. 2 I have tried to help him as much as I can by providing gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stones (the onyx, inlaid stones, antimony, stones of various colors, precious stones, and alabaster) in abundance to use in my God’s temple. 3 Furthermore I will give my own gold and silver treasures (in addition to the materials I have provided for the construction) to the temple because of my delight in the house of my God. 4 These gifts include 110 tons of the finest gold, 260 tons of refined silver (to cover the walls of the buildings), 5 more gold and more silver as needed. All of this work will be done by the skilled workers, so who then is willing give of himself this day to the Eternal?
6 Then family leaders, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the managers over the king’s work, offered willingly. 7 For the service of the temple of God they gave 190 tons and 185 pounds of gold, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 3,750 tons of iron. 8 Anyone who owned precious stones gave them willingly to the treasury of the temple of the Eternal, where they were managed by Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 Then all the people rejoiced because the officers had given to the Eternal so willingly and wholeheartedly. King David also rejoiced greatly, and 10 he blessed the Eternal in a prayer before the assembly.
David: You are blessed, O Eternal One,
God of Israel, our father, forever and ever.
11 All that is great and powerful and glorious and victorious and majestic
is Yours, O Eternal One.
Indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth belongs to You.
The kingdom belongs to You, O Eternal One, and You are the head of it all.
12 Wealth and glory come from You,
and You rule over them all.
In Your hand is power and strength,
and You use them to make great and strengthen everyone.
13 Because of your greatness, our God,
we testify about Your greatness and praise Your glorious name.
14 But who am I and who are my people
that we can offer up anything to You so willingly?
All our offerings come from You,
so we can give You nothing that isn’t already Yours.
15 For we are strangers before You, sojourners, as all our fathers were.
Our days on the earth are dark and temporary.
16 O Eternal One our God, we realize that all this abundance,
all that will build Your temple for Your holy name,
Is from Your hand already.
Everything is Yours.
17 O my God, You test the heart and delight when it is proven faithful,
so I, with an honest heart, have willingly offered all these things.
And now I have joyfully witnessed Your people, who are present here,
make their offerings willingly and joyously to You.
18 O Eternal One, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
sustain this purpose and thought
In the hearts of Your people forever
and guide their hearts to You.
19 Especially give to my son Solomon a perfect heart,
one that keeps Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your laws,
One that will do them all, and one that will build the temple,
for which I have made provisions.
20 (to the assembly) Now bless the Eternal One your God.
Right then, the assembly obeyed David, blessing the Eternal, the God of their fathers, and bowed low in worship before the Eternal One and the king. 21 On the next day, they made sacrifices and burnt offerings to Him: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs. They also gave abundant drink offerings and sacrifices for all Israel. 22 Then they ate and drank before the Eternal with great gladness, and they coronated Solomon (son of David) a second time, anointing him as ruler and Zadok as priest for the Eternal. 23 Then, for the first time, Solomon sat on the throne of the Eternal as king instead of his father David. Solomon prospered, and all Israel recognized him as their king. 24 All the officials, the warriors, and the other sons of King David pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. 25 The Eternal exalted Solomon as a great ruler before all Israel and gave him royal majesty greater than any king before him in Israel.
26 David the son of Jesse was the first king to reign over all Israel. 27 His rule over Israel lasted 40 years: 7 years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. 28 Then he died peacefully of old age, after a long life, riches, and honor. And after he joined with his ancestors in death, his son Solomon reigned over Israel in his place.
29 The actions of King David, from his birth until his death, are recorded in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet, and Gad the visionary. 30 These chronicles include the activities during his reign, descriptions of his power, and the experiences of him, Israel, and all the kingdoms of the nations.
3 This is now, my dear friends, my second letter to you. In both of them, I have tried to inspire you to a sincere and pure way of thinking by reminding you of what you already know. 2 Remember the words spoken earlier by God’s holy prophets and the commandment that our Lord and Savior gave to you through your emissaries.[a] 3 Above all, be sure to remember that in the last days mockers will come, following their own desires and taunting you, 4 saying, “So what happened to the promised second coming of Jesus? For everything keeps going just the way it has since our ancestors fell asleep in death; since the beginning of creation, nothing’s changed.”
These believers face persecution every day and eagerly await the day when Jesus will return and judge their enemies. But what is taking so long?
5 When they make fun of you, it’s as if the scoffers are deliberately forgetting that long ago when God spoke the word, the heavens came into existence and the earth formed from water and by water. 6 The waters later flooded and destroyed that world. 7 By that same word, the heavens and earth we see now are being reserved for destruction by fire, preserved until the time comes for the godless on the day of judgment.
8 Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.[b]
Scoffers use the delay in His second coming to question if He is going to return at all. Peter responds by saying that God’s perspective on time is not like ours. What seems long from a finite, human perspective is incredibly short from an eternal one. Peter also describes how God is not slow, but patient. God wants to allow the time needed for as many sinners as possible to turn from their sinful ways. Unlike some depictions of God as vindictive and enjoying inflicting punishment on people, the God we see here desires that all be saved and not destroyed. If we had true spiritual insight, we would not be amazed by the severity of eternal judgment but by the intensity of God’s mercy.
9 Now the Lord is not slow about enacting His promise—slow is how some people want to characterize it—no, He is not slow but patient and merciful to you, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to turn away from following his own path and to turn toward God’s.[c]
10 The day of the Lord will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night; and on that day, the sky will vanish with a roar, the elements will melt with intense heat, and the earth and all the works done on it will be seen as they truly are.[d] 11 Knowing that one day all this will come to pass, think what sort of people you ought to be—how you should be living faithful and godly lives, 12 waiting hopefully for and hastening the coming of God’s day when the heavens will vanish in flames and the elements melt away with intense heat. 13 What will happen next, and what we hope for, is what God promised: a new heaven and a new earth where justice reigns.
14 So, my friends, while we wait for the day of the Lord, work hard to live in peace, without flaw or blemish; 15 and look at the patience of the Lord as your salvation. Our dearly loved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written about this. 16 He says essentially the same in all of his letters, although uneducated and unstable readers misinterpret the difficult passages, just as they always misread Scripture, to their spiritual ruin.
17 So hear my final words, my friends. Now that I have warned you about what’s ahead, keep up your guard and don’t let unprincipled people pull you away from the sure ground of the truth with their lies and misunderstandings. 18 Instead, grow in grace and in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Anointed, to whom be glory, now and until the coming of the new age. Amen.
This is the fourth time in Micah’s prophecy that the city leaders and general population of Judah are called to “listen up” (Micah 1:2; 3:1; 3:9; 6:1). Each time the prophet has something very important to say to those in Judah.
6 Listen to what the Eternal is saying.
People of Israel, stand up and plead your case to the mountains;
Let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 Listen, jury of mountains, to the complaint of the Eternal One;
listen, you enduring foundations of the earth,
For He brings a charge against His people and argues against Israel.
3 Eternal One: My people, what have I done against you?
How have I made you tired of Me? Answer Me!
4 I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, paid your ransom,
freed you from that place of slavery, and sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.[a]
5 O My people, remember how King Balak of Moab plotted against you,
how Balaam (Beor’s son) answered him, refusing to curse you?[b]
Everything happened between Shittim and Gilgal
as you took possession of the lands I promised you,
So that you might remember all the saving acts of the Eternal.
6 Israel: What should I bring into the presence of the Eternal One
to pay homage to the God Most High?
Should I come into His presence with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves to sacrifice?
7 Would the Eternal be pleased by thousands of sacrificial rams,
by ten thousand swollen rivers of sweet olive oil?
Should I offer my oldest son for my wrongdoing,
the child of my body to cover the sins of my life?
8 No. He has told you, mortals, what is good in His sight.
What else does the Eternal ask of you
But to live justly and to love kindness
and to walk with your True God in all humility?
9 The voice of the Eternal cries out to the city of Jerusalem,
and the wise fear Your name.
Many Christians wonder what God wants from faithful followers. Does He want them to sacrifice everything for Him? Does He want them to keep strict codes of behavior—refuse to do this or always do that? People in the past and people today have all sorts of opinions about how the faithful should act; and in several other places in the Bible, all of the so-called laws, rules, regulations, and suggestions are boiled down to their simplest form: in order to make God happy, do what is right, love kindness, and live with compassion toward others; walk in right relation to the God of Abraham, and do so humbly. By doing these things, Micah says, God’s followers will please Him and live happy lives. In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus similarly says people are to worship only one God; to love that God with heart, mind, body, and soul; and to love their neighbors as themselves.
Eternal One: Listen, all of you gathered there, (tribe and people):[c]
10 Can I overlook the treasures of wickedness
Stored away in the house of the wicked,
the dishonest scales and measures that I hate?
11 Can I overlook the one who uses crooked scales
and bags of dishonest weights to cheat the innocent?
12 Her rich are filled with violence, her citizens speak lies,
and the words of their mouths can never be trusted.
13 That is why I will strike you down with disease,[d]
destroy you because of your wrongdoing.
14 You will eat, but you will never be satisfied;[e]
you will always feel the gnawing pangs of hunger.
You will store away but never keep safe;
what you have put aside I will destroy with the sword.
15 You will sow grain but never reap it;
you will plant olives but never anoint yourself with their sweet oil;
You will harvest vineyards for juice but never drink the wine.
16 For you have followed the ways of Omri
and all the works of the kingdom of Ahab,
And you have followed their paths of wickedness.
That is why I can justifiably decimate you.
Your citizens will be the subject of satire and mockery,
and you will bear the scorn My people deserve.[f]
15 Jesus became increasingly popular among notorious sinners—tax collectors and other social outcasts. 2 The Pharisees and religious scholars noticed this.
Pharisees and Religious Scholars: This man welcomes immoral people and enjoys their company over a meal!
Jesus (with another parable): 3-4 Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? 5 When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? 6 And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbors? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? 7 This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life.
8 Or imagine a woman who has 10 silver coins. She loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the whole house, and search diligently until that coin is found? 9 And when she finds it, doesn’t she invite her friends and neighbors and say, “Celebrate with me! I’ve found that silver coin that I lost”? 10 Can’t you understand? There is joy in the presence of all God’s messengers over even one sinner who changes his way of life.
11 Once there was this man who had two sons. 12 One day the younger son came to his father and said, “Father, eventually I’m going to inherit my share of your estate. Rather than waiting until you die, I want you to give me my share now.” And so the father liquidated assets and divided them. 13 A few days passed and this younger son gathered all his wealth and set off on a journey to a distant land. Once there he wasted everything he owned on wild living. 14 He was broke, a terrible famine struck that land, and he felt desperately hungry and in need. 15 He got a job with one of the locals, who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man felt so miserably hungry that he wished he could eat the slop the pigs were eating. Nobody gave him anything.
17 So he had this moment of self-reflection: “What am I doing here? Back home, my father’s hired servants have plenty of food. Why am I here starving to death? 18 I’ll get up and return to my father, and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you. 19 I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?’” 20 So he got up and returned to his father. The father looked off in the distance and saw the young man returning. He felt compassion for his son and ran out to him, enfolded him in an embrace, and kissed him.
21 The son said, “Father, I have done a terrible wrong in God’s sight and in your sight too. I have forfeited any right to be treated as your son.”
22 But the father turned to his servants and said, “Quick! Bring the best robe we have and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Go get the fattest calf and butcher it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate 24 because my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and has been found.” So they had this huge party.
25 Now the man’s older son was still out in the fields working. He came home at the end of the day and heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant said, “Your brother has returned, and your father has butchered the fattest calf to celebrate his safe return.”
28 The older brother got really angry and refused to come inside, so his father came out and pleaded with him to join the celebration. 29 But he argued back, “Listen, all these years I’ve worked hard for you. I’ve never disobeyed one of your orders. But how many times have you even given me a little goat to roast for a party with my friends? Not once! This is not fair! 30 So this son of yours comes, this wasteful delinquent who has spent your hard-earned wealth on loose women, and what do you do? You butcher the fattest calf from our herd!”
31 The father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. 32 Isn’t it right to join in the celebration and be happy? This is your brother we’re talking about. He was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found again!”
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.