The Robert Murray M‘Cheyne
Bible Reading Plan
December 9
Family Reading
2 Chronicles 9
Visit of the Queen of Sheba
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem
to test Solomon with difficult questions. She had a very large retinue, with
camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and
when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was on her heart.
2 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he
did not explain to her.
3 When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he
had built,
4 the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers
and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and his stairway by which
he went up to the house of the Lord, she was breathless.
5 Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my
own land about your words and your wisdom.
6 “Nevertheless I did not believe their reports until I came and my eyes
had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told
me. You surpass the report that I heard.
7 “How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand
before you continually and hear your wisdom.
8 “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on His
throne as king for the Lord your God; because your God loved Israel establishing
them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
9 Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great
amount of spices and precious stones; there had never been spice like that which
the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10 The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir,
also brought algum trees and precious stones.
11 From the algum trees the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for
the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that
was seen before in the land of Judah.
12 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested
besides a return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went
to her own land with her servants.
Solomon’s Wealth and Power
13 Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of
gold,
14 besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of
Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of beaten
gold on each large shield.
16 He made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three hundred shekels of gold on
each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
17 Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure
gold.
18 There were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the
throne, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the
arms.
19 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the
other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.
20 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels
of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered
valuable in the days of Solomon.
21 For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram;
once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory
and apes and peacocks.
22 So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and
wisdom.
23 And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear
his wisdom which God had put in his heart.
24 They brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons,
spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.
25 Now Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 horsemen,
and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
26 He was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land
of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt.
27 The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars
as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
28 And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written
in the records of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite,
and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
30 Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel.
Death of Solomon
31 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father
David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
Jude 1
The Warnings of History to the Ungodly
1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for
the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand
marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God
into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the
Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed
those who did not believe.
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode,
He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same
way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited
as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject
authority, and revile angelic majesties.
9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about
the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but
said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things
which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are
destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed
headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast
with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along
by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars,
for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam,
prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy
ones,
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their
ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they
speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
Keep Yourselves in the Love of God
17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand
by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers,
following after their own ungodly lusts.”
19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear,
hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in
the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)