Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan. This year we will be following a chronological plan.
- What do I learn about God?
- What do I learn about man?
- Is there an example to follow?
- What does God want me to believe?
1 Kings 1-2; Psalm 37, 71, 94
1 King 1-2
1When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.
2So his servants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”
3Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
4The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.
5Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him.
6(His father had never interfered with him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)
7Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support.
8But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah.
9Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials,
10but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.
11Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David’s knowing it?
12Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.
13Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’
14While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said.”
15So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.
16Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked.
17She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’
18But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it.
19He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant.
20My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
21Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.”
22While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
23And they told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.
24Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne?
25Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’
26But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite.
27Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
28Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.
29The king then took an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,
30I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord , the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”
31Then Bathsheba bowed low with her face to the ground and, kneeling before the king, said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
32King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king,
33he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon.
34There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’
35Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”
36Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord , the God of my lord the king, so declare it.
37As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!”
38So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule and escorted him to Gihon.
39Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”
40And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.
41Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, “What’s the meaning of all the noise in the city?”
42Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.”
43“Not at all!” Jonathan answered. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king.
44The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king’s mule,
45and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That’s the noise you hear.
46Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne.
47Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed
48and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord , the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.’ “
49At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed.
50But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar.
51Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ “
52Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”
53Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”
2When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2“I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man,
3and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,
4and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
5“Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me-what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
6Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
7“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8“And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord : ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’
9But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”
10Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
11He had reigned forty years over Israel-seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
12So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
13Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?” He answered, “Yes, peacefully.”
14Then he added, “I have something to say to you.” “You may say it,” she replied.
15“As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord .
16Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.” “You may make it,” she said.
17So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon-he will not refuse you-to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”
19When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
20“I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.” The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”
21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him-after all, he is my older brother-yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
23Then King Solomon swore by the Lord : “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request!
24And now, as surely as the Lord lives-he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised-Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
26To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.”
27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord , fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
28When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”
30So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’ ” But he answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”
31Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father’s house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed.
32The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them-Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army-were better men and more upright than he.
33May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord ‘s peace forever.”
34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert.
35The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.
36Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.
37The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
38Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.
39But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.”
40At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.
41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,
42the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’
43Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?”
44The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing.
45But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain secure before the Lord forever.”
46Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and killed him. The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon’s hands.
PSALM 37
1Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
2for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
3Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5Commit your way to the Lord ; trust in him and he will do this:
6He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
7Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil.
9For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
10A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
11But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
12The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
13but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
14The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
15But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.
16Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;
17for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
18The days of the blameless are known to the Lord , and their inheritance will endure forever.
19In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
20But the wicked will perish: The Lord ‘s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish-vanish like smoke.
21The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;
22those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off.
23If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm;
24though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
25I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
26They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.
27Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.
28For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;
29the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
30The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.
31The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.
32The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives;
33but the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
34Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,
36but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.
38But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.
39The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord ; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
PSALM 71
1In you, O Lord , I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me.
3Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men.
5For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord , my confidence since my youth.
6From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.
7I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.
9Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11They say, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him.”
12Be not far from me, O God; come quickly, O my God, to help me.
13May my accusers perish in shame; may those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
15My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure.
16I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord ; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
17Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
18Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.
19Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?
20Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
21You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.
22I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you- I, whom you have redeemed.
24My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.
PSALM 94
1O Lord , the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth.
2Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3How long will the wicked, O Lord , how long will the wicked be jubilant?
4They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting.
5They crush your people, O Lord ; they oppress your inheritance.
6They slay the widow and the alien; they murder the fatherless.
7They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
8Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?
9Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?
10Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
11The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.
12Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord , the man you teach from your law;
13you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.
14For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.
15Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
17Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
18When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord , supported me.
19When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
20Can a corrupt throne be allied with you- one that brings on misery by its decrees?
21They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.
22But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
23He will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the Lord our God will destroy them.
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