M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16
David and Ziba. 1 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, he was met by Ziba, the servant of Meribbaal. Ziba had with him a pair of saddled donkeys laden with two hundred loaves of bread, one hundred bunches of raisins, one hundred bunches of summer fruits, and one skin of wine. 2 The king said to Ziba: “What are you planning to do with these?” Ziba replied: “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the bread and the fruit are for the soldiers to eat, and the wine is for those to drink who fall exhausted in the desert.”
3 The king then asked: “And where is your master’s son?” Ziba replied: “He is staying in Jerusalem, for he said: ‘Today the house of Israel will restore to me my father’s kingdom.’ ” 4 Therefore, the king said to Ziba: “Everything that belonged to Meribbaal is yours.” Then Ziba replied: “I humbly pay you homage, my lord the king. May I always be considered to be worthy of being granted your favor.”
David and Shimei. 5 As King David was nearing Horonaim, he was approached by a man of the family of Saul. His name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and he was cursing as he drew near. 6 He threw stones at David and his servants, as well as at all the people and the soldiers on his right and on his left.
7 As he cursed, Shimei shouted: “Get out, get out, you murderous scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid all of you for the blood of the house of Saul whose sovereignty you have stolen, and the Lord has given the kingdom to your son Absalom. Now your wickedness has caught up with you, for you are a man of blood.”
9 Then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king: “Why should this dead dog be allowed to curse my lord the king? Let me go over and behead him.” 10 However, the king said: “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord told him: ‘Curse David,’ who will then dare to say: ‘Why have you done so?’ ”
11 Then David said to Abishai and all his servants: “If my own son who was conceived from my loins is now seeking my life, how much more understandable is it that this Benjaminite is prepared to do so! Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has instructed him to do so. 12 Perhaps the Lord will look upon my wretched condition and grant me a blessing to repay me for the curses that I have been forced to endure this day.”
13 Therefore, David and his men resumed their journey, while Shimei kept abreast of him on the opposite hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones and flinging dust at him. 14 When the king and all the people with him reached the Jordan, they stopped there to rest, for they were exhausted.
15 Absalom’s Counselors.[a] Meanwhile Absalom and all of the Israelites entered Jerusalem, and accompanying him was Ahithophel. 16 Then Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, approached Absalom and said to him: “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
17 Then Absalom asked Hushai: “Is this the way you show loyalty to your friend?” 18 Hushai replied to Absalom: “I intend to follow the man whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, and I will remain with him. 19 Besides, whom should I serve if not his son? Just as I served your father, so will I serve you.”
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel: “Give us your counsel on what you think we should do.” 21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom: “Go to your father’s concubines whom he left behind to take care of the palace and have relations with them. As a result, all Israel will hear that you have greatly antagonized your father, and the courage of all your supporters will be strengthened.” 22 Therefore, a tent was pitched for Absalom upon the roof, and in the sight of all Israel Absalom lay with his father’s concubines.
23 Counsel of Ahithophel. Now in those days the counsel offered by Ahithophel was regarded as counsel presented by God himself. And that was how the counsel of Ahithophel was regarded by both David and Absalom.
Chapter 9
Let the Offering Be Ready. 1 In regard to the ministry toward the saints, there really is no necessity for me to write to you. 2 For I am fully aware of your eagerness to help, which has been the subject of my boasting about you to the Macedonians, telling them that Achaia has been ready since last year. Your ardor has excited most of them.
3 Nevertheless, I am sending the brethren to ensure that our boasts about you may not seem to have been offered in vain. I want you to be as prepared as I said you would be. 4 For if I bring some Macedonians with me and they come to the realization that you are not prepared, it would be a source of shame to us—to say nothing of you—because of our confidence in you. 5 Therefore, I thought it necessary to encourage the brethren to go on to you ahead of us and arrange in advance for the gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a genuine gift and not as something that has been granted grudgingly.
God Loves a Cheerful Giver. 6 Remember this: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, and if you sow generously, you will reap generously as well. 7 Each person should give as much as he has decided in his heart, not with reluctance or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. 9 As it is written,
“He scatters abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness lasts forever.”
10 Generosity Will Prompt Thanksgiving. The one who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 Enriched in every way, you will be able to practice all your acts of generosity, which, through our intervention, will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 The administering of this public service not only helps to satisfy the needs of the saints but also overflows in countless acts of thanksgiving to God. 13 Through the evidence of such service, you are giving glory to God for your obedient profession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others as well. 14 At the same time, their hearts will go out to you in their prayers for you, because of the surpassing grace that God has bestowed upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.[a]
Chapter 23[a]
The Sins of Two Sisters. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, there once were two women, the daughters of the same mother. 3 Even as young girls they became prostitutes in Egypt. There the Egyptians caressed their bosoms and fondled their virginal breasts. 4 The older was named Oholah,[b] and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 Oholah became a whore even though she belonged to me. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians— 6 warriors dressed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men and skilled horsemen. 7 She offered herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians, and she defiled herself with the idols of all those for whom she lusted. 8 Nor did she discontinue the harlotry she had begun in Egypt, where men had slept with her as a young girl, fondling her virginal breasts and pouring out their lust upon her.
9 Therefore, I abandoned her to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she had lusted. 10 They stripped her naked, and after they took away her sons and her daughters, they slew her with the sword. She became a byword among women for the justice that was inflicted upon her.
11 Her sister Oholibah saw all this, but she was even more depraved in her lust than her sister, and she surpassed her in harlotry. 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors arrayed in full armor, skilled horsemen, all of them handsome young men. 13 Then I realized that she, too, had been defiled. Both she and her sister had traveled the same path.
14 However, this younger sister went even further in her harlotry. When she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like Babylonian officers, natives of Chaldea; 16 as soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers[c] to them in Chaldea. 17 Then the Babylonians came to her, shared her bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. And after she had defiled herself with them, she turned away from them in disgust.
18 After she had flaunted her harlotry so openly and her nakedness was revealed, I turned from her in disgust as I had withdrawn from her sister. 19 Yet she became even more promiscuous, remembering the days of her youth when she had played the whore in Egypt 20 and lusted for her lecherous paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose ejaculations were like those of stallions.
21 You longed for the lewdness of your youth when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your breasts. 22 Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will now stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, officers and warriors, and all of them mounted on horses. 24 They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of people, and they will position themselves against you on every side with bucklers, shields, and helmets. I shall authorize them to pass judgment upon you, and they will judge you according to their own ordinances.
25 I will direct my jealous wrath against you so that they will vent their fury against you. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will perish by the sword. They will seize your sons and your daughters, and what remains of your family will be consumed by fire.[d] 26 They shall also strip off your clothes and rob you of your jewels. 27 Thus, I will put an end to the debauchery and lewdness you instituted in Egypt. You will not look back in fond remembrance on the wicked acts you committed or think of Egypt ever again.
28 For thus says the Lord God: I intend to hand you over to those whom you hate, to those whom you regard with disgust. 29 They shall treat you with hatred and seize all the fruit of your labors and leave you stark naked. Your lewdness and your promiscuity 30 have brought this upon you because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.
31 Because you have followed in the path of your sister, I will place her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:
You shall drink your sister’s cup,
a cup both wide and deep.
You shall be scorned and mocked
since it holds so much.
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow
from this cup of ruin and devastation,
the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You shall drink from it and completely drain it;
then you shall dash it to pieces
and tear out your breasts.
Thus I have spoken, says the Lord God.
35 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and your harlotry.
36 Then the Lord said to me: Son of man, are you willing to pass judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their abominable deeds. 37 For they have committed adultery, and their hands are stained with blood. They have committed adultery with their idols and offered to them as food the children whom they bore to me.
38 Furthermore, they have also done this to me: At that same time, they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered my children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary on the same day to desecrate it. That is what they did in my house.
40 They even sent messengers to invite men to come from distant lands. And when they arrived, you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewels. 41 Then you reclined on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it upon which you had placed my incense and my oil. 42 Meanwhile, the shouts of a raucous mob were heard in the city, and they were brought in together with many of the rabble who had arrived from the wilderness in a drunken stupor. They put bracelets on the arms of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 Then I thought: This woman is worn out with endless acts of adultery, but nevertheless they carry on relentlessly their sexual acts with her. 44 For they came to her as men come to a prostitute. Thus, they came to Oholah and Oholibah, those wanton women. 45 However, righteous judges will declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 Thus says the Lord God: Convoke an assembly against them and deliver them over to terror and plunder. 47 The assembly shall stone them and slay them with their swords. They shall kill their sons and daughters and set their houses afire. 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women will be solemnly warned not to commit any lewd acts as you have done. 49 They will inflict upon you the penalty for your lewdness, and you will suffer the consequences for your sins of idolatry. Thus, you will know that I am the Lord God.
Psalm 70[a]
Insistent Prayer for Divine Assistance
1 For the director.[b] Of David. For remembrance.
2 [c]Make haste, O God, to rescue me;
O Lord, come quickly to my aid.
3 [d]May all those who seek to take my life
endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
be turned back and humiliated.
4 May those who cry out to me, “Aha! Aha!”[e]
be forced to retreat in shame.
5 But may all who seek you
rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
cry out forever, “May God be magnified.”[f]
6 As for me, I am poor and needy;[g]
hasten to my aid, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 71[h]
Prayer of the Righteous in Old Age
1 In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me;
hear my plea and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge
to which I can always go;
proclaim the order to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 O my God, rescue me from the hands of the impious,
from the grasp of cruel and ruthless foes.
5 You, O Lord, are my hope,
my confidence, O God, from my youth.
6 I have relied upon you since birth,
and you have been my strength from my mother’s womb;
my praise rises unceasingly to you.[i]
7 I have become a portent to many,[j]
but you are my sure refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praises
as I relate your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in my old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is completely spent.
10 For my enemies speak against me,
and those who seek my life plot together.
11 They say: “God has abandoned him;
go after him and seize him,
for no one will come to his rescue.”
12 O God, do not remain aloof from me;
come quickly to help me, O my God.
13 Let those who accuse me
be put to shame and perish;
let those who are determined to harm me
incur contempt and disgrace.[k]
14 But I will hope in you continually
and will render even more praise to you.
15 [l]My lips will proclaim your righteous deeds
and your salvation all day long,
though I do not know their extent.[m]
16 I will speak of your mighty deeds, O Lord God,
and declare your righteousness,[n] yours alone.
17 O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and to this day I proclaim your marvelous works.
18 Now that I am old and my hair is gray,[o]
do not abandon me, O God,
until I have extolled your might
to all the generations yet to come,
your strength 19 and your righteousness, O God,
to the highest heavens.
You have done great things;
O God, who is there who is like you?
20 You have shown me many afflictions and hardships,
but you will once again revive me.
From the depths of the earth[p]
you will once again raise me up.
21 You will restore my honor
and console me once again.
22 Then I will also praise[q] you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 When I sing to you, my lips will rejoice,
and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
24 All day long my tongue
will relate your righteousness.
For those who intended to do me harm
will suffer shame and disgrace.
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