M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
God’s Covenant With David(A)
7 Now when the king settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all of his enemies on all sides, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “I am dwelling in a cedar house, but the ark of God is sitting in a tent.”
3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart because the Lord is with you.”
4 That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:
5 Go and say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord: Do you intend to build a house for Me in which I will dwell? 6 I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought the sons of Israel from Egypt until this day. I have been moving about with a tent as My dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the sons of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”
8 Now therefore, you will say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following after the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all of your enemies before you. I will make your name great, like the great ones across the land. 10 Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel. I will plant them, and they will dwell in that very place. They will be restless no longer, and the unjust will no longer oppress them, as in former times, 11 ever since the day in which I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all of your enemies.
The Lord declares to you that He will instead bring about a house for you. 12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up after you an offspring from your body, and I will establish his rule. 13 He will build a house for My name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he goes astray, I will correct him with the rod of men and afflictions of the sons of men. 15 My commitment will not abandon him, as I removed it from Saul, whom I deposed before you. 16 Your house and dominion will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established by the Lord forever.
17 So Nathan spoke to David in accordance with all of these words and the entirety of this vision.
The Prayer of David(B)
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. He said,
“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far? 19 Yet this was comparatively insignificant in Your sight, Lord God, for You have also spoken about Your servant’s house into the distant future. Is this Your manner with man, Lord God?
20 “What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, Lord God. 21 Because of Your word, according to Your will, You have done all of this greatness to inform Your servant.
22 “Therefore You are great, Lord God. There is none like You, and there is no God except You, according to everything that we have heard with our ears. 23 And who is like Your people, like Israel—a single nation in the land, whom God went to redeem as a people for Himself, making a name for Himself by doing great and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. 24 You established Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.
25 “Now, Lord God, confirm forever the word that You spoke regarding Your servant and his house and do as You have spoken. 26 May Your name be magnified forever by saying, ‘The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel,’ and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.
27 “For You, O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed a word to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You. 28 Now, Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true. You have spoken this good message to Your servant. 29 Now, be resolved and bless Your servant’s dynastic house, so that it may stand before You forever. You, Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing, the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”
Salutation
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Thanksgiving After Affliction
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective in enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as you partake in the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
8 For we would not, brothers, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia. We were pressured beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 We had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us. In Him we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 as you help together by praying for us, so that thanks may be given by many on our behalf for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many persons.
Paul’s Travel Plans Change
12 For our rejoicing is this: The testimony of our conscience is that we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God. 13 For we write nothing else to you than what you read or understand. And I trust you will understand even to the end, 14 as you have understood us in part, that we are yours, boasting even as you are ours on the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 In this confidence I planned to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit: 16 to visit you while going to Macedonia, and to come again to you from Macedonia, and then be sent by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do this lightly? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, so that I would tell you “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18 But as God is true, we did not tell you “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by Silas, Timothy, and me, was not “Yes” and “No.” In Him it was “Yes.” 20 For all the promises of God in Him are “Yes,” and in Him “Amen,” to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and established the guarantee with the Spirit in our hearts.
23 Moreover I call God as a witness upon my soul, that it is to spare you that I have not yet gone to Corinth. 24 Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand.
Jerusalem as a Useless Vine
15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, how is the wood of the vine tree better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 Can wood be taken from it to do any work, or can men take a peg of it to hang any vessel on it? 4 If it has been cast into the fire for fuel and the fire has devoured both ends of it and the middle of it is burned, is it useful for any work? 5 When it was whole, it was not made into anything. How much less is it useful for any work when the fire has devoured it and it is burned!
6 Therefore thus says the Lord God: As the wood of the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 I will set My face against them. Though they go out from one fire, yet the fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I set My face against them. 8 I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord God.
Psalm 56
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Silent Dove at a Distance.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man would crush me;
all day long he who battles oppresses me.
2 All day long my enemies would crush me,
for there are many who arrogantly battle against me.
3 In the day when I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God whose word I praise,
in God I have trusted; I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
5 Every day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
when they wait for my life.
7 Should there be deliverance for them on account of wickedness?
In Your anger cast down the peoples, O God.
8 You take account of my wandering;
put my tears in Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?
9 In the day I cry to You,
then my enemies will turn back;
this I know, that God is for me.
10 In God whose word I praise,
in the Lord whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust, I will not fear;
what can a man do to me?
12 Your vows are on me, O God;
I will complete them with thank offerings to You;
13 for You have delivered my soul from death,
even my feet from stumbling,
to walk before God
in the light of the living.
Psalm 57(A)
For the Music Director. To the melody of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David when he fled from Saul in the cave.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me!
For my soul seeks refuge in You;
in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
until the ruinous storm passes by.
2 I will cry to God Most High,
to God who vindicates me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me
from the taunt of the one who crushes me. Selah
God will send forth His mercy and His truth.
4 My soul is among lions,
and I lie among the sons of men who blaze like fire,
whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
may Your glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down;
they have dug a pit before me,
but they have fallen into it. Selah
7 My heart is fixed, O God,
my heart is fixed;
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake, my glory!
Awake, psaltery and harp!
I will awake the dawn.
9 I will thank You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
10 For Your mercy is great up to the heavens,
and Your truth extends to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
may Your glory be above all the earth.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.