M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron

5 The Philistines had captured the ark of God. They took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² They carried the ark into the temple of their god Dagon. They set it down beside the statue of Dagon. ³ The people of Ashdod got up early the next day. They saw the statue of Dagon. There it was, lying on the ground! It had fallen on its face in front of the ark of the Lord. So they picked up the statue of Dagon. They put it back in its place. ⁴ But the following morning when they got up, they saw the statue of Dagon. There it was, lying on the ground again! It had fallen on its face in front of the ark of the Lord. Its head and hands had been broken off. Only the body of the statue was left. Its head and hands were lying in the doorway of the temple. ⁵ That’s why to this day no one steps on the bottom part of the doorway of Dagon’s temple at Ashdod. Not even the priests of Dagon step there.

⁶ The Lord’s power was against the people of Ashdod and the settlements near it. He destroyed them. He made them suffer with growths in their bodies. ⁷ The people of Ashdod saw what was happening. They said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us. His power is against us and against our god Dagon.” ⁸ So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines. They asked them, “What should we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Have the ark moved to Gath.” So they moved it.

⁹ But after the people of Ashdod had moved the ark, the Lord’s power was against Gath. That threw its people into a great panic. The Lord made them break out with growths in their bodies. It happened to young people and old people alike. ¹⁰ So the ark of God was sent to Ekron.

As the ark was entering Ekron, the people of the city cried out. They shouted, “They’ve brought the ark of the god of Israel to us. They want to kill us and our people.” ¹¹ So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines. They said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place. If you don’t, it will kill us and our people.” The death of so many people had filled the city with panic. God’s power was against the city. ¹² Those who didn’t die suffered with growths in their bodies. The people of Ekron cried out to heaven for help.

The Philistines Return the Ark to Israel

6 The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months. ² The Philistines called for the priests and for those who practice evil magic. They wanted their advice. They said to them, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³ They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, don’t send it back to him without a gift. Be sure you send a guilt offering to their god along with it. Then you will be healed. You will find out why his power has continued to be against you.”

⁴ The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

Their advisers replied, “There are five Philistine rulers. So send five gold rats. Also send five gold models of the growths in your bodies. Do it because the same plague has struck you and your rulers alike. ⁵ Make models of the rats and the growths that are destroying the country. Give honor to Israel’s god. Then perhaps his power will no longer be against you, your gods and your land. ⁶ Why are you stubborn, as Pharaoh and the people of Egypt were? Israel’s god was very hard on them. Only then did they send the Israelites out. Only then did they let them go on their way.

⁷ “Now then, get a new cart ready. Get two cows that have just had calves. Be sure the cows have never pulled a cart before. Tie the cart to them. But take their calves away and put them in a pen. ⁸ Then put the ark of the Lord on the cart. Put the gold models in a chest beside the ark. Send them back to the Lord as a guilt offering. Send the cart on its way. ⁹ But keep an eye on the cart. See if it goes up toward Beth Shemesh to its own territory. If it does, then it’s the Lord who has brought this horrible trouble on us. But if it doesn’t, then we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us. We’ll know it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰ So that’s what they did. They took the two cows and tied the cart to them. They put the calves in a pen. ¹¹ They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart. They put the chest there along with it. The chest held the gold models of the rats and of the growths. ¹² Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road. They were mooing all the way. They didn’t turn to the right or the left. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ The people of Beth Shemesh were working in the valley. They were gathering their wheat crop. They looked up and saw the ark. When they saw it, they were filled with joy. ¹⁴ The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. It stopped there beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood the cart was made out of. They sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ Some Levites had taken the ark of the Lord off the cart. They had also taken off the chest that held the gold models. They placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings to the Lord. They also made sacrifices to him. ¹⁶ The five Philistine rulers saw everything that happened. On that same day they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷ The Philistines sent gold models of growths as a guilt offering to the Lord. There was one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸ They also sent five gold models of rats. There was one for each of the Philistine towns that belonged to the five rulers. Each of those towns had high walls around it. The towns also had country villages around them. The Levites set the ark of the Lord on the large rock. To this day the rock is a witness to what happened there. It’s in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹ But some of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark of the Lord. So he struck them down. He put 70 of them to death. The rest of the people were filled with sorrow. That’s because the Lord had killed so many of them. ²⁰ The people of Beth Shemesh said, “The Lord is a holy God. Who can stand in front of him? Where can the ark go up to from here?”

²¹ Then messengers were sent to the people of Kiriath Jearim. The messengers said, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.”

Peace and Hope

5 We have been made right with God because of our faith. Now we have peace with him because of our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through faith in Jesus we have received God’s grace. In that grace we stand. We are full of joy because we expect to share in God’s glory. ³ And that’s not all. We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on. ⁴ The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope. ⁵ And hope will never bring us shame. That’s because God’s love has been poured into our hearts. This happened through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ At just the right time Christ died for ungodly people. He died for us when we had no power of our own. ⁷ It is unusual for anyone to die for a godly person. Maybe someone would be willing to die for a good person. ⁸ But here is how God has shown his love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ The blood of Christ has made us right with God. So we are even more sure that Jesus will save us from God’s anger. ¹⁰ Once we were God’s enemies. But we have been brought back to him because his Son has died for us. Now that God has brought us back, we are even more secure. We know that we will be saved because Christ lives. ¹¹ And that is not all. We are full of joy in God because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of him, God has brought us back to himself.

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

¹² Sin entered the world because one man sinned. And death came because of sin. Everyone sinned, so death came to all people.

¹³ Before the law was given, sin was in the world. This is certainly true. But people are not judged for sin when there is no law. ¹⁴ Death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. Death ruled even over those who did not sin as Adam did. He broke God’s command. But Adam also became a pattern of the Messiah. The Messiah was the one who was going to come.

¹⁵ God’s gift can’t be compared with Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But it was even more sure that God’s grace would also come through one man. That man is Jesus Christ. God’s gift of grace was more than enough for the whole world. ¹⁶ The result of God’s gift is different from the result of Adam’s sin. That one sin brought God’s judgment. But after many sins, God’s gift made people right with him. ¹⁷ One man sinned, and death ruled over all people because of his sin. What will happen is even more sure than this. Those who receive the rich supply of God’s grace will rule with Christ. They will rule in his kingdom. They have received God’s gift and have been made right with him. This will happen because of what the one man, Jesus Christ, has done.

¹⁸ So one man’s sin brought guilt to all people. In the same way, one right act made people right with God. That one right act gave life to all people. ¹⁹ Many people were made sinners because one man did not obey. But one man did obey. That is why many people will be made right with God.

²⁰ The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more. ²¹ Sin ruled and brought death. But grace rules in the lives of those who are right with God. The grace of God brings eternal life. That’s because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done.

43 Jeremiah finished telling the people everything the Lord their God had said. Jeremiah told them everything the Lord had sent him to tell them. ² After that, Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to Jeremiah. And all the proud men joined them. They said, “You are lying! The Lord our God hasn’t sent you to speak to us. He hasn’t told you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt and make your homes there.’ ³ But Baruch, the son of Neriah, is turning you against us. He wants us to be handed over to the Babylonians. Then they can kill us. Or they can take us away to Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan, the son of Kareah, disobeyed the Lord’s command. So did all the other army officers and all the people. They didn’t stay in the land of Judah. ⁵ Instead Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the other army officers led away all the people who were left in Judah. Those people had returned to Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. ⁶ Johanan and the other officers also led away many people Nebuzaradan had left at Mizpah. They included men, women and children. They also included the king’s daughters. Nebuzaradan had left them with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. They also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. Nebuzaradan was commander of the royal guard. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan. ⁷ So the Jewish leaders disobeyed the Lord. They took everyone to Egypt. They went all the way to Tahpanhes.

⁸ In Tahpanhes a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, ⁹ “Make sure the Jews are watching you. Then get some large stones. Go to the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. Bury the stones in the clay under the brick walkway there. ¹⁰ Then tell the Jews, ‘The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And I will set his throne over these stones that are buried here. He will set up his royal tent over them. ¹¹ He will come and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those I have appointed to die. He will take away as prisoners those I have appointed to be taken away. And he will kill with swords those I have appointed to be killed. ¹² He will set the temples of the gods of Egypt on fire. He will burn down their temples. He will take away the statues of their gods. Nebuchadnezzar will be like a shepherd who picks his coat clean of lice. Nebuchadnezzar will pick Egypt clean and then depart. ¹³ At Heliopolis in Egypt he will smash the sacred pillars to pieces. And he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.” ’ ”

For the director of music. A psalm of David.