M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elkanah and His Wives

1 Now there was a certain man from ^(A)Ramathaim-zophim from the ^(B)hill country of Ephraim, and his name was ^(C)Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² Now he had ^(D)two wives: the name of one was ^(E)Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ Now that man would go up from his city ^(F)yearly ^(G)to worship and to sacrifice to ^[a]Yahweh of hosts in ^(H)Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to Yahweh there. ⁴ And the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, and he ^(I)would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, ^(J)but Yahweh had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, however, ^(K)would provoke her bitterly to irritate her because Yahweh had closed her womb. ⁷ And so it would happen year after year, as often as she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? ^(L)Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of ^(M)the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁰ And she, bitter of soul, prayed to Yahweh and wept despondently. ¹¹ And she ^(N)made a vow and said, “O Yahweh of hosts, if You will indeed ^(O)look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed amongst men, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and ^(P)a razor shall never come on his head.”

¹² Now it happened, as she multiplied her praying before Yahweh, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, ^(Q)she was speaking in her heart; only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “^(R)How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.” ¹⁵ But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman ^[b]oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I ^(S)have poured out my soul before Yahweh. ¹⁶ Do not ^[c]consider your maidservant as a vile woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great complaint and ^[d]provocation.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, “^(T)Go in peace; and may the God of Israel ^(U)grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ And she said, “^(V)Let your servant-woman find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and ^(W)her face was no longer sad.

The Birth of Samuel

¹⁹ Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh and turned back and came to their house in ^(X)Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and ^(Y)Yahweh remembered her. ²⁰ Now it happened ^[e]in due time that Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “^(Z)Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”

²¹ Then the man Elkanah ^(AA)went up with all his household to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the young boy is weaned; then I will ^(AB)bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh and ^(AC)stay there forever.” ^23 (AD)And Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what is good in your eyes. Remain until you have weaned him; only ^(AE)may Yahweh establish His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, ^(AF)she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ^[f]ephah of flour and a jug of wine and brought him to ^(AG)the house of Yahweh in Shiloh, although the boy was young. ²⁵ Then ^(AH)they slaughtered the bull and ^(AI)brought the young boy to Eli. ²⁶ And she said, “Oh, my lord! ^(AJ)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to Yahweh. ^27 (AK)For this young boy I prayed, and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of Him. ^28 (AL)So I have also ^[g]dedicated him to Yahweh; as long as he lives, he is ^[h]dedicated to Yahweh.” So ^(AM)he worshiped Yahweh there.

The Gospel Exalted

1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, ^[a](A)called as an apostle, having been ^(B)set apart for ^(C)the gospel of God, ² which He ^(D)promised beforehand through His ^(E)prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who was born ^(F)of the seed of David ^(G)according to the flesh, ⁴ who was designated as ^(H)the Son of God in power, according to the ^[b]Spirit of holiness, ^[c]by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we received grace and ^(I)apostleship for the ^(J)obedience of faith among ^(K)all the Gentiles for the sake of His name, ⁶ among whom you also are the ^(L)called of Jesus Christ;

⁷ to all who are ^(M)beloved of God in Rome, called as ^[d](N)saints: ^(O)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First, ^(P)I thank my God through Jesus Christ ^[e]for you all, because ^(Q)your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹ For ^(R)God, whom I ^(S)serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how without ceasing ^(T)I make mention of you, ¹⁰ always in my prayers earnestly asking, if perhaps now at last by ^(U)the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For ^(V)I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be strengthened; ¹² that is, to be mutually encouraged, while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. ^13 (W)I do not want you to be unaware, ^(X)brothers, that often I ^(Y)have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some ^(Z)fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. ^14 (AA)I am ^[f]under obligation both to Greeks and to ^(AB)barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ In this way, for my part, I am eager to ^(AC)proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ^(AD)ashamed of the gospel, for ^(AE)it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the ^(AF)Jew first and also to ^(AG)the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it ^(AH)the righteousness of God is revealed ^[g]from faith to faith; as it is written, “^[h](AI)But the righteous will live by faith.”

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For ^(AJ)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ^(AK)suppress the truth ^[i]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because ^(AL)that which is known about God is evident ^[j]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For ^(AM)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^(AN)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^(AO)futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. ^22 (AP)Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(AQ)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore ^(AR)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be ^(AS)dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for ^[k]a ^(AT)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(AU)who is blessed ^[l]forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(AV)God gave them over to ^(AW)dishonorable passions; for their ^(AX)females exchanged the natural function for that which is ^[m]unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the ^(AY)males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(AZ)males with males committing ^[n]indecent acts and receiving in ^[o]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit ^[p]to acknowledge God, ^(BA)God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are ^(BB)gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, ^[q](BC)haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^(BD)disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, ^(BE)unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^(BF)death, they not only do the same, but also ^(BG)give hearty approval to those who practice them.

The Walls of Jerusalem Torn Down

39 ^[a]Now when Jerusalem was captured ^[b](A)in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his military force came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; ² in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city was ^(B)breached. ³ Then all the ^(C)officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^(D)Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ^[c]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[d]Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ Now it happened that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^(E)fled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^(F)between the two walls; and he went out toward the ^[e]Arabah. ⁵ But the military force of the ^(G)Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^[f](H)plains of Jericho; and they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^(I)Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he spoke judgment on him. ⁶ Then the ^(J)king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah ^(K)before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the ^(L)nobles of Judah. ⁷ He then ^(M)blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^(N)fetters of bronze to bring him to ^(O)Babylon. ⁸ The Chaldeans also ^(P)burned with fire the house of the king and the houses of the people, and they ^(Q)tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ And as for the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ^[g](R)defectors who had gone over to him and ^(S)the rest of the people who remained, ^(T)Nebuzaradan the ^(U)captain of the bodyguard took them away into exile in Babylon. ¹⁰ But some of the ^(V)poorest people who had nothing, ^(W)Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had them remain in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields ^[h]at that time.

Jeremiah Delivered

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave a command about ^(X)Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹² “Take him and set your eyes to look after him and ^(Y)do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he speaks to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ^[i]Rab-saris and Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[j]Rab-mag and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; ¹⁴ they even sent and ^(Z)took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and gave him over to ^(AA)Gedaliah, the son of ^(AB)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of Yahweh had come to Jeremiah while he was ^(AC)confined in the court of the guard, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(AD)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city ^(AE)for ^[k]calamity and not for ^[l]prosperity; and they will ^(AF)take place before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will ^(AG)deliver you on that day,” declares Yahweh, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are terrified. ¹⁸ For I will certainly provide you escape, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own ^(AH)life as spoil because you have ^(AI)trusted in Me,” declares Yahweh.’”

How Long, O Yahweh?

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

There Is No One Who Does Good

For the choir director. Of David.