M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 19
Jonathan Defends David.[a] 1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants that they should kill David, but Jonathan, Saul’s son, was very fond of David. 2 Jonathan informed David about it saying, “Saul, my father, is seeking to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning. Stay in some secret place and hide there. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak to him about you, and I will tell you what I discover.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, “May the king not wrong his servant David, for he has not wronged you. What he has done has only been to your benefit. 5 He risked his life when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all of Israel. You saw it and you rejoiced. Why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he will not be killed.” 7 Jonathan then called David, and Jonathan informed him about all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as he had been before.
8 War broke out again, and David went out to fight against the Philistines. He struck them down, slaughtering many, and they fled from him.
David Is Saved by Michal. 9 Now an evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, and he was sitting in his house, holding a javelin in his hand while David was playing some music. 10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the javelin, but he eluded Saul, and he drove the javelin into the wall. That night David fled and escaped.
11 [b]Saul sent deputies to David’s house to watch for him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not save yourself tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” 12 So Michal lowered David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
13 Michal took a teraphim and laid it on the bed, and she placed a goat’s hair pillow where his head would be, and she covered it over with clothes.[c] 14 When Saul sent deputies to seize David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Saul sent the deputies back to look for David saying, “Bring him back to me on a litter so I can kill him.” 16 When the deputies arrived, they found the teraphim in the bed with the pillow of goat’s hair where the head would be.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me by sending away my enemy so that he could escape?” Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go or I will kill you.’ ”
18 David, Samuel, and Saul in Ramah. When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went to Naioth and they stayed there.
19 Saul heard that David was in Naioth in Ramah. 20 [d]He sent deputies to capture David. They saw a band of prophets there prophesying, and Samuel was their leader. The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul’s deputies, and they prophesied as well. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent other deputies, but they prophesied as well. A third time Saul sent deputies, but they also prophesied.
22 Saul and the Prophets. Finally, he himself went to Ramah, and he came to the great well in Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone told him, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 So he went to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, too. He walked along, prophesying, until he arrived at Naioth. 24 He stripped off his clothes and he prophesied as he had in Samuel’s presence. He laid down naked all that day and all that night. This is why they say, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”
Greetings and Thanksgiving
Chapter 1
Address to a Church.[a] 1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Sosthenes[b] our brother, 2 to the Church of God in Corinth,[c] to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I continually give thanks to my God for you because of his grace that has been granted to you in Christ Jesus. 5 For through him you have been enriched in every way in all facets of speech and knowledge, 6 as our testimony about Christ has been confirmed in you.
7 Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will keep you steadfast until the very end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and it is by him that you have been called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church of Corinth[d]
10 The Existence of Factions. Brethren, I exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be in full agreement with one another and not permit any divisions to arise among you. Be perfectly united in mind and purpose. 11 For I have heard reports from Chloe’s people, brethren, that there are quarrels among you.[e]
12 What I mean is that each of you is asserting, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,”[f] or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ now been divided? Did Paul die on the cross for you? Was it in Paul’s name that you were baptized?
14 I am thankful that I never baptized any of you, aside from Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. ( 16 I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Aside from those I do not know if I baptized anyone else.)
17 The Message of the Cross and Human Wisdom.[g] For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—and to do so without words of human wisdom lest the cross of Christ be devoid of its meaning. 18 Indeed, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the understanding of the learned I will bring to naught.”[h]
20 Where now are the wise ones? Where are the men of learning? Where are the debaters of this present age? Has God not shown the wisdom of the world to be foolish? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world was unable to come to know him through wisdom, he chose, through the folly of preaching, to save those who have faith.
22 Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified. This is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles;[i] 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 God Has Chosen Those Who Count for Nothing. Consider, brethren, your calling. Not many of you were wise by human standards,[j] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 Rather, God chose those who were regarded as foolish by the world to shame the wise; God chose those in the world who were weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose those in the world who were lowly and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were regarded as worthy, 29 [k]so that no one could boast in the presence of God.
30 It is through him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom of God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “If anyone wishes to boast, let him boast in the Lord.”
Chapter 4
The Punishment of the Prophet and People
1 How the gold has become tarnished,
how the pure gold has lost its luster!
The sacred stones lie scattered
at every street corner.
2 The precious sons of Zion
were formerly worth their weight in gold.
Now they are reckoned as no more valuable
than clay jars fashioned by a potter.
3 Even jackals bare their breasts
and nurse their young.
But the daughters of my people have become
as cruel as ostriches[a] in the desert.
4 The tongue of an infant
sticks to the roof of its mouth in thirst.
Little children beg for bread,
but no one offers them a crumb.
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies
now lie dying in the streets.
Those who once wore purple garments
now grovel in rubbish heaps.
6 The punishment inflicted on my people
has been greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in an instant
without a hand being lifted to help her.
7 Her princes were once brighter than snow
and whiter than milk.
Their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
more precious than sapphire.
8 Now their faces are blacker than soot,
and no one recognizes them in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled tightly over their bones,
as dry as a stick.
9 More blessed were those who died by the sword
than those who died of hunger,
with their limbs wasting away,
deprived of the produce of the field.
10 With their own hands, compassionate women
have boiled their own children;
those offspring became their food
when my people were on the verge of extinction,
11 The Lord let his blazing anger pour forth
and gave full vent to his wrath
as he kindled a fire in Zion
that devoured her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth never believed,
nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,
that any adversary or enemy
could ever penetrate the gates of Jerusalem.
13 That occurred because of the sins of her prophets
and the crimes of her priests
who had shed within her walls
the blood of the righteous.[b]
14 They staggered blindly in the streets,
so defiled with blood
that not one of the people dared
to touch their garments.
15 “Go away! You are unclean!” the people shouted.
“Keep away! Do not touch us!”
Wherever they fled, the people would cry out,
“You cannot stay here any longer!”
16 The Lord himself scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.
He showed no favor to the priests
or kindness to the elders.
17 Continually we strained our eyes,
looking in vain for help.
From our towers we watched endlessly
for a nation that could not save us.
18 Men dogged our steps
so that we were unable to walk in our streets.
Our end drew near; our days were numbered;
our time had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than eagles in the heavens.
They hounded us over the mountains
and lay in ambush for us in the wilderness.
20 The Lord’s anointed,[c] our breath of life,
was caught in their traps,
he in whose shadow we thought
that we could live in safety among the nations.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
you who live in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed;
you will become drunk and strip yourself naked.
22 O daughter of Zion, your punishment is now complete;
he will not prolong your exile.
But, daughter of Edom, he will punish your iniquity,
and he will lay bare your sins.
Psalm 35[a]
Appeal for Help against Injustice
1 Of David.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive against me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Grasp your shield and buckler
and spring to my aid.
3 Brandish your spear and battle-ax
against those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,[b]
“I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
suffer shame and disgrace.
May those who plan my downfall
be forced to retreat in disgrace.
5 May they be like chaff flying in the wind,[c]
with the angel of the Lord scattering them.
6 May their way be shadowy and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord in pursuit.
7 Without cause they laid a net to trap me;
without cause they dug a pit to ensnare me.
8 May ruin come upon them unawares;
may the net they laid entrap them;
may they topple into the pit they dug.
9 Then my soul[d] will rejoice in the Lord
and exult in his salvation.
10 My whole being[e] will say,
“O Lord, who is there like you?
You deliver those who are weak
from those who are too strong for them,
and you protect the poor and needy
from those who seek to exploit them.”
11 False witnesses step forward
and question me about things I do not know.
12 They give me back evil in place of good
and leave my soul in sorrow.
13 Yet, when they were ill, I put on sackcloth[f]
and afflicted myself with fasting,
while I poured forth prayers from my heart.
14 I went about as though in grief,
as though for a friend or brother.
I bowed down in sorrow
as though lamenting for a mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and came together;
they came together and struck me unawares.
They slandered me without letup.
16 They mocked me with ever increasing fury
as they gnashed their teeth at me.
17 How long,[g] O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from these ravening beasts;
preserve my precious life from these lions.
18 I will offer you thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise you amid the vast throng.
19 Do not allow my treacherous enemies
to gloat over me;
do not permit those who hate me without reason[h]
to wink their eyes at me.
20 [i]For they do not speak words of peace,
but they contrive deceitful words
to lead astray the peaceful in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths shouting, “Aha! Aha!
We have seen it with our own eyes.”
22 You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Awaken and be diligent in my defense;
come to my aid, my God and my Lord.
24 [j]Defend me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think,
“Aha! This is just what we wanted.”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my downfall
be put to shame and dismayed.
Let those who rise up arrogantly against me
be covered with shame and dishonor.
27 But let those who desire my vindication
shout for joy and be glad.
Let them cry out continually,
“Exalted be the Lord
who delights to see his servant in peace.”
28 Then my tongue shall proclaim your righteousness
and sing your praise all the day long.
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