M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Flees from Saul
21 (A)David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”
2 “I am here on the king's business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3 Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4 The priest said, “I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently.”
5 “Of course they haven't,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”
6 (B)So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.
(7 Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)
8 David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”
9 (C)Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it's the only weapon here.”
“Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”
10 So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. 11 (D)The king's officials said to Achish, “Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’”
12 (E)Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish. 13 (F)So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city[a] gates and let spit drool down his beard. 14 So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me? 15 Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?”
The Slaughter of the Priests
22 (G)David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him. 2 People who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him, about four hundred men in all, and he became their leader.
3 David went on from there to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I find out what God is going to do for me.” 4 So David left his parents with the king of Moab, and they stayed there as long as David was hiding out in the cave.
5 Then the prophet Gad came to David and said, “Don't stay here; go at once to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
6 One day Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under a tamarisk tree on a hill, with his spear in his hand, and all his officers were standing around him. He was told that David and his men had been located, 7 and he said to his officers, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Do you think that David will give fields and vineyards to all of you, and make you officers in his army? 8 Is that why you are plotting against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made an alliance with David. No one is concerned about me or tells me that David, one of my own men, is right now looking for a chance to kill me, and that my son has encouraged him!”
9 (H)Doeg was standing there with Saul's officers, and he said, “I saw David when he went to Ahimelech son of Ahitub in Nob. 10 Ahimelech asked the Lord what David should do, and then he gave David some food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 So King Saul sent for the priest Ahimelech and all his relatives, who were also priests in Nob, and they came to him. 12 Saul said to Ahimelech, “Listen, Ahimelech!”
“At your service, sir,” he answered.
13 Saul asked him, “Why are you and David plotting against me? Why did you give him some food and a sword, and consult God for him? Now he has turned against me and is waiting for a chance to kill me!”
14 Ahimelech answered, “David is the most faithful officer you have! He is your own son-in-law, captain of[b] your bodyguard, and highly respected by everyone in the royal court. 15 Yes, I consulted God for him, and it wasn't the first time.[c] As for plotting against you, Your Majesty must not accuse me or anyone else in my family. I don't know anything about this matter!”
16 The king said, “Ahimelech, you and all your relatives must die.” 17 Then he said to the guards standing near him, “Kill the Lord's priests! They conspired with David and did not tell me that he had run away, even though they knew it all along.” But the guards refused to lift a hand to kill the Lord's priests. 18 So Saul said to Doeg, “You kill them!”—and Doeg killed them all. On that day he killed eighty-five priests who were qualified to carry the ephod. 19 Saul also had all the other inhabitants of Nob, the city of priests, put to death: men and women, children and babies, cattle, donkeys, and sheep—they were all killed.
20 But Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped, and went and joined David. 21 He told him how Saul had slaughtered the priests of the Lord. 22 David said to him, “When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew that he would be sure to tell Saul. So I am responsible[d] for the death of all your relatives. 23 Stay with me and don't be afraid. Saul wants to kill both you and me, but you will be safe with me.”
Servants of God
3 As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith. 2 (A)I had to feed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it, 3 because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards? 4 (B)When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos”—aren't you acting like worldly people?
5 After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: 6 (C)I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. 7 The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow. 8 There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. 9 For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.
You are also God's building. 10 Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build. 11 For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid. 12 Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood or grass or straw. 13 And the quality of each person's work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone's work; the fire will test it and show its real quality. 14 If what was built on the foundation survives the fire, the builder will receive a reward. 15 But if your work is burnt up, then you will lose it; but you yourself will be saved, as if you had escaped through the fire.
16 (D)Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you! 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.
18 You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world's standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise. 19 (E)For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God's sight. As the scripture says, “God traps the wise in their cleverness”; 20 (F)and another scripture says, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.” 21 No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you: 22 Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future—all these are yours, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
EZEKIEL'S FIRST VISION OF GOD (1.1—7.27)
God's Throne
1 (A)On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year,[a] I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God. (2 (B)It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.) 3 There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the Lord speak to me, and I felt his power.
4 I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze. 5 (C)At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze. 8 In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing. 9 Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.
10 (D)Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back. 11 Two wings[b] of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies. 12 Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.
13 (E)Among[c] the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning. 14 The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.
15 (F)As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them.[d] 16 All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles, 17 so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions. 18 (G)The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.[e] 19 Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels. 20 The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them. 21 So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.
22 (H)Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal. 23 There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings. 24 (I)I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings, 25 but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.
26 (J)Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being. 27 (K)The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light 28 that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord.
God Calls Ezekiel to Be a Prophet
When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice
The Destiny of the Wicked and of the Good[a]
37 Don't be worried on account of the wicked;
don't be jealous of those who do wrong.
2 They will soon disappear like grass that dries up;
they will die like plants that wither.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
live in the land and be safe.
4 Seek your happiness in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart's desire.
5 Give yourself to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will help you;
6 he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.
7 Be patient and wait for the Lord to act;
don't be worried about those who prosper
or those who succeed in their evil plans.
8 Don't give in to worry or anger;
it only leads to trouble.
9 Those who trust in the Lord will possess the land,
but the wicked will be driven out.
10 Soon the wicked will disappear;
you may look for them, but you won't find them;
11 (A)but the humble will possess the land
and enjoy prosperity and peace.
12 The wicked plot against good people
and glare at them with hate.
13 But the Lord laughs at wicked people,
because he knows they will soon be destroyed.
14 The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows
to kill the poor and needy,
to slaughter those who do what is right;
15 but they will be killed by their own swords,
and their bows will be smashed.
16 The little that a good person owns
is worth more than the wealth of all the wicked,
17 because the Lord will take away the strength of the wicked,
but protect those who are good.
18 The Lord takes care of those who obey him,
and the land will be theirs forever.
19 They will not suffer when times are bad;
they will have enough in time of famine.
20 But the wicked will die;
the enemies of the Lord will vanish like wild flowers;
they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and never pay back,
but good people are generous with their gifts.
22 Those who are blessed by the Lord will possess the land,
but those who are cursed by him will be driven out.
23 The Lord guides us in the way we should go
and protects those who please him.
24 If they fall, they will not stay down,
because the Lord will help them up.
25 I am old now; I have lived a long time,
but I have never seen good people abandoned by the Lord
or their children begging for food.
26 At all times they give freely and lend to others,
and their children are a blessing.
27 Turn away from evil and do good,
and your descendants will always live in the land;
28 for the Lord loves what is right
and does not abandon his faithful people.
He protects them forever,
but the descendants of the wicked will be driven out.
29 The righteous will possess the land
and live in it forever.
30 The words of good people are wise,
and they are always fair.
31 They keep the law of their God in their hearts
and never depart from it.
32 Wicked people watch good people
and try to kill them;
33 but the Lord will not abandon them to their enemy's power
or let them be condemned when they are on trial.
34 Put your hope in the Lord and obey his commands;
he will honor you by giving you the land,
and you will see the wicked driven out.
35 I once knew someone wicked who was a tyrant;
he towered over everyone like a cedar of Lebanon;[b]
36 but later I[c] passed by, and he wasn't there;
I looked for him, but couldn't find him.
37 Notice good people, observe the righteous;
peaceful people have descendants,
38 but sinners are completely destroyed,
and their descendants are wiped out.
39 The Lord saves the righteous
and protects them in times of trouble.
40 He helps them and rescues them;
he saves them from the wicked,
because they go to him for protection.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.