M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 8
Summary of David’s Wars. 1 A short time later, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, and he also wrested Metheg-ammah from their control. 2 In addition he defeated the Moabites, after which he ordered them to lie on the ground and then measured them off with a length of cord. He measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those who were to be spared. The Moabites then became David’s subjects and brought him tribute.
3 David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah, the son of Rehob, as he led an expedition to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River. 4 David captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He also hamstrung all but one hundred of the chariot horses.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. 6 He then established garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and they became his subjects and brought him tribute.[a] The Lord brought David victory wherever he went.
7 David also took the gold shields that were carried by the guards of Hadadezer, and he brought them to Jerusalem. 8 In addition, from Bethah and Berothai, towns belonging to Hadadezer, David removed an immense quantity of bronze.
9 When Tor, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated Hadadezer’s entire army, 10 he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him for having been victorious in his battle against Hadadezer, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Tor.
Joram brought with him objects of silver, gold, and bronze. 11 These also King David consecrated to the Lord, as he had also done with the silver and gold he had taken from every nation he had conquered— 12 from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil taken from King Hadadezer of Zoab, the son of Rehob.
13 David became even more greatly renowned when, on his return, he slew eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, 14 after which he stationed garrisons throughout Edom. Thus all the Edomites became David’s subjects. And the Lord continued to give victory to David wherever he went.
15 David’s Officials. David reigned over all Israel, and he administered law and justice among all his people.[b] 16 Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was in charge of the records. 17 Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests. Seraiah was secretary. 18 Bena-iah, the son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites.[c] David’s sons were priests.
Chapter 9
David and Meribbaal.[d] 1 David inquired: “Is there anyone belonging to the family of Saul who is still alive, to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now Saul’s family had a servant whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to appear before David. The king asked him: “Are you Ziba?” He replied: “I am at your service.”
3 The king then asked: “Is there anyone from Saul’s family still alive to whom I may show God’s kindness?” “There is a son of Jonathan who still remains,” Ziba said to the king. “His feet are crippled.” 4 Then the king inquired: “Where is he?” Ziba answered: “He is living in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.”
5 Then King David sent for him and had him brought from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 When Meribbaal, the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul, entered David’s presence, he fell on his face and did obeisance. David said: “Meribbaal!” He replied: “I am your servant.”
7 David then said to him: “Do not be afraid. I intend to show you great kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I shall restore to you all the lands that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall always eat at my table.” 8 Meribbaal again prostrated himself and said: “Of what importance is your servant that you should look with kindness upon a dead dog like me?”
9 Then David summoned Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him: “I am turning over to your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and to his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him and bring in the harvest to provide for your master’s family to eat. However, Meribbaal, your master’s grandson, shall always eat at my table.”
Ziba, who had fifteen sons and twenty servants, 11 said to the king: “Your servant shall do everything that my lord the king has commanded him.” Therefore, Meribbaal ate at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons.
12 Meribbaal had a young son whose name was Mica. All the members of Ziba’s household became servants of Meribbaal. 13 However, Meribbaal lived in Jerusalem because he always ate at the king’s table, for he was crippled in both feet.
Chapter 2
1 Therefore, I made up my mind not to have you endure another painful visit. 2 For if I cause you pain, then who would be there to cheer me up aside from you whom I offended? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not suffer distress from those who should have made me rejoice. I know all of you well enough to be certain that we both share the same joy. 4 It was with great distress and anguish of heart and many tears that I wrote to you, not to grieve you but to let you know how abundant is the love I have for you.
Forgiveness for the Offender. 5 If anyone has caused distress, he has done so not only to me but to some extent—not to exaggerate—to all of you. 6 The punishment that was imposed by the majority was appropriate. 7 But now you should forgive and encourage him so that he may not be overwhelmed by the burden of his distress. 8 Therefore, I urge you to reassure him of your love.
9 I wrote to you to test your obedience in all matters. 10 Anyone whom you forgive I forgive as well. Whatever I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I have done for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we may avoid being outwitted by Satan, for we are not unaware of his schemes.
12 Paul’s Anguish.[a] When I came to Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ, and a door of opportunity was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my mind knew no relief because I could not find my brother Titus in that place. And so I said farewell to them and moved on to Macedonia.
Greatness and Weakness of the Apostles[b]
14 Ambassadors of God. But thanks be to God, for he brings us to victory in Christ and through us he manifests the fragrance of the knowledge of him throughout the world. 15 We are indeed the aroma of Christ to God both among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: 16 to the latter, the odor of death that leads to death; to the former, a fragrance of life leading to life.
Who is truly qualified for such a task? 17 For we are not like so many others who adulterate the word of God for profit. When we speak, we do so in Christ and in all sincerity, as men sent from God and standing in God’s presence.
Chapter 16[a]
The Unfaithful Wife. 1 This word of the Lord was addressed to me: 2 Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominable practices. 3 Say to her: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: By origin and birth, you belong to Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.
4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut. You were neither bathed in water, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. 5 No one took pity on you or did any of these deeds out of compassion for you. Rather, you were thrown out into an open field, for you were regarded as something loathsome on the day you were born.
6 Then I passed by and saw you kicking helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live, 7 and grow like a plant of the field.” You grew up and developed and reached the stage of full womanhood. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and exposed.
8 I passed by you again and saw that you were old enough for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I swore an oath to you and made a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you in water, washed away the blood from your body, and anointed you with oil.
10 After this, I clothed you with embroidered gowns and sandals of fine leather, as well as with a linen headband and a silk cloak. 11 I adorned you with jewels: bracelets for your arms, a chain around your neck, 12 a ring in your nose, pendants for your ears, and a beautiful crown for your head.
13 Thus, you were adorned with gold and silver, and your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. 14 You were renowned among the nations because of your beauty, since it was perfect because of the splendor I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord God.
15 But you became infatuated with your own beauty, and you exploited your renown as you freely offered to play the harlot to every passerby. 16 You used some of your garments to decorate colorful shrines for yourself where you played the harlot. 17 You also took the beautiful gold and silver jewelry that I had given you and made for yourself male images, with which you committed fornication.
18 Furthermore, you took your embroidered clothes to cover these images and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 You also took the food that I had given you—the fine flour, the oil, and the honey with which I fed you—and set it before them as a pleasant odor, says the Lord God.
20 You took the sons and daughters you had borne to me and offered them as sacrifices. Was it not enough that you had become a harlot? 21 You slaughtered my children and immolated them as an offering to your idols. 22 And throughout all your abominations and your harlotries you never gave a thought to your youth when you were naked and bare and kicking helplessly in your own blood.
23 Then, after all your wicked deeds—woe, woe to you! says the Lord God— 24 you built for yourself a platform and erected for yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street, you built your dais and degraded your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in countless acts of harlotry. 26 You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and provoked me to anger with your repeated acts of fornication.
27 Therefore, I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your supply of food, and delivered you into the hands of your enemies, the Philistine women, who were horrified by your lewd behavior. 28 You also played the whore with the Assyrians in your insatiable lust, and even then you were not satisfied. 29 Again and again you continued to play the harlot in Chaldea, the land of merchants, and still you remained unsatisfied.
30 How truly sick you are, says the Lord God, for engaging in the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your platform at every street corner and erecting your lofty dais in every square. Yet you do not truly fulfill the role of a prostitute because you scorn any payment.
32 An adulterous wife welcomes strangers instead of her husband. 33 All prostitutes receive gifts, but you gave gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come from everywhere to receive your favors. 34 Thus in your harlotry, you were different from other such women. No one sought you out for prostitution, and you gave payment instead of receiving it. You are the complete opposite of all other whores.
35 Therefore, you harlot, listen to the word of the Lord. 36 Thus says the Lord God: Because you poured forth your lust and revealed your nakedness in your promiscuous dealings with your lovers, and because you surrendered to them the blood of your children, 37 therefore, I will gather together all your lovers in whom you took pleasure, all those whom you loved and all those whom you disliked. I will gather them from all sides and expose you naked for them to see.
38 I will inflict on you the sentence that is imposed on adulteresses and murderesses and bring down upon you the bloody vengeance of my wrath and jealousy. 39 I will deliver you into their hands, and they will destroy your platforms and tear down your lofty places. They will strip off your clothes, take away your jewels, and leave you stark naked. 40 They will assemble a mob to punish you, stoning you and cutting you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments against you while many women look on. Thus, I shall put an end to your harlotry, and never again will you make payments to your lovers.
42 Once my fury against you has been exhausted, then my jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and will no longer be provoked to anger. 43 Because you have never called to mind the days of your youth but enraged me with all of your wicked deeds, I have brought your conduct down upon your head, says the Lord God. For did you not add lewd behavior to all of your other abominable deeds?
44 Everyone who quotes proverbs will use this one in regard to you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and her children, and you are a true sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who lives to the north of you with her daughters, and your younger sister is Sodom, who lives to the south of you with her daughters. 47 You not only followed their ways and imitated their loathsome practices, but within a brief period of time you were more corrupt than they in all of your ways.
48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 The crimes of your sister Sodom were pride, gluttony, and lack of concern for the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and committed abominable deeds in my presence. Therefore, I swept them from my sight, as you have seen.
51 Samaria did not commit half of the sins of which you have been guilty. You have done far more abominable crimes than they did, and you have made your sisters appear to be innocent because of all the abominations that you have committed. 52 Bear the shame of your disgrace, as a result of which you have made possible a more favorable judgment for your sisters. Because your conduct was far more abominable than theirs, they appear to be more upright in comparison with you. Therefore, blush for shame, and bear the disgrace of having made your sisters appear to be righteous.
53 I intend to restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and your own fortunes along with theirs, 54 so that you may bear your own disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done as you offer consolation to them.
55 As for your sisters, when Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former state and Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 Did you not regard with contempt your sister Sodom in the days of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was revealed? Now you are regarded with contempt by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and by the daughters of the Philistines—all these people despise you. 58 You must suffer the consequences of your lewdness and your loathsome abominations, says the Lord.
59 For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have deserved, you who despised your oath and broke the covenant. 60 However, I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I shall establish with you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will recall your former conduct and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger, and give them to you as daughters, even though I am not bound to do so by my covenant with you.
62 Thus I will reestablish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord, 63 and thus remember and be ashamed and be reduced to silence when I forgive you for everything that you have done, says the Lord God.
Psalm 58[a]
The Judge of Unjust Rulers
1 For the director.[b] According to “Do not destroy.” A miktam of David.
2 O you rulers,[c] do you render justice?
Do you judge your people impartially?
3 No! You devise wickedness in your hearts,[d]
and your hands bring about violence on the earth.
4 The wicked have gone astray right from the womb;
from birth these liars have taken the wrong path.[e]
5 Their venom is like that of a serpent;
they are as deaf as an asp that stops its ears
6 so as not to hear the voice of the charmer
no matter how skillful the spells he casts.[f]
7 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of these lions, O Lord.[g]
8 [h]Cause them to vanish like water that drains off;
make them wither like grass that is trampled.[i]
9 Let them melt like a snail[j] that oozes into slime
or like a stillborn child that will never see the sun.
10 Before they sprout thorns[k] like brambles or thistles,
may your whirlwind sweep them away.
11 The righteous will rejoice
when he sees that justice has been done,
and he will bathe his feet
in the blood[l] of the wicked.
12 Then the people will say,
“There is truly a reward for the righteous;
there is a God who dispenses justice on the earth.”
Psalm 59[m]
Against Wicked Enemies
1 For the director.[n] According to “Do not destroy.” A miktam of David. When Saul sent people to watch David’s house in order to kill him.
2 Rescue me, O my God, from my enemies;
defend me[o] against those who rise up against me.
3 Deliver me from those who do evil;
save me from the violence of the bloodthirsty.
4 They are lying in wait to take my life;
the powerful gather together against me.
For no offense or sin of mine, O Lord,
5 for no guilt of mine,
they stand ready to attack me.
Rise up to help me, and look on my plight;
6 you, Lord, God of hosts,[p] are the God of Israel.
Rouse yourself and punish all the nations;
show no mercy to these wicked deceivers. Selah
7 They return each evening,
snarling like dogs
as they prowl through the city.
8 [q]See what spews from their mouths—
they spew forth from their lips,
and they assert, “Who is there to hear us?”
9 However, you laugh at them, O Lord;
you show your disdain for all the nations.
10 [r]O my strength, I will keep watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
11 O God of mercy.
May God go before me
and allow me to have my way with my enemies.
12 Do not put them to death,
lest my people forget.[s]
Scatter them in your power
and bring them to their knees,
O Lord, our shield.[t]
13 For the sins of their mouths
and the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the curses and lies they speak,
14 put an end to them in your wrath;
put an end to them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God is the ruler over Jacob.[u] Selah
15 [v]They return each evening,
snarling like dogs
as they prowl through the city.
16 They roam about searching for food,
and they growl if they do not have their fill.
17 But I will sing of your strength;
when morning dawns, I will proclaim your kindness.[w]
For you have been my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
18 O my Strength, I will sing your praises,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me love.[x]
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