M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

3 The child Sh’mu’el continued ministering to Adonai under ‘Eli’s direction. Now, in those days Adonai rarely spoke, and visions were few. ² Once, during that period, ‘Eli had gone to bed — his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that it was hard for him to see. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out; and Sh’mu’el had lain down to sleep in the sanctuary of Adonai, where the ark of God was.

⁴ Adonai called, “Sh’mu’el!” and he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he ran to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me?” But he said, “I didn’t call you; go back, and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ Adonai called a second time, “Sh’mu’el!” Sh’mu’el got up, went to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son; lie down again.” ⁷ Now Sh’mu’el didn’t yet know Adonai; the word of Adonai had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ Adonai called, “Sh’mu’el!” again, a third time. He got up, went to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me.” At last ‘Eli realized it was Adonai calling the child. ⁹ So ‘Eli said to Sh’mu’el, “Go, and lie down. If you are called again, say, ‘Speak, Adonai; your servant is listening.’ Sh’mu’el went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Adonai came and stood, then spoke as at the other times: “Sh’mu’el! Sh’mu’el!” Then Sh’mu’el said, “Speak; your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Look! I am going to do something in Isra’el that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹² On that day I will do against ‘Eli everything I have said with regard to his family, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I will execute judgment against his family forever, because of his wickedness in not rebuking his sons, even though he knew that they had brought a curse on themselves. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the family of ‘Eli that the wickedness of ‘Eli’s family will never be atoned for by any sacrifice or offering.”

¹⁵ Sh’mu’el lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of Adonai. But Sh’mu’el was afraid to tell ‘Eli the vision. ¹⁶ Then ‘Eli called Sh’mu’el: “Sh’mu’el, my son!” He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ ‘Eli said, “What did he say to you? Please, don’t hide it from me; may God do whatever he said and worse, if you hide from me anything he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Sh’mu’el told him every word and hid nothing. ‘Eli replied, “It is Adonai; let him do what seems good to him.”

¹⁹ Sh’mu’el kept growing, Adonai was with him, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All Isra’el from Dan to Be’er-Sheva became aware that Sh’mu’el had been confirmed as a prophet of Adonai. ²¹ Adonai continued appearing in Shiloh, for Adonai revealed himself to Sh’mu’el in Shiloh by the word of Adonai.

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? What is the value of being circumcised? ² Much in every way! In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the very words of God. ³ If some of them were unfaithful, so what? Does their faithlessness cancel God’s faithfulness? ⁴ Heaven forbid! God would be true even if everyone were a liar! — as the Tanakh says,

⁵ Now if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what should we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict his anger on us? (I am speaking here the way people commonly do.) ⁶ Heaven forbid! Else, how could God judge the world? ⁷ “But,” you say, “if, through my lie, God’s truth is enhanced and brings him greater glory, why am I still judged merely for being a sinner?” ⁸ Indeed! Why not say (as some people slander us by claiming we do say), “Let us do evil, so that good may come of it”? Against them the judgment is a just one!

⁹ So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are controlled by sin. ¹⁰ As the Tanakh puts it,

¹⁹ Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s adverse judgment. ²⁰ For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous^[h] on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are.

²¹ But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear — although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well — ²² and it is a righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah, to all who continue trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, ²³ since all have sinned and come short of earning God’s praise. ²⁴ By God’s grace, without earning it, all are granted the status of being considered righteous before him, through the act redeeming us from our enslavement to sin that was accomplished by the Messiah Yeshua. ²⁵ God put Yeshua forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God’s righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past; ²⁶ and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshua’s faithfulness.

²⁷ So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting. ²⁸ Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands.

²⁹ Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles; ³⁰ because, as you will admit, God is one.^[i] Therefore, he will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting. ³¹ Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah.

41 In the seventh month Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, the son of Elishama, of royal blood and one of the chief officials of the king, came with ten men to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah. While eating a meal together there in Mitzpah, ² Yishma‘el and the ten men with him rose and attacked G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, struck him with their swords, and assassinated the man whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land. ³ Yishma‘el also murdered all the Judeans who were with G’dalyahu at Mitzpah, as well as the Kasdim soldiers they found there.

⁴ The next day, before his assassination of G’dalyahu had become known, ⁵ eighty men from Sh’khem, Shiloh and Shomron came with beards shaved off, clothes torn and gashes on their bodies; they had grain offerings and frankincense with them to present in the house of Adonai. ⁶ Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu went out from Mitzpah to meet them, weeping all along the way; on meeting them, he said to them, “Come to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam.” ⁷ But once they were inside the city, Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. ⁸ However, ten of them said to Yishma‘el, “Don’t kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he relented, and did not kill them along with their comrades. ⁹ The cistern in which Yishma‘el threw the corpses of the men he had murdered with G’dalyahu was the one Asa the king had made in fear of Ba‘asha king of Isra’el; it was this cistern that Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu filled with the slaughtered men. ¹⁰ Then Yishma‘el carried off captive the rest of the people in Mitzpah — the king’s daughters and all the people left in Mitzpah, whom N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard had committed to the care of G’dalyahu the son of Achikam. Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu carried them off captive and left to cross over to the people of ‘Amon.

¹¹ When Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him heard of all the crimes committed by Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, ¹² they took all the men and went to attack Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu. They found him by the big pool in Giv‘on. ¹³ When all Yishma‘el’s captives saw Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him, they were overjoyed. ¹⁴ So all the people Yishma‘el had carried off captive from Mitzpah turned and joined Yochanan the son of Kareach. ¹⁵ But Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu escaped from Yochanan with eight men and went on to the people of ‘Amon. ¹⁶ Yochanan the son of Kareach and the military commanders with him then took all the rest of the people he had freed from Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, those Yishma‘el had taken from Mitzpah after assassinating G’dalyahu the son of Achikam — the heroes, the soldiers, the women, the children and the officers he had brought back from Giv‘on — ¹⁷ and they left there to stay at Kimham’s Lodge, near Beit-Lechem, intending to go on to Egypt ¹⁸ and thus escape the Kasdim. They were afraid of them, because Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu had murdered G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.