M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 9
Saul and the Lost Donkeys. 1 There was a certain man from Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah. He was a man of high standing in Benjamin. 2 He had a son whose name was Saul. He was a handsome young man, and there was no one in Israel who was more handsome than he. He was also a head taller than anyone else. 3 Now the donkeys belonging to Kish, the father of Saul, were lost, and Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the servants with you and go up and look for the donkeys.”[a]
4 So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, in the area around Shalishah, but he could not find them. Then he went into the area around Shaalim, but they were not there. He next passed into the land of the Benjaminites, but they did not find them.
5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come on, let us go back, lest my father stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.” 6 But the servant replied, “There is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected, and everything that he says comes true. Let us now go to him, perhaps he can tell us where to go.”
7 Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what are we going to bring the man? We have used up all of the food in our sacks. We have nothing to give the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered Saul, saying, “I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God so that he can tell us which way to go.” 9 (In former days in Israel, if someone wanted to ask something of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for in those days prophets were called seers.) 10 So Saul said to his servant, “Good! Let us go.” They went into the town where the man of God was living.
11 As they were going up the hill on the way to the town, they met some young women who were coming out to draw water. They said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12 They answered, “He is. Hurry now, for he has just arrived in the town today because the people are offering a sacrifice on the heights.[b] 13 Find him as soon as you enter the town before he goes up to the heights to eat. The people will not start to eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now, for right around now you should find him.”
14 Saul Meets Samuel. They went into the town, and as they were entering the town, Samuel was coming out toward them to go up to the heights. 15 Now the day before Saul arrived, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. You will anoint him as leader over my people Israel. He will deliver my people out of the hands of the Philistines. I have regarded my people, for their cry has risen up to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man of whom I have spoken to you. He is to rule over my people.”
18 [c]Saul approached Samuel in the gateway and said to him, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.” 19 But Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the heights, for you will eat with me today. I will let you go on your way tomorrow, and I will make known to you all that is on your mind. 20 As for the donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not worry about them, for they have been found. Is not all the desire of Israel placed upon you and all your father’s family?” 21 But Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, the smallest of the tribes in Israel? Is not my family the least important of the clans in the tribe of Benjamin? Why are you saying this to me?”
22 Then Samuel brought Saul and his servant into the hall, and he sat them down at the head of those who had been invited; there were about thirty in all. 23 Samuel said to the cook, “Bring me the piece of meat that I brought you, the portion I told you to set aside.” 24 The cook brought up the leg and what was on it and set it in front of Saul. He said, “Here is what I saved for you. Eat it, because I set it aside for this moment from when I first invited the guests.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
25 After they came down from the heights into the town, he spoke to Saul on the roof of his house. 26 They rose about daybreak, and Samuel called up to Saul on the rooftop, “Get up, and I will send you on your way.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside together. 27 As they were coming to the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell your servant to go on ahead of us,” and he went on ahead. He continued, “You stay here for a while, so that I can reveal the word of God to you.”
Christ Has Freed Us from the Law[a]
Chapter 7
The Time of the Law Has Passed.[b] 1 Are you aware, brethren (for I am certain that you are people who have knowledge of the Law), that a person is bound by the Law only during that person’s lifetime? 2 For example, a woman is bound by the Law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from her husband in regard to the Law. 3 Therefore, she will be judged to be an adulteress if she has relations with another man while her husband is still alive. However, if her husband dies, she is free from that provision of the Law, and if she then has relations with another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 In the same way, brethren, through the body of Christ you have died to the Law and have been set free to belong to another, that is, to the one who rose from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions were aroused by the Law and at work in our bodies, and they bore fruit for death. 6 But now, we are released from the Law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit in contrast to the old written code.[c]
The Function of the Law.[d] 7 What then should we say? That the Law is sinful? Absolutely not! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known what sin was. I would not have known what covet is if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin seized the opportunity offered by the commandment and produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the Law, sin is dead.
9 I lived apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life, 10 and I died. The commandment that was for life proved to be death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity offered by the commandment, deceived me,[e] and through it killed me. 12 And so the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Did what is good, then, cause my death? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as such, it brought about my death through what is good, and therefore through the commandment sin became completely sinful.
14 Sin and Death. We clearly understand that the Law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want; rather, I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, then I agree that the Law is good.[f] 17 This indicates that it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot do what is good. 19 For I do not do the good I desire; rather, it is the evil I do not desire that I end up doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not desire, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I have thus discovered this principle: when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 In my innermost self, I delight in the Law of God, 23 but I perceive in the members of my body another law at war with the Law that I cherish in my mind. Thus, I am made captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body destined for death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with my mind I am a slave to the Law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.
Prophecies against the Nations[a]
Chapter 46
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah in regard to the nations.
Against Egypt.[b] 2 Concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, which was stationed at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah:
3 Prepare your bucklers and
shields and march forth for battle.
4 Harness the horses;
let the riders mount.
Don your helmets
and take your stations.
Sharpen your spears
and put on your breastplates.
5 What is this shameful spectacle I behold?
They fall back in terror.
Their warriors are routed
and are in headlong flight
without glancing back.
There is terror on every side,
says the Lord.
6 The swift cannot flee,
nor can the brave warriors escape.
In the north, by the River Euphrates,
they have stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is this that rises like the Nile,
like rivers of torrential waters?
8 Egypt rises up like the Nile,
like rivers of torrential waters.
I will rise up, Egypt says, and cover the earth;
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.
9 Advance, O horses,
and drive madly, O chariots.
Let the warriors advance:
men from Ethiopia and Put bearing shields,
and men from Lud who draw their bows.
10 This day belongs to the Lord God of hosts,
a day of retribution
and vengeance on his enemies.
The sword will devour and be sated
until drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts
is holding a sacrificial feast
in the land of the north
by the River Euphrates.
11 Go up to Gilead and obtain balm,
O virgin daughter Egypt.
The many medicines you have used
have afforded you no healing.
12 The nations have heard of your shame;
the earth is filled with your cries.
Warrior stumbles against warrior,
and both fall down together.
13 The word that the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah in regard to the advance of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to attack the land of Egypt:
14 Announce it in Egypt and proclaim it in Migdol;
proclaim it also in Noph and Tahpanhes.
Say, “Take your stations and be prepared,
for the sword will devour those around you.”
15 Why have your warriors been laid low?
They were unable to stand
because the Lord has thrust them down.
16 They stumbled and fell,
and then they said to one another,
“Come, let us return to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
far from the swords of our oppressors.”
17 They gave this nickname to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt:
“One who boasts but never succeeds.”
18 As I live, says the King,
whose name is the Lord of hosts,
one is coming like Tabor[c] among the mountains,
like Carmel by the sea.
19 Prepare your baggage to go into exile,
you inhabitants of Egypt.
Memphis will become a desert waste,
a desolate, uninhabited ruin.
20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer,[d]
but a gadfly from the north
is preparing to move against her.
21 Even the mercenaries in her midst
are like fatted calves,
but they have turned and fled together
rather than stand their ground.
For the day of disaster has overtaken them,
the time of their punishment.
22 Egypt is hissing like a retreating snake,
for her enemies are advancing in force.
They move against her with axes,
like men who fell her trees.
23 They will cut down her forest,[e] says the Lord,
even though it appears impenetrable,
because they are more numerous than locusts;
they are beyond counting.
24 Daughter Egypt will be disgraced,
handed over to a people from the north.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: Behold, I will punish Amon[f] of Thebes, and Egypt, her gods and her kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and his officials. At a later time, Egypt will be inhabited again as in times past, says the Lord.
27 But as for you, my servant Jacob, fear not;
Israel, do not be dismayed.
Behold, I will rescue you from afar
and your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will return and be at peace again,
tranquil, with no one to trouble him.
28 Have no fear, my servant Jacob,
for I am with you, says the Lord.
I will make an end of all the nations
where I have dispersed you,
but I will not make an end of you.
I will discipline you only as you deserve;
I will not allow you to escape totally unpunished.
Psalm 22[a]
Suffering and Triumph of the Messiah
1 For the director.[b] According to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David.
2 [c]My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why have you paid no heed to my call for help,
to my cries of anguish?
3 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I am afforded no relief.[d]
4 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
5 Our ancestors placed their trust in you;
they trusted, and you gave them deliverance.
6 They cried out to you and were saved,
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
7 But I am a worm and not human,[e]
scorned by people and despised by my kinsmen.
8 All who see me jeer at me;
they sneer in mockery and toss their heads:[f]
9 “He relied on the Lord;
let the Lord set him free.
Let the Lord deliver him,
if he loves him.”[g]
10 [h]Yet you brought me out of the womb
and made me feel secure
upon my mother’s breast.
11 I was entrusted to your care at my birth;
from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.
12 Do not remain aloof from me,
for trouble is near
and no one can help me.
13 [i]Many bulls[j] are encircling me;
fierce bulls of Bashan are closing in on me.
14 They open wide their mouths against me
like ravening and roaring lions.
15 My strength is trickling away like water,
and all my bones are dislocated.
My heart[k] has turned to wax
and melts within me.
16 My mouth is as dry as clayware,
and my tongue sticks to my jaw;[l]
you have laid me down in the dust of death.
17 A pack of dogs surrounds me;
a band of evildoers is closing in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet;[m]
18 I can count all my bones.[n]
They stare at me and gloat;
19 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.[o]
20 [p]But you, O Lord, do not remain aloof from me.
O my Strength, come quickly to my aid.
21 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the grasp of the dogs.
22 Save me[q] from the lion’s mouth
and from the horns of wild oxen.
23 [r]I will proclaim your name to my family;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:[s]
24 “You who fear the Lord, praise him.
All you descendants of Jacob,[t] give him glory.
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel.
25 For he has not scorned or disregarded
the wretched man in his suffering;
he has not hidden his face[u] from him
but has heeded his call for help.”
26 I will offer my praise to you in the great assembly;
in the presence of those who fear him, I will fulfill my vows.[v]
27 [w]The poor[x] will eat and be filled;
those who seek the Lord will praise him:
“May your hearts live forever.”
28 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow low before him.
29 For kingly power belongs to the Lord;
he is the ruler of all the nations.
30 All those who prosper on the earth will bow down before him;
all those who lie in the grave will kneel in homage.
31 [y]But I will live for the Lord,
and my descendants will serve him.
32 Future generations will be told about the Lord
so that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance he has accomplished.
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