M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
19 Sha’ul told Y’honatan his son and all his servants that they should have David killed. But because Y’honatan was very fond of David, 2 he told him, “My father Sha’ul is out to have you killed. Therefore you must be very cautious tomorrow morning. Find a well-concealed place to hide in. 3 I will go out and stand next to my father in the countryside where you’re hiding. I will talk with my father about you; and if I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”
4 Y’honatan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father and said to him, “The king shouldn’t sin against his servant David, because he hasn’t sinned against you. On the contrary, his work for you has been very good indeed. 5 He put his life in his hands to attack the P’lishtim, and Adonai accomplished a great victory for all Isra’el. You yourself saw it, and you were happy about it. So why do you want to sin against innocent blood by killing David without any reason?” 6 Sha’ul heeded Y’honatan’s advice and swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.” 7 Y’honatan called David and told him all these things. Then Y’honatan brought David to Sha’ul to be in attendance on the king, as before.
8 War broke out again, and David went and fought the P’lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. 9 Then an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Sha’ul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing his lyre, 10 when Sha’ul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he dodged it and moved out of Sha’ul’s way, so that the spear stuck in the wall. David fled, so that night he escaped.
11 But Sha’ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. Mikhal David’s wife told him, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be dead.” 12 So Mikhal let David down through the window; and he left, fled and escaped. 13 Mikhal took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a goat’s-hair quilt at its head and covered it with a cloth. 14 When Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He’s ill.” 15 Sha’ul sent the messengers to see David with the order, “Bring him up to me, bed and all, so that I can kill him.” 16 But when the messengers entered, there before them was the household idol in the bed, with the goat’s-hair quilt at its head. 17 Sha’ul asked Mikhal, “Why did you deceive me this way and let my enemy go and escape?” Mikhal answered Sha’ul, “He threatened me, ‘Let me go, or I’ll kill you.’”
18 David fled and escaped, then came to Sh’mu’el in Ramah and told him everything Sha’ul had done to him. So he and Sh’mu’el went and stayed in the prophets’ dormitory. 19 The news reached Sha’ul that David had been seen at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. 20 Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Sh’mu’el standing and leading them, the Spirit of God fell on Sha’ul’s messengers; and they too began prophesying. 21 When Sha’ul was told, he sent other messengers; but they too began prophesying. Sha’ul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the big cistern in Sekhu, he asked, “Where are Sh’mu’el and David?” Someone answered, “They’re at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah.” 23 While on his way to the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah, the Spirit of God fell on him too; and he went on, prophesying, until he arrived at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. 24 He also stripped off his clothes, prophesied in Sh’mu’el’s presence and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Hence it continues to be an expression, “Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?”
1 From: Sha’ul, called by God’s will to be an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua; and from brother Sosthenes
2 To: God’s Messianic community in Corinth, consisting of those who have been set apart by Yeshua the Messiah and called to be God’s holy people — along with everyone everywhere who calls on the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, their Lord as well as ours:
3 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
4 I thank my God always for you because of God’s love and kindness given to you through the Messiah Yeshua, 5 in that you have been enriched by him in so many ways, particularly in power of speech and depth of knowledge. 6 Indeed, the testimony about the Messiah has become firmly established in you; 7 so that you are not lacking any spiritual gift and are eagerly awaiting the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 8 He will enable you to hold out until the end and thus be blameless on the Day of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah — 9 God is trustworthy: it was he who called you into fellowship with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.
10 Nevertheless, brothers, I call on you in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to agree, all of you, in what you say, and not to let yourselves remain split into factions but be restored to having a common mind and a common purpose. 11 For some of Chloe’s people have made it known to me, my brothers, that there are quarrels among you. 12 I say this because one of you says, “I follow Sha’ul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Kefa”; while still another says, “I follow the Messiah!” 13 Has the Messiah been split in pieces? Was it Sha’ul who was put to death on a stake for you? Were you immersed into the name of Sha’ul? 14 I thank God that I didn’t immerse any of you except Crispus and Gaius — 15 otherwise someone might say that you were indeed immersed into my name. 16 (Oh yes, I did also immerse Stephanas and his household; beyond that, I can’t remember whether I immersed anyone else.)
17 For the Messiah did not send me to immerse but to proclaim the Good News — and to do it without relying on “wisdom” that consists of mere rhetoric, so as not to rob the Messiah’s execution-stake of its power. 18 For the message about the execution-stake is nonsense to those in the process of being destroyed, but to us in the process of being saved it is the power of God. 19 Indeed, the Tanakh says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent.”[a]
20 Where does that leave the philosopher, the Torah-teacher, or any of today’s thinkers? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish? 21 For God’s wisdom ordained that the world, using its own wisdom, would not come to know him. Therefore God decided to use the “nonsense” of what we proclaim as his means of saving those who come to trust in it. 22 Precisely because Jews ask for signs and Greeks try to find wisdom, 23 we go on proclaiming a Messiah executed on a stake as a criminal! To Jews this is an obstacle, and to Greeks it is nonsense; 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this same Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom! 25 For God’s “nonsense” is wiser than humanity’s “wisdom.”
And God’s “weakness” is stronger than humanity’s “strength.” 26 Just look at yourselves, brothers — look at those whom God has called! Not many of you are wise by the world’s standards, not many wield power or boast noble birth. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the strong; 28 and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important; 29 so that no one should boast before God. 30 It is his doing that you are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and holiness and redemption as well! 31 Therefore — as the Tanakh says — “Let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai.”[b]
4 How the gold has lost its luster!
How the fine gold has changed!
How the stones of the sanctuary
lie scattered at every streetcorner!
2 The precious sons of Tziyon,
as precious as fine gold —
to think they are now worth no more
than clay jars made by a potter!
3 Even jackals bare their breasts
in order to nurse their young,
but the daughters of my people have become as cruel
as ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the baby at the breast
sticks to the roof of its mouth from thirst;
young children are begging for bread,
but no one is giving them any.
5 People who once ate only the best
lie dying in the streets;
those who were raised wearing purple
are clawing at piles of garbage.
6 For the offense of the daughter of my people
is greater than the sin of S’dom,
which was overthrown in an instant,
without a hand to help her.
7 Her princes were purer than snow;
they were whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than pink pearls,
as beautiful as sapphires.
8 Now their faces are blacker than coal;
in the streets they go unrecognized.
Their skin has shriveled over their bones
and become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off
than those who are dying from hunger;
since these waste away as if pierced through,
for lack of food from the fields.
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children;
their children became their food
when the daughter of my people was destroyed.
11 Adonai has finished with his fury,
he has poured out his blazing wrath;
he kindled a fire in Tziyon
that consumed its very foundations.
12 The kings of the earth could not believe,
neither could anyone living in the world,
that enemy or foe would ever enter
the gates of Yerushalayim.
13 It happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the offenses of her cohanim,
who, within her walls,
shed the blood of the righteous.
14 They wander in the streets like the blind;
they are so polluted with blood
that nobody is able
even to touch their clothing.
15 “Keep away! Unclean!” people shout at them,
“Keep away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
They flee, to wander here and there;
but no nation allows them to stay.
16 Adonai himself scattered them;
he will no longer look after them;
they had no respect for cohanim
and showed no kindness to the leaders.
17 As for us, our eyes are worn out
from looking in vain for help;
we kept on watching and watching
for a nation that couldn’t save us.
18 They keep dogging our steps,
so that we can’t go out in our streets.
Our end is near, our time is up;
yes, our end has come.
19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles in the sky.
They chased us over the mountains
and waylaid us in the desert.
20 Adonai’s anointed, our life-breath,
was caught in their pits;
though of him we had said, “Under his protection,
we can live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice, be glad, daughter of Edom,
who lives in the land of ‘Utz.
To you too the cup will pass;
you will get drunk and strip yourself naked!
22 Your offenses, daughter of Tziyon, are atoned for;
he will keep you in exile no longer.
Your offenses, daughter of Edom, he will punish;
he will expose your sins.
35 (0) By David:
(1) Adonai, oppose those who oppose me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Grasp your shield and protective gear,
and rise to my defense.
3 Brandish spear and battle-axe
against my pursuers;
let me hear you say,
“I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to confusion;
may those who are plotting harm for me
be repulsed and put to shame.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Adonai to drive them on.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Adonai to pursue them.
7 For unprovoked, they hid their net over a pit;
unprovoked, they dug it for me.
8 May destruction come over him unawares.
May the net he concealed catch himself;
may he fall into it and be destroyed.
9 Then I will be joyful in Adonai,
I will rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones will say,
“Who is like you?
Who can rescue the weak
from those stronger than they,
the poor and needy
from those who exploit them?”
11 Malicious witnesses come forward,
asking me things about which I know nothing.
12 They repay me evil for good;
it makes me feel desolate as a parent bereaved.
13 But I, when they were ill, wore sackcloth;
I put myself out and fasted;
I can pray that what I prayed for them
might also happen to me.
14 I behaved as I would for my friend or my brother;
I bent down in sorrow as if mourning my mother.
15 But when I stumble, they gather in glee;
they gather against me and strike me unawares;
they tear me apart unceasingly.
16 With ungodly mocking and grimacing,
they grind their teeth at me.
17 Adonai, how much longer will you look on?
Rescue me from their assaults,
save the one life I have from the lions!
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly,
I will give you praise among huge crowds of people.
19 Don’t let those who are wrongfully my enemies
gloat over me;
and those who hate me unprovoked —
don’t let them smirk at me.
20 For they don’t speak words of peace
but devise ways to deceive
the peaceful of the land.
21 They shout to accuse me, “Aha! Aha!
we saw you with our own eyes!”
22 You saw them, Adonai; don’t stay silent.
Adonai, don’t stay far away from me.
23 Wake up! Get up, my God, my Lord!
Defend me and my cause!
24 Give judgment for me, Adonai, my God,
as your righteousness demands.
Don’t let them gloat over me.
25 Don’t let them say to themselves,
“Aha! We got what we wanted!”
or say, “We swallowed them up!”
26 May those who gloat over my distress
be disgraced and humiliated.
May those who aggrandize themselves at my expense
be covered with shame and confusion.
27 But may those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad!
Let them say always, “How great is Adonai,
who delights in the peace of his servant!”
28 Then my tongue will tell of your righteousness
and praise you all day long.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.