M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

23 David was told, “The P’lishtim are fighting Ke‘ilah and plundering the threshing-floors.” ² David consulted Adonai, asking, “Should I go and attack these P’lishtim?” Adonai answered David, “Go, and attack the P’lishtim, and save Ke‘ilah.” ³ David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re already afraid here in Y’hudah. How much more, then, if we go to Ke‘ilah to fight the armies of the P’lishtim!” ⁴ David consulted Adonai again; and Adonai answered him, “Set out, and go down to Ke‘ilah, because I will hand the P’lishtim over to you.” ⁵ David and his men went to Ke‘ilah and fought the P’lishtim. They defeated them in a great slaughter and led away their livestock. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Ke‘ilah.

⁶ When Avyatar the son of Achimelekh fled to David in Ke‘ilah, he had brought a ritual vest with him. ⁷ Now Sha’ul, on being informed that David had gone to Ke‘ilah, had said, “God has put him into my hands. He’s trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” ⁸ So Sha’ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke‘ilah and besiege David and his men. ⁹ David knew that Sha’ul was plotting something against him, so he told Avyatar the cohen, “Bring the ritual vest here.” ¹⁰ Then David said, “Adonai God of Isra’el, your servant has certainly heard that Sha’ul intends to come to Ke‘ilah and destroy the city just to get me. ¹¹ Will the men of Ke‘ilah turn me over to him? Will Sha’ul come down, as your servant has heard? Adonai God of Isra’el, please tell your servant!” Adonai said, “He will come down.” ¹² Then David asked, “Will the men of Ke‘ilah hand me and my men over to Sha’ul?” Adonai said, “They will hand you over.” ¹³ So David and his men, now around six hundred, got up, left Ke‘ilah and went wherever they could. It was told Sha’ul that David had escaped from Ke‘ilah, so he called off the expedition. ¹⁴ David stayed in the desert strongholds, remaining in the hills of the Zif Desert. Sha’ul kept trying to find him, but God did not hand him over to him.

¹⁵ David saw that Sha’ul had mounted another expedition to seek his life. David was then at Horesh in the Zif Desert. ¹⁶ Y’honatan Sha’ul’s son set out and went to David at Horesh to encourage him in God. ¹⁷ He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because my father’s forces will not find you; you will be king over Isra’el, and I will be second to you. Sha’ul my father knows this, too.” ¹⁸ Then the two of them made a covenant in the presence of Adonai, after which David stayed at Horesh and Y’honatan returned home.

¹⁹ The people of Zif came to Sha’ul in Giv‘ah and said, “David is hiding himself with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on Hakhilah Hill, south of Yeshimon. ²⁰ So now, king, since you’ve wanted so much to come down, come down! Our part will be to turn him over to you.” ²¹ Sha’ul said, “May Adonai bless you for showing me compassion! ²² Please go and make still more certain exactly where he is and who has seen him there, because I’ve been told that he’s very tricky. ²³ So look closely, find out where all his hiding-places are, and come back when you’re sure. Then I will go with you, and if he is there in that territory, I’ll search till I find him among all the thousands of Y’hudah.”

²⁴ They set out and went to Zif before Sha’ul. But David and his men had gone on to the Ma‘on Desert, in the ‘Aravah south of Yeshimon. ²⁵ Sha’ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma‘on Desert. When Sha’ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma‘on Desert. ²⁶ Sha’ul went along one side of the mountain, while David and his men went along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Sha’ul, while Sha’ul and his men were trying to surround David and his men in order to capture them. ²⁷ But then a messenger came to Sha’ul, saying, “Hurry, come, because the P’lishtim are invading the country!” ²⁸ So Sha’ul stopped chasing David and went to fight the P’lishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela-Hamachlekot [rock of divisions].

4 So, you should regard us as the Messiah’s servants, as trustees of God’s secret truths. ² Now the one thing that is asked of a trustee is that he be found trustworthy. ³ And it matters very little to me how I am evaluated by you or by any human court; in fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. ⁴ I am not aware of anything against me, but this does not make me innocent. The one who is evaluating me is the Lord. ⁵ So don’t pronounce judgment prematurely, before the Lord comes; for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness; he will expose the motives of people’s hearts; and then each will receive from God whatever praise he deserves.

⁶ Now in what I have said here, brothers, I have used myself and Apollos as examples to teach you not to go beyond what the Tanakh says, proudly taking the side of one leader against another. ⁷ After all, what makes you so special? What do you have that you didn’t receive as a gift? And if in fact it was a gift, why do you boast as if it weren’t? ⁸ You are glutted already? You are rich already? You have become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we might share the kingship with you! ⁹ For I think God has been placing us emissaries on display at the tail of the parade, like men condemned to die in the public arena: we have become a spectacle before the whole universe, angels as well as men. ¹⁰ For the Messiah’s sake we are fools, but united with the Messiah you are wise! We are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ Till this very moment we go hungry and thirsty, we are dressed in rags, we are treated roughly, we wander from place to place, ¹² we exhaust ourselves working with our own hands for our living. When we are cursed, we keep on blessing; when we are persecuted, we go on putting up with it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we continue making our appeal. We are the world’s garbage, the scum of the earth — yes, to this moment!

¹⁴ I am not writing you this to make you feel ashamed, but, as my dear children, to confront you and get you to change. ¹⁵ For even if you have ten thousand trainers in connection with the Messiah, you do not have many fathers; for in connection with the Messiah Yeshua it was I who became your father by means of the Good News. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you to imitate me. ¹⁷ This is why I have sent you Timothy, my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord. He will remind you of the way of life I follow in union with the Messiah Yeshua and teach everywhere in every congregation.

¹⁸ When I didn’t come to visit you, some of you became arrogant. ¹⁹ But I am coming to you soon, if the Lord wills; and I will take cognizance not of the talk of these arrogant people but of their power. ²⁰ For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power. ²¹ Which do you prefer — should I come to you with a stick? or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

2 He said to me, “Human being! Stand up! I want to speak with you!” ² As he spoke to me, a spirit entered me and put me on my feet, and I heard him who was speaking to me. ³ He said, “Human being! I am sending you to the people of Isra’el, that nation of rebels who have rebelled against me — they and their ancestors have been transgressing against me to this very day. ⁴ Because they are defiant, hardhearted children, I am sending you; and you are to tell them, ‘Here is what Adonai Elohim says.’ ⁵ Whether they listen or not, this rebellious house will still know that a prophet has been among them!

⁶ “As for you, human being, don’t be afraid of them or their words, even if briars and thorns surround you, and you sit among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words or be upset by their looks, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷ You are to speak my words to them, whether they listen or not, for they are very rebellious. ⁸ But you, human being, hear what I am telling you: don’t you be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat what I am about to give you.”

⁹ When I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me, holding a scroll. ¹⁰ He spread it out in front of me, and it was covered with writing front and back. Written on it were laments, dirges and woes.