M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David learns of Saul’s death

1 After Saul’s death, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, he stayed in Ziklag two days. ² On the third day, a man showed up from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. When he reached David, he fell to the ground, bowing low out of respect.

³ “Where have you come from?” David asked him.

“I’ve escaped from the Israelite army!” he answered.

⁴ “What’s the report?” David asked him. “Tell me!”

The man answered, “The troops fled from the battle! Many of the soldiers have fallen and died. What’s more, Saul and his son Jonathan have also died!”

⁵ “How do you know,” David asked the young man who brought the news, “that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

⁶ The young man who brought the news replied, “I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and Saul was there, leaning on his spear, with chariots and horsemen closing in on him. ⁷ He turned around and saw me, then he called to me. ‘Yes, sir,’ I answered. ⁸ ‘Who are you?’ he asked, and I told him, ‘I’m an Amalekite.’ ⁹ He said to me, ‘Please come over here and kill me, because convulsions have come over me but I’m still alive.’^{[a] 10} So I went over to him and killed him, because I knew he couldn’t survive after being wounded like that. I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and I’ve brought them here to you, my master.”

¹¹ Then David grabbed his clothes and ripped them—and all his soldiers did the same. ¹² They mourned and cried and fasted until evening for Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord’s army, and the whole house of Israel, because they had died by the sword.

¹³ “Where are you from?” David asked the young man who brought him the news.

“I’m the son of an immigrant,” he answered. “An Amalekite.”

¹⁴ Then David said to him, “How is it that you weren’t afraid to raise your hand and destroy the Lord’s anointed?” ¹⁵ Then David called for one of the young servants. “Come here!” he said. “Strike him down!” So the servant struck the Amalekite down, and he died.

¹⁶ “Your blood is on your own head,” David said to the Amalekite, “because your own mouth testified against you when you admitted, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”

David mourns Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷ Then David sang this funeral song^[b] for Saul and his son Jonathan. ¹⁸ David ordered everyone in Judah to learn the Song of the Bow.^[c] (In fact, it is written in the scroll from Jashar.)

Spiritual gifts

12 Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. ² You know that when you were Gentiles you were often misled by false gods that can’t even speak. ³ So I want to make it clear to you that no one says, “Jesus is cursed!” when speaking by God’s Spirit, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴ There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are different ministries and the same Lord; ⁶ and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. ⁷ A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. ⁸ A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, ⁹ faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, ¹⁰ performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues^[a] to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another. ¹¹ All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.

¹² Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. ¹³ We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? ¹⁶ If the ear says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God has placed each one of the parts in the body just like he wanted. ¹⁹ If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? ²⁰ But as it is, there are many parts but one body. ²¹ So the eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²² Instead, the parts of the body that people think are the weakest are the most necessary. ²³ The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we honor the most. The private parts of our body that aren’t presentable are the ones that are given the most dignity. ²⁴ The parts of our body that are presentable don’t need this. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the part with less honor ²⁵ so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. ²⁷ You are the body of Christ and parts of each other. ²⁸ In the church, God has appointed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, the ability to help others, leadership skills, different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All aren’t apostles, are they? All aren’t prophets, are they? All aren’t teachers, are they? All don’t perform miracles, do they? ³⁰ All don’t have gifts of healing, do they? All don’t speak in different tongues, do they? All don’t interpret, do they? ³¹ Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an even better way.

10 At that moment I saw a form of a throne in the dome above the heads of the winged creatures. It appeared above them, and it looked like lapis lazuli. ² He said to the man clothed in linen: Go in between the wheels under the winged creatures.^[a] Fill your hands with fiery coals from between the winged creatures, and scatter them over the city. As I watched, he went in. ³ Now the winged creatures were standing to the right of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the Lord’s glory rose from above the winged creatures^[b] and moved toward the temple’s threshold. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. ⁵ The sound of the winged creatures’ wings could be heard as far as the outer courtyard. It was like the sound of God Almighty^[c] when he speaks. ⁶ When he instructed the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the winged creatures and their wheels, the man went and stood next to the wheel. ⁷ Then one of the winged creatures stretched a hand between the winged creatures into the fire that was between them, and he drew out some of it and set it in the palm of the one clothed in linen. He took it and went out. ⁸ It appeared that the winged creatures had the form of a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Suddenly, I saw four wheels next to the winged creatures. There was a wheel next to each winged creature, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling topaz. ¹⁰ It appeared that there was one shape for all four of them, as if one wheel were inside another. ¹¹ When they moved in any of the four directions, they moved without swerving. Whichever way the leading one faced, they moved in that direction without swerving. ¹² Their whole body—backs, hands, and wings—as well as their wheels, all four of them, were covered with eyes all around. ¹³ It was these wheels that were called “the wheels” in my hearing. ¹⁴ Each winged creature had four faces. The first face was that of a winged creature, the second face was that of a human being, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle. ¹⁵ The winged creatures rose up, the same creatures that I had seen at the Chebar River. ¹⁶ When the winged creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the winged creatures lifted their wings to ascend above the earth, the wheels remained beside them without swerving. ¹⁷ When they stood still, the wheels stood still; when they rose up, they rose up with them, because the spirit^[d] of the living creatures was in them. ¹⁸ Then the Lord’s glory went out from above the temple’s threshold and it stood over the winged creatures. ¹⁹ While I watched, the winged creatures raised their wings and rose from the ground to leave, with their wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the temple, and the glory of Israel’s God was up above them. ²⁰ These were the same living creatures that I saw underneath Israel’s God at the Chebar River, and I realized that they were winged creatures. ²¹ Each had four faces and four wings, with the form of a human hand under their wings. ²² The forms of their faces were the same faces that I saw at the Chebar River. Their appearance was also the same. All four of them moved straight ahead.

Psalm 49

For the music leader. A psalm of the Korahites.