M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

1 Sha’ul had died, and David had been two days in Ziklag after returning from the slaughter of the ‘Amaleki. ² On the third day, there came a man from Sha’ul’s camp with his clothes torn and earth on his head. He approached David, fell to the ground and prostrated himself. ³ David said to him, “Where are you coming from?” “I escaped from the camp of Isra’el,” he replied. ⁴ “Tell me, please, how did things go?” asked David. “The people have fled the battle,” he answered, “and many of them are wounded or dead. Sha’ul and Y’honatan his son are dead too.” ⁵ David asked the young man who had told him this, “How do you know that Sha’ul and Y’honatan his son are dead?” ⁶ The young man who had told him said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa when I saw Sha’ul leaning on his spear. The chariots and cavalry were bearing down on him. ⁷ He looked behind him, saw me and called to me. I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁸ He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ and I answered, ‘I’m an ‘Amaleki’ ⁹ He said to me, ‘I’m in agony, and I’m going to die, but I’m still alive. So please, stand next to me; and kill me.’ ¹⁰ So I stood next to him and killed him, because I was sure he was so badly wounded that he couldn’t live. I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”

¹¹ Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and likewise all the men who were with him. ¹² They wailed and cried, and they fasted until evening for Sha’ul, for Y’honatan his son, for Adonai’s people and for the house of Isra’el; because they had fallen by the sword.

¹³ David said to the young man who had told him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an ‘Amaleki.” ¹⁴ David asked him, “How is it that you weren’t afraid to raise your hand to destroy Adonai’s anointed?” ¹⁵ David called one of his young men and said, “Go over to him, and kill him.” The man struck him down, and he died. ¹⁶ David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head. Your own mouth convicted you when you said, ‘I killed Adonai’s anointed.’”

¹⁷ Then David pronounced this lament over Sha’ul and over Y’honatan his son, ¹⁸ in order to teach the people of Y’hudah [not to underestimate] archery (the lament has been written down in the book of Yashar):

12 But, brothers, I do not want you to go on being ignorant about the things of the Spirit. ² You know that when you were pagans, no matter how you felt you were being led, you were being led astray to idols, which can’t speak at all. ³ Therefore, I want to make it clear to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, “Yeshua is cursed!” and no one can say, “Yeshua is Lord,” except by the Ruach HaKodesh.

⁴ Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. ⁵ Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served. ⁶ And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone. ⁷ Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. ⁸ To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; ⁹ to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; ¹⁰ to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues. ¹¹ One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses. ¹² For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body; so it is with the Messiah. ¹³ For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴ For indeed the body is not one part but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I’m not a hand, so I’m not part of the body,” that doesn’t make it stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I’m not an eye, so I’m not part of the body,” that doesn’t make it stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If it were all hearing, how could it smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as he wanted them. ¹⁹ Now if they were all just one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ But as it is, there are indeed many parts, yet just one body. ²¹ So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you”; or the head to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²² On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be less important turn out to be all the more necessary; ²³ and upon body parts which we consider less dignified we bestow greater dignity; and the parts that aren’t attractive are the ones we make as attractive as we can, ²⁴ while our attractive parts have no need for such treatment. Indeed, God has put the body together in such a way that he gives greater dignity to the parts that lack it, ²⁵ So that there will be no disagreements within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others. ²⁶ Thus if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its happiness.

²⁷ Now you together constitute the body of the Messiah, and individually you are parts of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the Messianic Community first, emissaries; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those who work miracles; then those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help; those skilled in administration; and those who speak in various tongues. ²⁹ Not all are emissaries, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? or teachers? or miracle-workers? ³⁰ Not all have gifts of healing, not all speak in tongues, not all interpret, do they? ³¹ Eagerly seek the better gifts.

But now I will show you the best way of all.

10 Then I looked, and suddenly, on the dome over the heads of the k’ruvim, there appeared above them something like sapphire that seemed to take the form of a throne. ² He spoke to the man clothed in linen; he said, “Go in between the wheels under the k’ruvim, fill both your hands with fiery coals from between the k’ruvim, and throw them on the city.” As I watched, he went. ³ Now the k’ruvim were standing to the right of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ The glory of Adonai rose from above the keruv to the threshold of the house, leaving the house filled with the cloud and the courtyard full of the brilliance of Adonai’s glory. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the k’ruvim could be heard even in the outer courtyard sounding like the voice of God, Shaddai, when he speaks.

⁶ When he ordered the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the wheels, from between the k’ruvim, he went in and stood next to a wheel; ⁷ and a keruv put out his hand from between the k’ruvim into the fire between the k’ruvim, took some of it, and put it in the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸ Now there appeared among the k’ruvim the form of a man’s hand under their wings. ⁹ I looked and saw four wheels next to the k’ruvim, one wheel next to one keruv and another wheel next to another keruv: the wheels had the color of beryl. ¹⁰ Their shape was the same for all four, like a wheel inside a wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved; rather, wherever the head looked, they followed without turning as they moved. ¹² Their whole bodies, including their backs, hands and wings, and also the wheels, were full of eyes all around — even the wheels of the four k’ruvim. ¹³ As for the wheels, I heard them called “the wheel apparatus.” ¹⁴ Every one [of the k’ruvim] had four faces: the first face was the face of a keruv, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the k’ruvim rose. These were the living creatures I had seen by the K’var River. ¹⁶ When the k’ruvim moved, the wheels went with them; and when the k’ruvim lifted their wings to rise off the ground, these wheels did not stop going with them. ¹⁷ When [the k’ruvim] stood still, [the wheels] stood still; and when the former rose, the latter rose with them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

¹⁸ Now the glory of Adonai left the threshold of the house and halted above the k’ruvim. ¹⁹ The k’ruvim lifted their wings and rose off the earth — I was watching as they went off with the wheels next to them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of Adonai’s house, with the glory of the God of Isra’el over them, from above.

²⁰ This was the living creature I had seen beneath the God of Isra’el by the K’var River, so I knew they were k’ruvim. ²¹ Each of the four had four faces, and each had four wings, and what looked like a man’s hands was under their wings. ²² As for how their faces looked, they were the faces I had seen by the K’var River, identical in appearance. Each one moved straight ahead.