M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 6
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem. 1 (A)David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in number. 2 Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name “the Lord of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”(B) 3 They transported the ark of God on a new cart and took it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,(C) 4 with Ahio walking before it, 5 while David and all the house of Israel danced before the Lord with all their might, with singing, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.(D) 6 As they reached the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah stretched out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were tipping it. 7 Then the Lord became angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there in God’s presence. 8 David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah. Therefore that place has been called Perez-uzzah[a] even to this day. 9 David became frightened of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” 10 So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David. David deposited it instead at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.(E) 12 (F)When it was reported to King David that the Lord had blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he possessed because of the ark of God, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with joy.(G) 13 As soon as the bearers of the ark of the Lord had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14 Then David came dancing before the Lord with abandon, girt with a linen ephod.[b](H) 15 David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and sound of horn. 16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her window, and when she saw King David jumping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. 17 (I)They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then David sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings before the Lord. 18 When David had finished sacrificing burnt offerings and communion offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, 19 and distributed among all the people, the entire multitude of Israel, to every man and every woman, one loaf of bread, one piece of meat, and one raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.
20 [c]When David went home to bless his own house,(J) Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, “How well the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might expose himself!” 21 But David replied to Michal: “I was dancing before the Lord. As the Lord lives, who chose me over your father and all his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the Lord,(K) 22 but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your eyes, but in the eyes of the slave girls you spoke of I will be somebody.” 23 Saul’s daughter Michal was childless to the day she died.
VI. Conclusion
Chapter 16
The Collection.[a] 1 Now in regard to the collection[b] for the holy ones, you also should do as I ordered the churches of Galatia.(A) 2 On the first day of the week each of you should set aside and save whatever he can afford, so that collections will not be going on when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I shall send those whom you have approved with letters of recommendation to take your gracious gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems fitting that I should go also,[c] they will go with me.
Paul’s Travel Plans.[d] 5 I shall come to you after I pass through Macedonia (for I am going to pass through Macedonia),(B) 6 and perhaps I shall stay or even spend the winter with you, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, but I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.(C) 8 [e]I shall stay in Ephesus(D) until Pentecost, 9 because a door has opened for me wide and productive for work, but there are many opponents.(E)
10 If Timothy comes, see that he is without fear in your company, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am.(F) 11 Therefore, no one should disdain him. Rather, send him on his way in peace that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. 12 Now in regard to our brother Apollos, I urged him strongly to go to you with the brothers, but it was not at all his will that he go now. He will go when he has an opportunity.(G)
Exhortation and Greetings. 13 Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Your every act should be done with love.
15 I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas(H) is the firstfruits of Achaia and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the holy ones— 16 be subordinate to such people and to everyone who works and toils with them. 17 I rejoice in the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, because they made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such people.(I)
19 [f]The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca together with the church at their house send you many greetings in the Lord.(J) 20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.(K)
21 I, Paul, write you this greeting in my own hand.(L) 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.[g] Marana tha.(M) 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.(N) 24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 14
Idolatry and Unfaithfulness. 1 Some elders of Israel came and sat down before me.(A) 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Son of man, these men keep the memory of their idols alive in their hearts, setting the stumbling block of their sin before them. Should I allow myself to be consulted by them? 4 Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord God: If any of the house of Israel who keep the memory of their idols in their hearts, setting the stumbling block of their sin before them, come to a prophet, I the Lord will answer in person because of their many idols, 5 in order to catch the hearts of the house of Israel, estranged from me because of all their idols.
6 Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Return, turn away from your idols; from all your abominations, turn your faces.(B) 7 For if anyone of the house of Israel or any alien residing in Israel who are estranged from me and who keep their idols in their hearts, setting the stumbling block of their sin before them, come to ask a prophet to consult me on their behalf, I the Lord will answer them in person. 8 I will set my face against them and make them a sign and a byword, and cut them off from the midst of my people. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
9 (C)As for the prophet, if he speaks a deceiving word, I the Lord am the one who deceives that prophet.[a] I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 They will be punished for their own sins, the inquirer and the prophet alike, 11 so that the house of Israel may no longer stray from me, no longer defile themselves by all their sins. Then they shall be my people, and I shall be their God—oracle of the Lord God.
Just Cause.[b] 12 The word of the Lord came to me: 13 (D)Son of man, if a land sins against me by breaking faith, and I stretch out my hand against it, breaking its staff of bread and setting famine loose upon it, cutting off from it human being and beast alike— 14 even if these three were in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job,[c] they could only save themselves by their righteousness—oracle of the Lord God.(E) 15 If I summoned wild beasts to prowl the land, depopulating it so that it became a wasteland which no one would cross because of the wild beasts,(F) 16 and these three were in it, as I live—oracle of the Lord God—I swear they could save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would become a wasteland.(G) 17 Or if I bring the sword upon this land, commanding the sword to pass through the land cutting off from it human being and beast alike,(H) 18 and these three were in it, as I live—oracle of the Lord God—they could save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved. 19 Or if I send plague into this land, pouring out upon it my bloody wrath, cutting off from it human being and beast alike, 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live—oracle of the Lord God—they could save neither son nor daughter; they would save only themselves by their righteousness.
21 Thus says the Lord God: Even though I send against Jerusalem my four evil punishments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—to cut off from it human being and beast alike,(I) 22 there will still be some survivors in it who will bring out sons and daughters. When they come out to you and you see their ways and their deeds, you shall be consoled regarding the evil I brought on Jerusalem, everything I brought upon it. 23 They shall console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that not without reason did I do to it everything I did—oracle of the Lord God.(J)
Psalm 55[a]
A Lament over Betrayal
1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
I
2 Listen, God, to my prayer;(A)
do not hide from my pleading;
3 hear me and give answer.
I rock with grief; I groan
4 at the uproar of the enemy,
the clamor of the wicked.
They heap trouble upon me,
savagely accuse me.
5 My heart pounds within me;
death’s terrors fall upon me.
6 Fear and trembling overwhelm me;
shuddering sweeps over me.
7 I say, “If only I had wings like a dove
that I might fly away and find rest.(B)
8 Far away I would flee;
I would stay in the desert.(C)
Selah
9 “I would soon find a shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”
II
10 Lord, check and confuse their tongues.
For I see violence and strife in the city
11 making rounds on its walls day and night.
Within are mischief and trouble;
12 treachery is in its midst;
oppression and fraud never leave its streets.(D)
13 For it is not an enemy that reviled me—
that I could bear—
Not a foe who viewed me with contempt,
from that I could hide.
14 But it was you, my other self,
my comrade and friend,(E)
15 You, whose company I enjoyed,
at whose side I walked
in the house of God.
III
16 Let death take them;
let them go down alive to Sheol,(F)
for evil is in their homes and bellies.
17 But I will call upon God,
and the Lord will save me.
18 At dusk, dawn, and noon
I will grieve and complain,
and my prayer will be heard.(G)
19 He will redeem my soul in peace
from those who war against me,
though there are many who oppose me.
20 God, who sits enthroned forever,(H)
will hear me and afflict them.
Selah
For they will not mend their ways;
they have no fear of God.
21 He stretched out his hand at his friends
and broke his covenant.
22 Softer than butter is his speech,
but war is in his heart.
Smoother than oil are his words,
but they are unsheathed swords.(I)
23 Cast your care upon the Lord,
who will give you support.
He will never allow
the righteous to stumble.(J)
24 But you, God, will bring them down
to the pit of destruction.(K)
These bloodthirsty liars
will not live half their days,
but I put my trust in you.(L)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.