M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

20 There happened to be there a scoundrel whose name was Sheva the son of Bikhri, a Binyamini. He sounded the shofar and said, “We have no share in David, no inheritance in the son of Yishai; so, Isra’el, every man to his tent!” ² All the men of Isra’el left off following David and went after Sheva the son of Bikhri. But the men of Y’hudah stuck with their king, from the Yarden to Yerushalayim.

³ When David arrived at his palace in Yerushalayim, the king took the ten women who were his concubines, whom he had left to care for the palace, and put them under guard. He provided for their needs but never slept with them again. They were kept in confinement until the day of their death, living like widows with their husband still alive.

⁴ The king said to ‘Amasa, “Summon the men of Y’hudah to come to me within three days; and you, be here too.” ⁵ ‘Amasa went to summon the men of Y’hudah but took longer than the time he had been given. ⁶ David said to Avishai, “Sheva the son of Bikhri is going to do us more harm than Avshalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he won’t take over fortified cities and escape us.” ⁷ With him went Yo’av’s men, the K’reti, the P’leti and all the experienced soldiers; they left Yerushalayim in pursuit of Sheva the son of Bikhri.

⁸ On arrival at the big rock in Giv‘on, ‘Amasa came to meet them. Yo’av was wearing his battle clothes, over which he had girded a belt with a sheathed sword; but as he came forward it fell out. ⁹ Yo’av said to ‘Amasa, “Is it going well with you, my brother? Then, with his right hand, Yo’av took ‘Amasa by the beard to kiss him. ¹⁰ ‘Amasa took no notice of the sword in Yo’av’s hand, so Yo’av stabbed him in the groin. His insides poured out on the ground, and he died without being stabbed a second time.

Yo’av and Avishai his brother continued in pursuit of Sheva the son of Bikhri. ¹¹ One of Yo’av’s young men standing by Yo’av said, “Whoever is on Yo’av’s side, whoever is for David — let him follow Yo’av.” ¹² ‘Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road; so that as the troops came up, they all halted there. When the man saw that all the people were standing still, he dragged ‘Amasa off the road into the field and threw a cloak over him. ¹³ Once he had been removed from the road, all the troops went on after Yo’av, to pursue Sheva the son of Bikhri.

¹⁴ Sheva went through all the tribes of Isra’el, to Avel and Beit-Ma‘akhah, and to all the Berim; they assembled and followed him. ¹⁵ Yo’av’s troops came and put him under siege in Avel of Beit-Ma‘akhah — they put up a ramp in the moat against the city wall; and all the people with Yo’av battered the wall in order to bring it down. ¹⁶ Then a wise woman in the city shouted, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Yo’av, ‘Come over here, so that I can speak with you.’” ¹⁷ He approached her, and the woman asked, “Are you Yo’av?” He answered, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to what your servant has to say.” He answered, “I’m listening.” ¹⁸ Then she said, “In the old days they used to say, ‘They will ask advice at Avel’; and that would end the discussion. ¹⁹ We are among those in Isra’el who are peaceful and faithful. Why are you destroying a city and a mother in Isra’el? Why swallow up the inheritance of Adonai?” ²⁰ Yo’av answered, “Heaven forbid! Heaven forbid that I should swallow or destroy anything! ²¹ That’s not how it is. Rather, a man from the hills of Efrayim, Sheva the son of Bikhri, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Just turn him over to me, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Yo’av, “All right, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman went to all the people with her wise plan. They cut off the head of Sheva the son of Bikhri and threw it out to Yo’av. So he sounded the shofar, and they left the city, sending each man to his tent; while Yo’av returned to the king in Yerushalayim.

²³ Once again Yo’av was commander over the whole army of Isra’el, while B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada was over the K’reti and P’leti, ²⁴ Adoram was in charge of forced labor, Y’hoshafat the son of Achilud was secretary of state, ²⁵ Sh’va was recorder, Tzadok and Evyatar were cohanim, ²⁶ and ‘Ira the Ya’iri was David’s cohen.

13 This will be the third time that I have come to visit you. Any charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{[a] 2} To those who sinned in the past and to the rest I say beforehand while absent the same thing I said when I was with you the second time: if I come again I will not spare you — ³ since you are looking for proof of the Messiah speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you. ⁴ For although he was executed on a stake in weakness, now he lives by God’s power. And we too are weak in union with him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God’s power.

⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? — unless you fail to pass the test. ⁶ But I hope you will realize that we are not failures. ⁷ And we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We are not concerned with our appearing successful, but with your doing what is right, even if we appear to be failures. ⁸ For we cannot act against the truth, only for it. ⁹ So we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong; indeed, what we pray for is that you become perfect. ¹⁰ I write these things while away from you, so that when I am with you I will not have to use my authority to deal sharply with you, for the Lord gave it to me for building up and not for tearing down.

¹¹ And now, brothers, shalom! Put yourselves in order, pay attention to my advice, be of one mind, live in shalom — and the God of love and shalom will be with you.

¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss.

¹³ All God’s people send greetings to you.

27 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “You, human being, raise this lament for Tzor; ³ say to Tzor, located at the gateways to the sea, merchant for peoples to many coastlands, that Adonai Elohim says:

¹² “‘Tarshish did business with you because of the quantity and variety of your resources; they exchanged silver, iron, tin and lead for your goods. ¹³ Greece, Tuval and Meshekh traded with you, exchanging slaves and articles of bronze for your wares. ¹⁴ The people of Togarmah traded for your merchandise with horses, horsemen and mules. ¹⁵ The men of D’dan traded with you. Many coastlands were your customers, giving you ivory tusks and ebony in payment. ¹⁶ Aram traded with you, because you were so wealthy; for your goods they exchanged green feldspar, purple stuff, embroidery, fine linen, coral and rubies. ¹⁷ Y’hudah and the land of Isra’el also traded with you, exchanging for your goods wheat from Minnit, millet, honey, olive oil and resin for healing. ¹⁸ Because you were so wealthy, with such a variety of valuable merchandise, Dammesek traded wine from Helbon and white wool with you. ¹⁹ V’dan and Yavan from Uzal traded ironwork, cassia and aromatic cane for your goods. ²⁰ D’dan traded with you for riding gear. ²¹ Arabia and all the princes of K’dar were your customers; for your goods they traded lambs, rams and goats. ²² The traders of Sh’va and Ra‘mah exchanged the best quality spices, all kinds of precious stones and gold for your goods. ²³ The merchants of Haran, Kaneh and ‘Eden, who traded also with Sh’va, Ashur and Kilmad, ²⁴ brought you in exchange for your goods rich clothes, cloaks made of blue material and embroidery, and cedar-lined chests filled with multicolored clothing and bound with cords. ²⁵ “Tarshish” ships transported your imports and exports.