M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

21 In David’s time there was a famine that lasted three years, and David consulted Adonai. Adonai said, “It is because of Sha’ul and his bloodstained house, because he put to death the people of Giv‘on.” ² The king summoned the Giv‘onim and said to them — these Giv‘onim were not part of the people of Isra’el but from the remnant of the Emori; and the people of Isra’el had sworn to them; but Sha’ul, in his zeal for the people of Isra’el and Y’hudah, had sought to exterminate them — ³ David said to the Giv‘onim, “What should I do for you? With what should I make atonement, so that you will be able to bless Adonai’s heritage?” ⁴ The Giv‘onim said to him, “Our dispute with Sha’ul can’t be resolved with silver or gold; and we don’t have the right to put anyone in Isra’el to death.” He said, “So, what do you say that I should do for you?” ⁵ They answered the king, “The man who ruined us, who schemed against us so that we would cease to exist anywhere in Isra’el’s territory — ⁶ have seven of his male descendants handed over to us, and we will put them to death by hanging before Adonai in Giv‘ah of Sha’ul, whom Adonai chose.” The king said, “I will hand them over.” ⁷ But the king spared M’fivoshet, the son of Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul, because of the oath before Adonai between David and Y’honatan the son of Sha’ul. ⁸ The king took the two sons of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha’ul, Armoni and M’fivoshet; and the five sons of Mikhal the daughter of Sha’ul, whom she bore to Adri’el the son of Barzillai the Mecholati; ⁹ and handed them over to the Giv‘onim, who hanged them on the hill before Adonai. All seven died; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest season, at the beginning of the barley harvest. ¹⁰ Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth, spread it out toward a cliff for herself and stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until water was poured out on the bodies from the sky, not letting the birds land on them during the day or the wild animals at night.

¹¹ David was told what Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha’ul, had done. ¹² So David went and took the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son from the men of Yavesh-Gil‘ad, who had stolen them from the open square of Beit-Sh’an, where the P’lishtim had hanged them at the time the P’lishtim had killed Sha’ul at Gilboa; ¹³ and he brought up from there the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Y’honatan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. ¹⁴ Then they buried the bones of Sha’ul and Y’honatan his son in the territory of Binyamin in Tzela, in the tomb of Kish his father; they did everything the king ordered. Only after that was God prevailed on to show mercy to the land.

¹⁵ Once again the P’lishtim made war on Isra’el. David went down with his servants and fought against the P’lishtim, but David began to get tired. ¹⁶ Yishbi-B’nov, one of the sons of the giant, said that he would kill David; his spear weighed seven pounds, and he was wearing new armor. ¹⁷ But Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah came to David’s rescue by striking the P’lishti and killing him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must no longer go out with us to battle, in order not to quench the lamp of Isra’el.” ¹⁸ A while after this there was again war with the P’lishtim, at Gov. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Saf, one of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹ There was more war with the P’lishtim at Gov; and Elchanan the son of Ya‘arei-Orgim, the Beit-Lachmi, killed Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰ There was again war at Gat, where there was a belligerent man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in all — and he too was a son of the giant. ²¹ When he mocked Isra’el, Y’honatan the son of Shim‘ah David’s brother killed him. ²² These four were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.

1 From: Sha’ul, an emissary — I received my commission not from human beings or through human mediation but through Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — also from all the brothers with me

² To: The Messianic communities in Galatia:

³ Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father. ⁵ To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

⁶ I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah’s grace, and turn to some other supposedly “Good News,” ⁷ which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah. ⁸ But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! ⁹ We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces “Good News” contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!

¹⁰ Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God’s approval! Or that I’m trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.

¹¹ Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product; ¹² because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it — it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah. ¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism — how I did my best to persecute God’s Messianic Community and destroy it; ¹⁴ and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.

¹⁵ But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone; ¹⁷ and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek. ¹⁸ Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, ¹⁹ but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya‘akov the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!) ²¹ Next I went to Syria and Cilicia; ²² but in Y’hudah, the Messianic congregations didn’t even know what I looked like — ²³ they were only hearing the report, “The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy”; ²⁴ and they praised God for me.

28 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being, tell the prince of Tzor that Adonai Elohim says:

²⁰ The word of Adonai came to me: ²¹ “Human being, turn your face toward Tzidon, and prophesy against it. ²² Say that Adonai Elohim says:

²⁴ “‘The house of Isra’el will no longer have a briar pricking away at them, no longer will any of its contemptuous neighbors be a thorn to stab them. Then they will know that I am Adonai Elohim.’

²⁵ “Adonai Elohim says, ‘Once I have gathered the house of Isra’el from the peoples among whom they are scattered, once I have shown my holiness in them as the Goyim watch, then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Ya‘akov. ²⁶ They will have security when they live there, building houses and planting vineyards; yes, they will live in safety, once I have executed judgments against all their contemptuous neighbors. Then they will know that I am Adonai their God.’”