M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Philistines Capture the Ark
4 What Samuel had to say was directed to all Israel, and Israel went out to engage the Philistines in battle. The Israelis[a] were camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines were camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.
3 When the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord defeat us today when we fought the Philistines? Let’s take the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so it[b] may go with us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent word[c] to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above[d] the cherubim.
Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a great shout and the earth reverberated! 6 When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they asked, “What is this noise coming from shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” Then they realized that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7 and the Philistines were terrified. “God has come[e] into the camp,” they said. “How terrible for us, because nothing like this has ever happened before! 8 How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. 9 Philistines, be strong and be men, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews just as they have been slaves to you! Be men and fight!”
10 The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; each of them fled to his own tent. It was a very great slaughter, and 30,000 soldiers of Israel died. 11 The Ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, died.
The Death of Eli
12 That very same day, a man who was a descendant of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh, with his garments torn and dirt on his head. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting there on a seat beside the road, watching because his heart trembled for the Ark of God. The man went into the town to give the report, and the whole town cried out. 14 Eli heard the sound of the cry and asked, “What is the meaning[f] of this commotion?” Then the man quickly came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was 98 years old, and his vision had failed.[g]
16 The man told Eli, “I’ve just come from the battle line, and I escaped from the battle today.”
He asked, “What happened, my son?”
17 The messenger answered, “Israel fled from the Philistines and the people suffered a great defeat as well. Moreover, your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead, and the Ark of God was captured.”
18 When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli[h] fell off the seat backwards by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, since he was old and heavy. Eli had judged Israel for 40 years.
Ichabod is Born
19 Eli’s[i] daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and ready to give birth. When she heard the report about the capture of the Ark of God and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, because her labor pains suddenly began. 20 As she was about to die, the women standing around her said, “Don’t be afraid! You’ve given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay attention. 21 She had named the boy Ichabod,[j] saying, “Glory has departed from Israel,” because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead.[k] 22 She said, “Glory has departed from Israel, because the Ark of God has been captured.”
The Example of Abraham
4 What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor? 2 For if Abraham was justified by actions, he would have had something to boast about—though not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to someone who works, wages are not considered a gift but an obligation. 5 However, to someone who does not work, but simply believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 Likewise, David also speaks of the blessedness of the person whom God regards as righteous apart from actions:
7 “How blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered!
8 How blessed is the person whose sins
the Lord[b] will never charge against him!”[c]
9 Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.”[d] 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? He had not yet been circumcised, but was uncircumcised. 11 Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them. 12 He is also the ancestor of the circumcised—those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Promise Comes through Faith
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith. 14 For if those who were given the Law[e] are the heirs, then faith is useless and the promise is worthless, 15 for the Law produces wrath. Now where there is no Law, neither can there be any violation of it.
16 Therefore, the promise[f] is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham’s[g] descendants—not only for those who were given the Law,[h] but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 17 As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.”[i] Abraham[j] acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. 18 Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,”[k] just as he had been told:[l] “This is how many descendants you will have.”[m] 19 His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already[n] as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah’s inability to have children, 20 nor did he doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, his faith became stronger and he gave glory to God, 21 being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”[o]
23 Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for him 24 but also for us. Our faith will be regarded in the same way,[p] if we believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was sentenced to death because of our sins and raised to life to justify us.
Jeremiah Asked to Pray for the People
42 Then all the military leaders, Kareah’s son Jonathan, Hoshaiah’s son Jezaniah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah.[a] 2 They told Jeremiah the prophet, “Please listen to what we have to ask of you. Pray to the Lord your God for us and for all these survivors. Indeed, only a few of us remain out of many, as you can see.[b] 3 Pray that the Lord your God may inform us as to how we should live[c] and what we should do.”
4 Jeremiah the prophet told them, “I’ve heard, and I’m going to pray to the Lord your God just as you have requested. Whatever the Lord answers, I’ll tell you. I won’t withhold anything from you.”
5 Then they told Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t do everything that the Lord your God tells us through you.[d] 6 Whether it seems good or bad, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we send you, so it may go well for us. Indeed, we will obey the Lord our God.”
The Lord’s Answer through Jeremiah
7 At the end of ten days a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 So he called Kareah’s son Jonathan, all the military leaders who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest. 9 He told them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, to whom you sent me to take your request:
10 ‘If you will just remain in this land, I’ll build you up and not pull you down. I’ll plant you and not uproot you, for I’m sorry about the disaster I’ve brought on you. 11 Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon as you have been.[e] Don’t fear him,’ declares the Lord, ‘because I am with you to save you and deliver you from his control. 12 I’ll show you compassion, so he will have compassion on you and return you to your land. 13 But if you disobey the Lord your God by saying, “We won’t stay in this land,” 14 and you also say, “No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we won’t see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or hunger for bread, and there we will stay,” 15 then hear this message from the Lord, remnant of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: “If you are really determined[f] to go into Egypt, and you go there to settle, 16 the sword that you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine that you dread will pursue you into Egypt, and there you will die. 17 All the people who are determined to go into Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague. No one will survive the disaster that I’ll bring on them.” 18 For this is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, ridicule, and scorn, and you will never again see this place.’ 19 The Lord has told you, remnant of Judah, ‘Don’t go to Egypt!’ So be fully aware that I’ve warned you, today, 20 that you have deceived yourselves. Indeed, you yourselves sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord your God for us, and whatever the Lord our God tells us we will do.’ 21 I’ve told you today, but you haven’t obeyed the Lord your God in all that he sent me to tell[g] you. 22 Now, be fully aware that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague in the place where you want to settle.”[h]
To the Director: By the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
Gratitude for Victory
18 He said:
“I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God,
my stronghold[a] in whom I take refuge, my shield, the glory[b]
of my salvation, and my high tower.”
3 I cried out to the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I was delivered from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the rivers of Belial[c] made me afraid.
5 The cords of Sheol[d] surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I cried to the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his Temple he heard my voice;
my cry reached his ears.
7 The world shook and trembled;
the foundations of the mountains quaked,
they shook because he was angry.
8 In his anger smoke poured out of his nostrils,
and consuming fire from his mouth;
coals were lit from it.
9 He bent the sky and descended,
and darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew;
he soared upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his hiding place,
his canopy surrounding him was dark waters and thick clouds.
12 The brightness before him scattered the thick clouds,
with hail stones and flashes of fire.
13 Then the Lord thundered in[e] the heavens,
and the Most High sounded aloud,
calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.[f]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
with many lightning bolts he frightened them.
15 Then the channels of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were uncovered
because of your rebuke, Lord,
because of the blast from the breath of your nostrils.
16 He reached down and took me;
he drew me from many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemies,
from those who hated me because
they were stronger than I.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out to a spacious place;
he delivered me, for in me he takes delight.
God’s Reward to the Righteous
20 The Lord will reward me because I am righteous;
because my hands are clean he will restore me;
21 because I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and I have not wickedly departed from my God;
22 because all his judgments were always before me,
and I did not cast off his statutes.
23 I was upright[g] before him,
and I kept myself from iniquity.
24 So the Lord restored me according to my righteousness,
because my hands were clean in his sight.
25 To the holy, you show your gracious love,
to the upright, you show yourself upright;
26 to the pure, you show yourself pure,
and to the morally corrupt, you appear to be perverse.
27 Indeed, you deliver the oppressed,[h]
but you bring down those who exalt themselves
in their own eyes.
28 For you, Lord, make my lamp shine;
my God enlightens my darkness.
29 With your help[i] I will run through an army,
with help from[j] my God I leap over walls.
30 As for God, his way is upright;[k]
the word of God is pure;
he is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.
The Acts of God for the Righteous
31 For who is God but the Lord,
and who is a Rock other than our God?—
32 the God who clothes me with strength,
and who makes my way upright;[l]
33 who makes my feet swift as the deer;
who makes me stand on high places;
34 who teaches my hands to make war,
and my arms to bend a bronze bow.
35 You have given to me the shield of your deliverance,
and your right hand holds me up;
your gentleness made me great.
36 You make a broad place for my steps,
so my feet[m] won’t slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn around until they were utterly defeated.
38 I struck them down,
so they are not able to rise up;
they fell under my feet.
39 You clothed me with strength for war;
you will subdue under me those who rise up against me.
40 You have made my enemies turn their back to me,
and I will destroy those who hate me.
41 They cried out for deliverance,
but there was no one to deliver;
they cried out[n] to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I ground them like wind-swept dust;
I emptied them out[o] like dirt in the street.
43 You rescued me from conflict with the people;
you made me head of the nations.
People who did not know me will serve me.
44 When they hear of me,[p] they will obey me;
foreigners will submit to me.
45 Foreigners will wilt away;
they will come trembling out of their stronghold.
46 The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
May the God of my deliverance be exalted!
47 He is the God who executes vengeance on my behalf;
who destroys peoples under me;
48 who delivers me from my enemies.
Truly you will exalt me above those who oppose me;
you will deliver me from the violent person.
49 Therefore, I will give thanks to you among the nations, Lord;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 He is the one who gives victories to his king;
who shows gracious love to his anointed,
to David and his seed forever.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.