M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Israel Fights Ammon and Syria

(2 Samuel 10.1-19)

19 Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king. ² David said, “Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son.” He sent some officials to Ammon to tell Hanun how sorry he was that his father had died.

But when David's officials arrived at Ammon, ³ the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you really believe King David is honoring your father by sending these men to comfort you? He probably sent them to spy on our country, so he can come and destroy it.”

⁴ Hanun arrested David's officials and had their beards shaved off and their robes cut off just below the waist, and then he sent them away. ⁵ They were terribly ashamed.

When David found out what had happened to his officials, he sent a message that told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back. Then you can come home.”

⁶ The Ammonites realized they had made David furious. So they paid 34 tons of silver to hire chariot troops from Mesopotamia and from the Syrian kingdoms of Maacah and Zobah. ⁷ Thirty-two thousand troops, as well as the king of Maacah and his army, came and camped near Medeba. The Ammonite troops also left their towns and came to prepare for battle.

⁸ David heard what was happening, and he sent out Joab with his army. ⁹ The Ammonite troops marched to the entrance of the city^[a] and prepared for battle, while the Syrian troops took their positions in the open fields.

¹⁰ Joab saw that the enemy troops were lined up on both sides of him. So he picked some of the best Israelite soldiers to fight the Syrians. ¹¹ Then he put his brother Abishai in command of the rest of the army and told them to fight against the Ammonites. ¹² Joab told his brother, “If the Syrians are too much for me to handle, come and help me. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I'll come and help you. ¹³ Be brave and fight hard to protect our people and the towns of our Lord God. I pray he will do whatever pleases him.”

¹⁴ Joab and his soldiers attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians ran from them. ¹⁵ When the Ammonite troops saw that the Syrians had run away, they ran from Abishai's soldiers and went back into their own city. Joab then returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ As soon as the Syrians realized they had been defeated, they sent for their troops that were stationed on the other side of the Euphrates River. Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer's army, led these troops to Ammon.

¹⁷ David found out what the Syrians were doing, and he brought Israel's entire army together. They crossed the Jordan River, and he commanded them to take their positions facing the Syrian troops.

Soon after the fighting began, ¹⁸ the Syrians ran from Israel. David killed 7,000 chariot troops and 40,000 regular soldiers. He also killed Shophach, their commander.

¹⁹ When the kings who had been under Hadadezer's rule saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with David and accepted him as their new ruler. The Syrians never helped the Ammonites again.

The End of the War with Ammon

(2 Samuel 11.1; 12.26-31)

20 ^(A) The next spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out in command of the Israelite army and destroyed towns all over the country of Ammon. He attacked the capital city of Rabbah and left it in ruins. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

² Later, David himself went to Rabbah, where he took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom.^[b] The crown was made of about 34 kilograms of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown,^[c] then carried off everything else of value. ³ He forced the people of Rabbah to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also did the same thing with the people in all the other Ammonite towns.

David then led Israel's army back to Jerusalem.

The Descendants of the Rephaim

(2 Samuel 21.15-22)

⁴ Some time later, Israel fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. During this battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim,^[d] and the Philistines were defeated.

^5 (B) In another battle against the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.^[e]

⁶ Another one of the Philistine soldiers who was a descendant of the Rephaim was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. During a battle at Gath, ⁷ he made fun of Israel, so David's nephew Jonathan^[f] killed him.

⁸ David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.

1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

To God's people who are scattered like foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

² God the Father decided to choose you as his people, and his Spirit has made you holy. You have obeyed Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood.^[a]

I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!

A Real Reason for Hope

³ Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. ^4 (A) God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

⁵ You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day.^[b] Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do. ⁶ On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. ^7 (B) Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.

⁸ You have never seen Jesus, and you don't see him now. But still you love him and have faith in him, and no words can tell how glad and happy ⁹ you are to be saved. This is why you have faith.

¹⁰ Some prophets told how God would treat you with undeserved grace, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. ¹¹ The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor. So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. ¹² But they were told that they were serving you and not themselves. They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.

Chosen To Live a Holy Life

¹³ Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how God will treat you with undeserved grace when Jesus Christ appears. ¹⁴ Behave like obedient children. Don't let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. ¹⁵ Always live as God's holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. ^16 (C) That's why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

¹⁷ You say that God is your Father, but God doesn't have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth. ¹⁸ You were rescued^[c] from the useless way of life you learned from your ancestors. But you know you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever. ^19 (D) You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. ²⁰ Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days. ²¹ And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. This is why you have put your faith and hope in God.

²² You obeyed the truth,^[d] and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. ²³ Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever. ^24 (E) The Scriptures say,

Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Once again the Lord told Jonah ² to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.

³ Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. ^4 (A) After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!”

⁵ They believed God's message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth.

⁶ When the king of Nineveh heard what was happening, he also dressed in sackcloth; he left the royal palace and sat in dust.^{[a] 7-9} Then he and his officials sent out an order for everyone in the city to obey. It said:

None of you or your animals may eat or drink a thing. Each of you must wear sackcloth, and you must even put sackcloth on your animals.

You must also pray to the Lord God with all your heart and stop being sinful and cruel. Maybe God will change his mind and have mercy on us, so we won't be destroyed.

¹⁰ When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.

Women Who Helped Jesus

8 Soon after this, Jesus was going through towns and villages, telling the good news about God's kingdom. His twelve apostles were with him, ^2 (A) and so were some women who had been healed of evil spirits and all sorts of diseases. One of the women was Mary Magdalene,^[a] who once had seven demons in her. ³ Joanna, Susanna, and many others had also used what they owned to help Jesus^[b] and his disciples. Joanna's husband Chuza was one of Herod's officials.^[c]

A Story about a Farmer

(Matthew 13.1-9; Mark 4.1-9)

⁴ When a large crowd from several towns had gathered around Jesus, he told them this story:

⁵ A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. While the farmer was doing this, some of the seeds fell along the road and were stepped on or eaten by birds. ⁶ Other seeds fell on rocky ground and started growing. But the plants did not have enough water and soon dried up. ⁷ Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ The rest of the seeds fell on good ground where they grew and produced a hundred times as many seeds.

When Jesus had finished speaking, he said, “If you have ears, pay attention!”

Why Jesus Used Stories

(Matthew 13.10-17; Mark 4.10-12)

⁹ Jesus' disciples asked him what the story meant. ^10 (B) So he answered:

I have explained the secrets about God's kingdom to you. But for others I use stories, so they will look, but not see, and they will hear, but not understand.

Jesus Explains the Story about a Farmer

(Matthew 13.18-23; Mark 4.13-20)

¹¹ This is what the story means: The seed is God's message, ¹² and the seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message. But the devil comes and snatches the message out of their hearts, so they will not believe and be saved. ¹³ The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it. But they don't have deep roots, and they believe only for a little while. As soon as life gets hard, they give up.

¹⁴ The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they are so eager for riches and pleasures that they never produce anything. ¹⁵ Those seeds that fell on good ground are the people who listen to the message and keep it in good and honest hearts. They last and produce a harvest.

Light

(Mark 4.21-25)

^16 (C) No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl or under a bed. A lamp is always put on a lampstand, so people who come into a house will see the light. ^17 (D) There is nothing hidden that will not be found. There is no secret that will not be well known. ^18 (E) Pay attention to how you listen! Everyone who has something will be given more, but people who have nothing will lose what little they think they have.

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

(Matthew 12.46-50; Mark 3.31-35)

¹⁹ Jesus' mother and brothers went to see him, but because of the crowd they could not get near him. ²⁰ Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.”

²¹ Jesus answered, “My mother and my brothers are those people who hear and obey God's message.”

A Storm

(Matthew 8.23-27; Mark 4.35-41)

²² One day, Jesus and his disciples got into a boat, and he said, “Let's cross the lake.”^[d] They started out, ²³ and while they were sailing across, he went to sleep.

Suddenly a storm struck the lake, and the boat started sinking. They were in danger. ²⁴ So they went to Jesus and woke him up, “Master, Master! We are about to drown!”

Jesus got up and ordered the wind and waves to stop. They obeyed, and everything was calm. ²⁵ Then Jesus asked the disciples, “Don't you have any faith?”

But they were frightened and amazed. They said to each other, “Who is this? He can give orders to the wind and the waves, and they obey him!”

A Man with Demons in Him

(Matthew 8.28-34; Mark 5.1-20)

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples sailed across Lake Galilee and came to shore near the town of Gerasa.^{[e] 27} As Jesus was getting out of the boat, he was met by a man from this town. The man had demons in him. He had gone naked for a long time and no longer lived in a house, but in the graveyard.^[f]

²⁸ The man saw Jesus and screamed. He knelt down in front of him and shouted, “Jesus, Son of God Most High, what do you want with me? I beg you not to torture me!” ²⁹ He said this because Jesus had already told the evil spirit to go out of him.

The man had often been attacked by the demon. And even though he had been bound with chains and leg irons and kept under guard, he smashed whatever bound him. Then the demon would force him out into lonely places.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, “What is your name?”

He answered, “My name is Lots.” He said this because there were “lots” of demons in him. ³¹ They begged Jesus not to send them to the deep pit,^[g] where they would be punished.

³² A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and Jesus let them go. ³³ Then the demons left the man and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When the men taking care of the pigs saw this, they ran to spread the news in the town and on the farms. ³⁵ The people went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they also found the man. The demons had gone out of him, and he was sitting there at the feet of Jesus. He had clothes on and was in his right mind. But the people were terrified.

³⁶ Then all who had seen the man healed told about it. ³⁷ Everyone from around Gerasa^[h] begged Jesus to leave, because they were so frightened.

When Jesus got into the boat to start back, ³⁸ the man who had been healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him off and said, ³⁹ “Go back home and tell everyone how much God has done for you.” The man then went all over town, telling everything that Jesus had done for him.

A Dying Girl and a Sick Woman

(Matthew 9.18-26; Mark 5.21-43)

⁴⁰ Everyone had been waiting for Jesus, and when he came back, a crowd was there to welcome him. ⁴¹ Just then the man in charge of the synagogue came and knelt down in front of Jesus. His name was Jairus, and he begged Jesus to come to his home ⁴² because his twelve-year-old child was dying. She was his only daughter.

While Jesus was on his way, people were crowding all around him. ⁴³ In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors,^[i] but none of them could make her well.

⁴⁴ As soon as she came up behind Jesus and barely touched his clothes, her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

While everyone was denying it, Peter said, “Master, people are crowding all around and pushing you from every side.”^[j]

⁴⁶ But Jesus answered, “Someone touched me, because I felt power going out from me.” ⁴⁷ The woman knew that she could not hide, so she came trembling and knelt down in front of Jesus. She told everyone why she had touched him and that she had been healed at once.

⁴⁸ Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace!”

⁴⁹ While Jesus was speaking, someone came from Jairus' home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?”

⁵⁰ When Jesus heard this, he told Jairus, “Don't worry! Have faith, and your daughter will get well.”

⁵¹ Jesus went into the house, but he did not let anyone else go with him, except Peter, John, James, and the girl's father and mother. ⁵² Everyone was crying and weeping for the girl. But Jesus said, “The child isn't dead. She is just asleep.” ⁵³ The people laughed at him because they knew she was dead.

⁵⁴ Jesus took hold of the girl's hand and said, “Child, get up!” ⁵⁵ She came back to life and got right up. Jesus told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were surprised, but Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.