M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials that they should kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan had great admiration and respect for David. 2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul wants to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Settle down in a hiding place and conceal yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you. I will see what the situation is, and I will tell you.”
4 Jonathan spoke favorably about David to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and his actions have served you very well. 5 He took his life into his hands when he struck the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and you celebrated. Why then would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?”
6 Saul listened to the advice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him about all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served in his presence as he had before.
8 Later, war broke out again. David went out and fought against the Philistines and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and they fled from him.
9 An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the lyre. 10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but David evaded Saul’s attempt, and Saul’s spear stuck in the wall. That night David fled and successfully escaped.
11 Saul sent messengers to watch David’s house and to kill him in the morning, but David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not do something to save your life tonight, by tomorrow you will be put to death.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window. He took off, got away, and escaped. 13 Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed. She put something made of goat hair on its head and covered the statue with clothing. 14 When Saul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He is sick.”
15 So Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him to me on the bed, so I can kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, they saw that the idol was in the bed with the goat hair on its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?”
Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I have to kill you?’”
18 So David ran away and successfully escaped.
David’s Flight From Saul
David came to Samuel at Ramah and told him about everything that Saul had done to him. So he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. 19 Saul was told, “Look, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
20 Saul sent messengers to seize David, but when they saw an assembly[a] of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. 21 When Saul was told about it, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied.
22 Then Saul himself went to Ramah and came to the large cistern at Seku. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
Someone told him, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.”
23 So Saul headed for Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God came on him also, and he walked along prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He also stripped off his clothing and prophesied in the presence of Samuel. He fell down and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Therefore it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Greeting and Reminder of Blessings in Christ
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth—those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are called as saints—along with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. 5 You were enriched in him in every way, in all your speaking and all your knowledge, 6 because the testimony about Christ was established in you. 7 As a result you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Christ Is the Answer to the Problem of Divisions
10 Brothers,[a] I am making an appeal to you using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I ask that you all express the same view and not have any divisions among you, but that you be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For the news I heard about you, my brothers, from members of Chloe’s household, is that there are rivalries among you. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,”[b] or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that I baptized you into my own name. 16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides them, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—not with the wisdom used in speeches, so that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.
God’s Way of Saving People Seems Foolish to Some
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 19 In fact, it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nothing.[c]
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age? Has God not shown that the wisdom of this world[d] is foolish? 21 Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message. 22 Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 We preach Christ crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For example, consider your call, brothers. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view, not many were powerful, and not many were born with high status. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong, 28 and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and[e] the things that are not, to do away with the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before God. 30 But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God, namely, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31 God did this so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”[f]
Gloom Settles on the City[a]
4 How dull the gold has become! How the fine gold has lost its shimmer!
Sacred stones are poured out at the corner of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, who were worth their weight in gold,
now are treated like clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer a breast and nurse their young,
but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 The baby’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst.
Children ask for bread, but no one shares with them.
5 Those who ate delicacies have become desolate in the streets.
Those who were dressed in scarlet have embraced piles of trash.
6 The guilt of the daughter of my people was greater than the sin of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment, though no hands turned against her.
7 Her consecrated ones[b] were brighter than snow. They were whiter than milk.
Their bones were redder than rubies; their facets shined like sapphires.
8 Now their faces have become the darkest black. They cannot be recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It is as dry as a stick of wood.
9 Those cut down by the sword are better off than those cut down by hunger,
those who waste away, pierced with pain, with no crops to eat from the field.
10 The hands of compassionate women boiled their children.
Their children became their food when the daughter of my people was broken.
11 The Lord carried out his wrath. He poured out his burning anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth and the world’s inhabitants never believed
that foe and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 The reason this happened was the sin of her prophets and the guilt of her priests,
who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.
14 Those blind men staggered in the streets. They were defiled with blood,
so people could not touch their garments.
15 “Go away! Unclean!” people shouted to them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch us!”
When they fled, when they staggered, people among the nations said,
“They may not stay here anymore.”
16 The face of the Lord scattered them. He has no regard for them anymore.
Priests were shown no consideration. Elders were shown no favor.
17 Our eyes are still worn out, looking in vain for our help.
In our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunted our steps, preventing us from going into the public squares of our city.
Our end has drawn near. Our days are finished, for our end has come.
19 Our pursuers were faster than eagles in the sky.
On the mountains they were in hot pursuit of us. In the wilderness they waited to ambush us.
20 The life breath for our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,[c] was caught in their pits.
We had said of him, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz.
A cup will also come to you. You will become drunk and naked.
22 The punishment for your guilt is finished, daughter of Zion. He will not send you into exile again.
Daughter of Edom, he punishes your guilt. He reveals your sins.
Psalm 35
David’s Defender
Heading
By David.
Opening Prayer
1 Lord, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Put on your armor and shield.[a]
Rise up to help me.
3 Wield a spear and block the way[b] of those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
First Petition
4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame.
May those who plot to harm me be turned back and dismayed.
5 May they be like chaff driven by the wind.
May an angel of the Lord drive them away.
6 May their path be dark and slippery.
May an angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 Without cause they hid their net to catch me.
Without cause they dug a pit to trap me.
8 May devastation overtake him before he knows it.
May the net which he hid catch him.
May he fall into it to his own destruction.
First Vow
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord.
It will delight in his salvation.
10 All my bones[c] will say, “Lord, who is like you?
You rescue the poor from the one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from the one who robs him.”
The Attacks of the Wicked
11 Malicious witnesses arise.
They ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me with evil instead of good.
They rob my soul of happiness.
13 But when they were sick, I dressed in sackcloth.
I afflicted myself with fasting.
My prayers returned unanswered.[d]
14 I walked around mourning,
as if mourning for a friend or for my brother.
I bowed down, dirty with ashes,[e]
as though mourning for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they were happy.
They gathered together.
Yes, attackers gathered together against me
though I did not expect it.
They ripped me and were never quiet.
16 Like profane mockers,[f] they gnashed their teeth at me.
Second Petition
17 Lord, how long will you look on?
Restore my life from their devastating attacks,
my precious life from these young lions.
Second Vow
18 I will give thanks to you in the great assembly.
In a large crowd I will praise you.
Third Petition
19 Do not let them rejoice over me—
those who are my enemies without cause.
Do not let those who hate me without reason mock me.[g]
20 For they do not speak for peace,
but they devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They also open their mouths wide against me.
They say, “Ha! Ha! We see with our own eyes.”
22 Lord, you have seen all this.
Do not be silent.
Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Wake up and rise up to my defense!
My God and Lord, rise to my cause.
24 Judge me according to your righteousness,
O Lord, my God.
Do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! Just what we wanted!”
Do not let them say,
“We have swallowed him.”
26 May those who rejoice over my trouble
be put to shame and disgrace.
May those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and contempt.
27 May those who are pleased by my acquittal
shout for joy and be glad.
May they always say, “The Lord is great.
He takes delight in the peace of his servant.”
Third Vow
28 My tongue will report your righteousness
and your praise all day long.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.