M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
25 And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 And there was a man in Maon, whose [a]possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 And David sent ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6 and [b]thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. 7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: thy shepherds have now been with us, and we [c]did them no hurt, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee: wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes; for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thy hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
9 And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and [d]ceased. 10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my [e]flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are? 12 So David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to [f]salute our master; and he railed at them. 15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not [g]hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields: 16 they were a wall unto us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow, that one cannot speak to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two [h]bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. 19 And she said unto her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. 20 And it was so, as she rode on her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. 22 God do so [i]unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and alighted from her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity; and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; [j]Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah hath withholden thee [k]from bloodguiltiness, and from [l]avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this [m]present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28 Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid: for Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days. 29 And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of [n]life with Jehovah thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel, 31 that this shall be no [o]grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, [p]either that thou hast shed blood without cause, or that my lord hath avenged himself. And when Jehovah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me: 33 and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34 For in very deed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. 35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said unto her, Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37 And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that Jehovah smote Nabal, so that he died.
39 And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept back his servant from evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal hath Jehovah returned upon his own head. And David sent and spake concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife. 40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. 41 And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to [q]Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
6 Dare any of you, having a matter against [a]his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy [b]to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then ye have [c]to judge things pertaining to this life, [d]do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church? 5 I say this to move you to shame. [e]What, cannot there be found among you one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brethren, 6 but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 Nay, already it is altogether [f]a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded? 8 Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. 9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye [g]were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
12 All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: 14 and God both raised the Lord, and will raise up us through his power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. 16 Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for, [h]The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 Or know ye not that your body is a [i]temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; 20 for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.
4 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem: 2 and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. 3 And take thou unto thee an iron [a]pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. 5 For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee. 7 And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it. 8 And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the other, till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege.
9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, shalt thou eat thereof. 10 And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. 11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. 12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out of man. 13 And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them. 14 Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. 15 Then he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon. 16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay: 17 that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.
A sacrifice of praise, and prayer for help.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I waited patiently for Jehovah;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of [a]a horrible pit, out of the miry clay;
And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in Jehovah.
4 Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as [b]turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Jehovah my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done,
And thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
[c]They cannot be set in order unto thee;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and [d]offering thou hast no delight in;
[e]Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is [f]written of me:
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God;
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly;
Lo, I will not refrain my lips,
O Jehovah, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart;
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation;
I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great assembly.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Jehovah;
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about;
Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
And my heart hath [g]failed me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me:
Make haste to help me, O Jehovah.
14 Let them be put to shame and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it:
Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor
That delight in my hurt.
15 Let them be [h]desolate [i]by reason of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation say continually,
Jehovah be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
Make no tarrying, O my God.
The psalmist in sickness complains of enemies and false friends.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he that considereth [j]the poor:
Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 Jehovah will preserve him, and keep him alive,
And he shall be blessed [k]upon the earth;
And deliver not thou him unto the will of his enemies.
3 Jehovah will support him upon the couch of languishing:
Thou [l]makest all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me:
Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 Mine enemies speak evil against me, saying,
When will he die, and his name perish?
6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh falsehood;
His heart gathereth iniquity to itself:
When he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
7 All that hate me whisper together against me;
Against me do they devise my hurt.
8 [m]An evil disease, say they, [n]cleaveth fast unto him;
And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
Who did eat of my bread,
Hath lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me, and raise me up,
That I may requite them.
11 By this I know that thou delightest in me,
Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity,
And settest me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel,
From everlasting and to everlasting.
Amen, and Amen.
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