M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Is Sent Back to Ziklag

29 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek. The Israelites were staying by the well in Jezreel. ² The leaders of the Philistines were moving toward them with their hundreds and their thousands. And David and his men were moving behind them with Achish. ³ Then the captains of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” Achish said to the captains of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years? I have found nothing wrong in him since the day he left to come to me.” ⁴ But the Philistine captains were angry with him. They said to him, “Make the man return. Have him go again to his place which you have given him. Do not let him go down to battle with us. He might fight against us in the battle. For how could this man make his lord receive him again? Would it not be with the heads of these men? ⁵ Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” ⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest. You go out and come in with me in the army and it is good in my eyes. I have found nothing wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you are not pleasing in the eyes of the leaders. ⁷ So now return. Go in peace, that you may not make the Philistine leaders angry.” ⁸ David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I came to you until now, that I may not go and fight against those who hate my lord the king?” ⁹ Achish answered David, “I know that you are pleasing in my eyes, like an angel of God. But the captains of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go with us to the battle.’ ¹⁰ Now get up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you. Leave as soon as you are up and have light.” ¹¹ So David and his men left early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David’s Battle with the Amalekites

30 When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had come to fight in the Negev and Ziklag. They had destroyed Ziklag, and burned it with fire. ² They took the women and all who were in it, without killing anyone. They carried them out and went on their way. ³ David and his men came to the city and saw that it was burned. Their wives and sons and daughters had been taken away. ⁴ Then David and the people with him cried out in a loud voice until they had no more strength to cry. ⁵ David’s two wives had been taken away, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ And David was very troubled because the people talked about killing him with stones. For all the people were very angry in their sorrow for their sons and daughters. But David got his strength from the Lord his God.

⁷ David said to Abiathar the religious leader, son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the linen vest.” So Abiathar brought the linen vest to David. ⁸ Then David asked the Lord, “Should I go after this army? Should I meet them in battle?” The Lord said to him, “Go after them, for you will catch them for sure. And you will be sure to save all the people.” ⁹ So David and the 600 men who were with him went out and came to the river of Besor. There those stayed who were left behind. ¹⁰ But David kept going after them, with 400 men. For 200 were too tired to cross the river of Besor and stayed behind.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave him bread and he ate, and he was given water to drink. ¹² They gave him a piece of a fig loaf and two vines of dried grapes. When he had eaten, his spirit returned to him. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ David said to him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” And he answered, “I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite. My owner left me behind when I became sick three days ago. ¹⁴ We had gone to fight in the Negev of the Cherethites, and in the land of Judah, and in the Negev of Caleb. We burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵ Then David said to him, “Will you take me down to his army?” And he said, “Promise me by God that you will not kill me or give me to my owner, and I will bring you down to this army.”

¹⁶ When he had taken David down, he saw the soldiers spread over all the land. They were eating and drinking and dancing because of all the good things they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David killed them from the evening until the evening of the next day. None of them got away, except 400 young men who ran away on camels. ¹⁸ David took back all that the Amalekites had taken, and saved his two wives. ¹⁹ Nothing was missing, small or large, sons or daughters, food or anything that had been taken. David returned with all of it. ²⁰ And he took all the sheep and cattle. The people drove those animals in front of him, and said, “This is what belongs to David.”

²¹ David came to the 200 men who had been too tired to follow him and had been left at the river of Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. David came near the people and said hello to them. ²² Then all the sinful men of no worth who had gone with David said, “They did not go with us. So we will not give them anything of what we have taken, except for each man’s wife and children. Each man may take them and go.” ²³ David said, “You must not do so with what the Lord has given us, my brothers. He has kept us safe and has given us the army that came against us. ²⁴ Who would listen to you about this? The share of those who stay by our things will be the same as the share of those who go to the battle. They will share alike.” ²⁵ He made it a law for Israel from that day to this.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the things he had taken in battle to the leaders of Judah, his friends. He said, “See, here is a gift for you from what was taken from those who hate the Lord. ²⁷ It is for those in Bethel, Ramoth of the Negev, Jattir, ²⁸ Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, ²⁹ and Racal. It is for those in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰ Hormah, Borashan, Athach, ³¹ Hebron, and all the places where David and his men have gone many times.”

The Danger of Worshiping False Gods

10 Christian brothers, I want you to know what happened to our early fathers. They all walked from the country of Egypt under the cloud that showed them the way, and they all passed through the waters of the Red Sea. ² They were all baptized as they followed Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ All of them ate the same holy food. ⁴ They all drank the same holy drink. They drank from a holy Rock that went along with them. That holy Rock was Christ. ⁵ Even then most of them did not please God. He destroyed them in the desert.

⁶ These things show us something. They teach us not to want things that are bad for us like those people did. ⁷ We must not worship false gods as some of them did. The Holy Writings tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to play.” ^{(A) 8} We must not do sex sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 died. ⁹ We must not test the Lord as some of them did. They were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ We must not complain against God as some of them did. That is why they were destroyed.

¹¹ All these things happened to show us something. They were written to teach us that the end of the world is near. ¹² So watch yourself! The person who thinks he can stand against sin had better watch that he does not fall into sin. ¹³ You have never been tempted to sin in any different way than other people. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can take. But when you are tempted, He will make a way for you to keep from falling into sin.

Teaching About the Lord’s Supper

¹⁴ My dear friends, keep away from the worship of false gods. ¹⁵ I am speaking to you who are able to understand. See if what I am saying is true. ¹⁶ When we give thanks for the fruit of the vine at the Lord’s supper, are we not sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread we eat at the Lord’s supper, are we not sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ There is one bread, and many of us Christians make up the body of Christ. All of us eat from that bread.

¹⁸ Look at the Jews. They ate the animals that were brought to God as gifts in worship and put on the altar. Did this not show they were sharing with God? ¹⁹ What do I mean? Am I saying that a false god or the food brought to it in worship is worth anything? ²⁰ No, not at all! I am saying that the people who do not know God bring gifts of animals in worship. But they have given them to demons, not to God. You do not want to have any share with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the Lord’s table and at the demon’s table. ²² Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Do we think we are stronger than the Lord?

²³ We are allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for us to do. We are allowed to do anything, but not all things help us grow strong as Christians. ²⁴ Do not work only for your own good. Think of what you can do for others. ²⁵ Eat any meat that is sold in the stores. Ask no questions about it. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. ²⁶ The Holy Writings say, “The earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord.” ^{(B) 27} If a person who is not a Christian wants you to eat with him, and you want to go, eat anything that is on the table. Ask no questions about the food. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. ²⁸ But if someone says, “This meat has been given as a gift to false gods in worship,” do not eat it. In that way, it will not hurt the faith of the one who told you and his heart will have peace. ²⁹ How the other person feels is important. We are not free to do things that will hurt another person. ³⁰ If I can give thanks to God for my food, why should anyone say that I am wrong about eating food I can give thanks for? ³¹ So if you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything to honor God. ³² Do nothing that would make trouble for a Greek or for a Jew or for the church of God. ³³ I want to please everyone in all that I do. I am not thinking of myself. I want to do what is best for them so they may be saved from the punishment of sin.

False Gods in the House of God

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting in my house with the leaders of Judah sitting in front of me. And the hand of the Lord God came upon me there. ² Then I saw what looked like a man. From the center of His body and down to his feet, there was what looked like fire. And from the center of His body and up to his head, there was a bright light which looked like shining brass. ³ He put out what looked like a hand and caught me by the hair on my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me to see Jerusalem in a special way. He brought me to the north gate of the open space within its walls, and there was the seat of the false god which causes jealousy. ⁴ And I saw that the shining-greatness of the God of Israel was there, like what I had seen in the plain.

⁵ He said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and saw that to the north of the altar gate was this false god of jealousy in the doorway. ⁶ And the Spirit said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing? Do you see the hated sins that they are doing here to drive Me far from My holy place? But you will see even worse sins.”

⁷ Then He brought me to the gate of the open space, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ And He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and saw a door. ⁹ He said to me, “Go in and see the hated sins that they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked. And I saw that on the wall all around were pictures of every kind of thing which moves along the ground, and wild animals, and hated things, and all the false gods of the people of Israel. ¹¹ Standing in front of these pictures were seventy leaders of the people of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each man held a dish in his hand from which the smell of special perfume rose up in a cloud. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the leaders of the people of Israel are doing without anyone seeing them? They are worshiping in a room full of false gods. For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has left the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “You will see even worse sins which they are doing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the north gate of the Lord’s house. And I saw women sitting there crying for the false god Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even worse sins than this.”

¹⁶ He brought me into the open space of the Lord’s house. And I saw about twenty-five men at the gate to the house of the Lord, between the porch and the altar. Their backs were toward the Lord’s house, and their faces were toward the east. They were bowing toward the east worshiping the sun. ¹⁷ And He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it a little thing for the people of Judah to do the hated sins which they have done here? They have filled the land with sinful actions and have made Me angry again and again. See, they are doing what I hate. ¹⁸ So I will act in My anger. My eye will have no pity, and I will not let any go without punishment. Even if they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”

God Is with Us

46 God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.

⁴ There is a river whose waters make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High lives. ⁵ God is in the center of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when the morning comes. ⁶ The people made noise. The nations fell. He raised His voice and the earth melted. ⁷ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

⁸ Come and see the works of the Lord. He has destroyed parts of the earth. ⁹ He stops wars to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the war-wagons with fire. ¹⁰ Be quiet and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth. ¹¹ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

God—the King of the Earth

47 Show your happiness, all peoples! Call out to God with the voice of joy! ² For the Lord Most High is to be feared. He is a great King over all the earth. ³ He sets people under us, and nations under our feet. ⁴ He chooses for us what is to be ours, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves.

⁵ God has gone up with a loud voice, the Lord with the sound of a horn. ⁶ Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises. ⁷ For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a well written song. ⁸ God rules over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. ⁹ The rulers of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. For the powers of the earth belong to God. He is much honored.