M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
2 After this, David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, Go up. David said, To which shall I go up? And He said, To Hebron.
2 So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
3 And David brought up his men who were with him, each one with his household, and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, The men of Jabesh-gilead buried Saul.(A)
5 And David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, saying, May the Lord bless you because you showed kindness and loyalty to Saul your king and buried him.
6 And now may the Lord show loving-kindness and faithfulness to you. I also will do well by you because you have done this.
7 So now, let your hands be strengthened and be valiant, for your master Saul is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.
8 Now Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
9 And he made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel.
10 Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began his two-year reign over Israel. But the house of Judah followed David.
11 And David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah for seven years and six months.
12 And Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out also; and the two groups met by the pool of Gibeon, seating themselves with one group on either side of the pool.
14 And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise and have a contest before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.
15 Then there arose and went over by number—twelve of Benjamin who were with Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16 And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his side; so they all fell together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Knives, which is at Gibeon.
17 A very fierce battle followed, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
18 Three sons of Zeruiah [the half sister of David] were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe or antelope.
19 Asahel pursued Abner, and as he ran he turned not to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.
20 Then Abner looked behind him and said, Are you Asahel? He answered, I am.
21 Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right or left, and seize one of the young men and take his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
22 And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I be able to face Joab your brother?
23 Asahel refused to turn aside; so Abner with the rear end of his spear smote him through the abdomen, and he fell and died where he fell. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still.
24 But Joab and Abishai [his brothers] pursued Abner; the sun was going down as they came to the hill of Ammah, before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25 And the Benjamites gathered together behind Abner and became one troop and took their stand on the top of a hill.
26 Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that bitterness will be the result? How long will it be then before you bid the people to stop pursuing their brethren?
27 Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have stopped pursuing their brethren in the morning.
28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more.
29 Abner and his men went all night through the Arabah [plain], crossed the Jordan, and went through the whole Bithron [district of ravines] and came to Mahanaim.
30 Joab returned from pursuing Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel.
31 But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin 360 of Abner’s men.
32 And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men walked all night and came to Hebron at daybreak.
13 If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such [a]as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers ([b]the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
3 Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or [c]in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.
4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy ([d]the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
9 For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).
10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as [e]in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand [f]fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been [g]fully and clearly known and understood [[h]by God].
13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.
11 Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord’s house, which faces east. And behold, at the door of the gateway there were twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2 Then [the Spirit] said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city,
3 Who say, [The time] is not near to build houses; this city is the boiling pot and we are the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man!
5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, Speak. Say, Thus says the Lord: This is what you thought, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your mind.
6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and you have filled its streets with the slain.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in your midst; they are the flesh and this city is the boiling pot, but you shall be brought forth out of the midst of it.
8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring a sword upon you, says the Lord God.
9 And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and execute judgments among you.
10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge and punish you [before your neighbors] at the border or outside the land of Israel, and you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord.
11 This city shall not be your boiling pot, neither shall you be the flesh in the midst of it; I will judge you at the border or outside of Israel;
12 And you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.
13 And while I was prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face and cried with a loud voice, Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?
14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
15 Son of man, your brethren, even your kindred, your fellow exiles, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they of whom the [present] inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, They have gone far from the Lord [and from this land]; therefore this land is given to us for a possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: Whereas I have removed [Israel] far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I have been to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries to which they have come.
17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give back to you the land of Israel.
18 And when they return there, they shall take away from it all traces of its detestable things and all its abominations (sex impurities and heathen religious practices).
19 And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God],(A)
20 That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for those whose heart yearns for and goes after their detestable things and their loathsome abominations [associated with idolatry], I will repay their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God.
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels which were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel [the Shekinah, cloud] was over them.
23 Then the glory of the Lord rose up from over the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 And I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.
Psalm 50
A Psalm of [a]Asaph.
1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and calls the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence; a fire devours before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest rages.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 Gather together to Me My saints [those who have found grace in My sight], those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness (rightness and justice), for God, He is judge. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
7 Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify to you and against you: I am God, your God.
8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9 I will accept no bull from your house nor he-goat out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills or upon the mountains where thousands are.
11 I know and am acquainted with all the birds of the mountains, and the wild animals of the field are Mine and are with Me, in My mind.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine.(A)
13 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High,
15 And call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.
16 But to the wicked, God says: What right have you to recite My statutes or take My covenant or pledge on your lips,
17 Seeing that you hate instruction and correction and cast My words behind you [discarding them]?
18 When you see a thief, you associate with him, and you have taken part with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was once entirely like you. But [now] I will reprove you and put [the charge] in order before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 He who brings an offering of praise and thanksgiving honors and glorifies Me; and he who orders his way aright [who prepares the way that I may show him], to him I will demonstrate the salvation of God.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation