M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Sins in Taking a Census
24 (A)And (B)again the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “(C)Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the military force who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, (D)from Dan to Beersheba, and [a]take a census of the people, that I may know the total count of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “(E)Now may Yahweh your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word stood strong against Joab and against the commanders of the military force. So Joab and the commanders of the military force went out from the presence of the king to [b]take a census of the people of Israel. 5 And they crossed the Jordan and camped in (F)Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward (G)Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to [c]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to (H)Sidon, 7 and came to the (I)fortified city of Tyre and to all the cities of the (J)Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to (K)Beersheba. 8 So they had gone about through the whole land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave (L)the total count of the [d]census of the people to the king; and there were in Israel (M)800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.
10 Then (N)David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “(O)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please [e]take away the iniquity of Your slave, for (P)I have acted very foolishly.” 11 Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to (Q)the prophet Gad, David’s (R)seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall (S)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, (T)for His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So (U)Yahweh [f]sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people (V)from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 (W)Then the angel sent forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and (X)Yahweh [g]relented of the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, (Y)it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done unrighteousness; but (Z)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house.”
David Erects an Altar
18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “(AA)Go up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of [h]Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded. 20 And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, (AB)that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” 22 And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, (AC)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God (AD)accept you.” 24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for (AE)I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God [i]which cost me nothing.” So (AF)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty [j]shekels of silver. 25 Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. (AG)Thus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.
Sonship in Christ
4 Now I say, as long as the heir is a [a]child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is [b]owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were (A)enslaved under the [c](B)elemental things of the world. 4 But when (C)the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, (D)born of a woman, born (E)under [d]the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under [e]the Law, that we might receive the adoption as (F)sons. 6 And because you are sons, (G)God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “(H)Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and (I)if a son, then an heir [f]through God.
8 However at that time, (J)when you did not know God, you were (K)slaves to (L)those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now, having known God, or rather having been (M)known by God, (N)how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless [g](O)elemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? 10 You (P)observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored [h]over you for nothing.
12 I beg of you, (Q)brothers, (R)become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. 13 But you know that it was because of a [i]bodily illness that I proclaimed the gospel to you the [j]first time; 14 and that which was a [k]trial to you in my [l]bodily condition you did not despise or [m]loathe, but (S)you received me as an angel of God, as (T)Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is [n]that sense of blessing you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I become your enemy (U)by [o]telling you the truth? 17 They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will zealously seek them. 18 But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable [p]manner, and (V)not only when I am present with you. 19 (W)My children, with whom (X)I am again in labor until (Y)Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, because (Z)I am perplexed about you.
An Allegory of Two Covenants
21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not (AA)listen to the Law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, (AB)one by the servant-woman and (AC)one by the free woman. 23 But (AD)the son by the servant-woman had been born according to the flesh, while (AE)the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 [q](AF)This is [r]spoken with allegory, for these women are two covenants: one from (AG)Mount Sinai bearing children into (AH)slavery; [s]she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But (AI)the Jerusalem above is free; [t]she is our mother. 27 For it is written,
“(AJ)Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth;
Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor;
For more numerous are the children of the desolate one
Than of the one who has a husband.”
28 And you brothers, (AK)in accordance with Isaac, are (AL)children of promise. 29 But as at that time (AM)he who was born according to the flesh (AN)was persecuting him who was born according to the Spirit, (AO)so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say?
“(AP)Cast out the servant-woman and her son,
For (AQ)the son of the servant-woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”
31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant-woman, [u]but of the free woman.
Egypt Will Be Brought Down to Sheol
31 Now it happened in the (A)eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his (B)multitude,
‘To whom do you liken yourself in your greatness?
3 Behold, Assyria was a (C)cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and forest shade
And (D)lofty in height,
And its top was among the [a]clouds.
4 The (E)waters made it grow; the [b]deep made it high.
With its rivers it was going all around its planting place
And sent out its conduits to all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore (F)its height was loftier than all the trees of the field,
And its boughs became many and its branches long
Because of (G)many waters [c]as it spread them out.
6 All the (H)birds of the sky nested in its boughs,
And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,
And all great nations lived under its shade.
7 So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its foliage;
For its [d]roots extended to many waters.
8 The (I)cedars in (J)God’s garden [e]could not match it;
The [f]cypresses [g]could not liken themselves with its boughs,
And the plane trees were not like its branches.
No tree in (K)God’s garden [h]could liken itself with it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of its foliage,
And all the trees of (L)Eden, which were in the (M)garden of God, were jealous of it.
10 ‘Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because [i]it is lofty in height and has put its top among the [j]clouds, and its (N)heart is high up in its loftiness, 11 therefore I will give it into the hand of a [k](O)dominant one of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have (P)driven it away. 12 (Q)Strangers—(R)ruthless ones of the nations have cut it down and abandoned it; on the (S)mountains and in all the valleys its foliage have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have (T)gone down from its shade and abandoned it. 13 On its downfall all the (U)birds of the sky will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches 14 so that all the trees by the waters may not be lofty in their height, nor put their top among the [l]clouds, nor their dominant ones—all the [m]well-watered ones—stand in their loftiness. For they have all been given over to death, to the (V)earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”
15 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I (W)caused mourning; I covered it with the [n]deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon [o]mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. 16 I made the nations (X)quake at the sound of its downfall when I made it (Y)go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of (Z)Lebanon, all the [p]well-watered ones, were (AA)comforted in the earth beneath. 17 They also (AB)went down with it to Sheol to those who were (AC)slain by the sword; and those who were its [q]strength lived (AD)under its shade among the nations.
18 “To which among the trees of Eden do you thus liken yourself in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the (AE)uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. (AF)So is Pharaoh and all his multitude!”’ declares Lord Yahweh.”
How Long, O Yahweh?
A Psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, the (A)nations have come into (B)Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your (C)holy temple;
They have (D)laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the (E)dead bodies of Your slaves for food to the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of Your holy ones to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was (F)no one to bury them.
4 We have become a (G)reproach to our neighbors,
A mockery and derision to those around us.
5 (H)How long, O Yahweh? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your (I)jealousy (J)burn like fire?
6 (K)Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which (L)do not know You,
And upon the kingdoms which (M)do not call upon Your name.
7 For they have (N)devoured Jacob
And (O)laid waste his [a]abode.
8 (P)Do not remember our former iniquities against us;
Let Your compassion quickly (Q)approach us,
For we are (R)brought very low.
9 (S)Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of (T)Your name;
And deliver us and (U)atone for our sins (V)for Your name’s sake.
10 (W)Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let it be known among the nations before our eyes:
(X)Vengeance for the blood of Your slaves which has been poured out.
11 Let (Y)the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your [b]power preserve [c]those who are (Z)doomed to die.
12 And return to our neighbors (AA)sevenfold (AB)into their bosom
[d]The (AC)reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
13 But as for us, as Your people and the (AD)sheep of Your pasture,
We will (AE)give thanks to You forever;
From generation to generation we will (AF)recount Your praise.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.