M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Capture of the Ark Provokes God
5 Now the Philistines took the ark of God and (A)brought it from Ebenezer to (B)Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to (C)the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, (D)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and (E)set him in his place again. 4 But when they arose early the next morning, behold, (F)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; [a]only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house (G)tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 Now (H)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and (I)He ravaged them and smote them with (J)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. 7 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and (K)gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around. 9 After they had brought it around, (L)the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that (M)tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to [b]us, to kill [c]us and [d]our people.” 11 They (N)sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill [e]us and [f]our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; (O)the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and (P)the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The Ark Returned to Israel
6 Now the ark of the Lord had been in the [g]country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And (Q)the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us [h]how we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, (R)do not send it empty; but you shall surely (S)return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.” 4 Then they said, “What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden (T)tumors and five golden mice (U)according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of [i]you and on your lords. 5 So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and (V)you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps (W)He will ease His hand from you, (X)your gods, and your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts (Y)as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, (Z)did they not allow [j]the people to go, and they departed? 7 Now therefore, take and (AA)prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there (AB)has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them. 8 Take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart; and put (AC)the articles of gold which you return to Him as (AD)a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go. 9 Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to (AE)Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then (AF)we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”
10 Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors. 12 And the cows took the straight way in the [k]direction of (AG)Beth-shemesh; they went along (AH)the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and (AI)offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 (AJ)The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord. 16 When the (AK)five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.
17 (AL)These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, (AM)both of fortified cities and of country villages. (AN)The large [l]stone on which they set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.
19 (AO)He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh said, “(AP)Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of (AQ)Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up to you.”
Results of Justification
5 (A)Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a](B)we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have (C)obtained our introduction by faith into this grace (D)in which we stand; and [b]we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 (E)And not only this, but [c]we also (F)exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about (G)perseverance; 4 and (H)perseverance, (I)proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope (J)does not disappoint, because the love of God has been (K)poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still (L)helpless, (M)at the right time (N)Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; [d]though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God (O)demonstrates (P)His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, (Q)Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified [e](R)by His blood, we shall be saved (S)from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were (T)enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved [f](U)by His life. 11 (V)And not only this, [g]but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received (W)the reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as through (X)one man sin entered into the world, and (Y)death through sin, and (Z)so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for [h]until the Law sin was in the world, but (AA)sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned (AB)in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a [i](AC)type of Him who was to come.
15 But [j]the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of (AD)the one (AE)the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by (AF)the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand (AG)the judgment arose from one transgression [k]resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions [l]resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned (AH)through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will (AI)reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through (AJ)one transgression [m]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one (AK)act of righteousness [n]there resulted (AL)justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience (AM)the many (AN)were made sinners, even so through (AO)the obedience of the One (AP)the many will be made righteous. 20 [o](AQ)The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, (AR)grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as (AS)sin reigned in death, even so (AT)grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment
43 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent, had (A)finished telling all the people all the words of the Lord their God—that is, all these words— 2 Azariah the (B)son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are (C)telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; 3 but (D)Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.” 4 So (E)Johanan the son of Kareah and all the [a]commanders of the forces, and all the people, (F)did not obey the voice of the Lord to (G)stay in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the [b]commanders of the forces took the (H)entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven away, in order to reside in the land of Judah— 6 the men, the women, the [c]children, the (I)king’s daughters and (J)every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [d]and grandson of Shaphan, together with (K)Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah— 7 and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the Lord) and went in as far as (L)Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in (M)Tahpanhes, saying, 9 “Take some large stones in your [e]hands and hide them in the mortar in the [f]brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s [g]palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of [h]some of the Jews; 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am going to send and get (N)Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (O)My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his (P)canopy over them. 11 He will also come and (Q)strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and (R)those for the sword to the sword. 12 And [i]I shall set fire to the temples of the (S)gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will (T)wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. 13 He will also shatter the [j]obelisks of [k]Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”
The Works and the Word of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
19 The (A)heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their (B)expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to (C)day pours forth speech,
And (D)night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their [a](E)line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has (F)placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its (G)rising is from [b]one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the [c]other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 (H)The law of the Lord is [d](I)perfect, (J)restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is (K)sure, making (L)wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are (M)right, (N)rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is (O)pure, (P)enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are (Q)true; they are (R)righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than (S)gold, yes, than much fine gold;
(T)Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them (U)Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great (V)reward.
12 Who can (W)discern his errors? (X)Acquit me of (Y)hidden faults.
13 Also keep back Your servant (Z)from presumptuous sins;
Let them not (AA)rule over me;
Then I will be [e](AB)blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of (AC)great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and (AD)the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, (AE)my rock and my (AF)Redeemer.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.