M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David and Goliath
17 Now the Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They gathered at Sokoh,[a] which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Sokoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel also gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up in battle formation opposite the Philistines. 3 The Philistines took up a position in front of the mountain on one side of the valley, and the Israelites stationed themselves in front of the mountain on the other side of the valley.
4 A challenger who represented the Philistines came out from the camp of the Philistines. He was named Goliath of Gath. He was nine feet, six inches tall.[b] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore scaled body armor, which was made of more than one hundred pounds[c] of bronze. 6 He had bronze greaves on his shins and a bronze spear slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft[d] of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spearhead was made of fifteen pounds[e] of iron. His shield bearer went out ahead of him.
8 He would stand up and shout to the armies of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul, aren’t you? Choose a man to represent you, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our servants, and you will serve us.” 10 The Philistine would say, “I defy the ranks of Israel today! Give me a man, and we will fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
[f] 12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. Jesse had eight sons. In the days of Saul, Jesse was a very old man. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had accompanied Saul to the battleground. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were his firstborn Eliab, next Abinadab, and third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest son. The three oldest accompanied Saul. 15 During this time David went back and forth from Saul to take care of his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 The Philistine came out each morning and evening for forty days and presented his challenge.
17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take twenty-five pounds[g] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers. Deliver them quickly to the camp for your brothers. 18 Also take these ten blocks of cheese to the commander of their unit.[h] See how your brothers are doing and bring back some assurance they are okay.”
19 Now Saul, David’s brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah to fight with the Philistines.
20 David got up early in the morning and left the sheep with someone who would watch them. He took the supplies and set out as Jesse had commanded him. He arrived at the outer defense line of the camp just as the army was marching out to line up in battle formation, shouting war cries as they went. 21 Israel and the Philistines were lining up for battle, one formation against the other. 22 After David had handed over his provisions to the supply officer, he ran to the battlefront, where he met and greeted his brothers.
23 As he was talking with them there, he saw the Philistine challenger named Goliath of Gath coming up out of the ranks of the Philistines. He repeated his usual words, and David heard them. 24 (Whenever they saw the man, all the men of Israel fled from him and were terrified.) 25 An Israelite had said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He keeps coming up to taunt Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him. He will give his daughter to him in marriage and make his father’s house exempt from taxes in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men who stood near him. He asked, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who dares to defy the troops of the living God?”
27 The people again told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.
28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard David speaking to the men, he burned with anger against David. He said, “Why have you come down? Who is taking care of those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the mischief in your heart. You have come down just to see the battle.”
29 David said, “What have I done now? Can’t I say anything?”[i] 30 So David turned away from him toward another person, and he asked the same thing again, and the soldiers again answered him the same way. 31 When they heard what David said, they reported it to Saul, and he sent for David. 32 David said to Saul, “Do not let anyone lose heart because of this Philistine! Your servant will go and fight him.”
33 But Saul said to David, “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior since he was a youth.”
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant has been taking care of his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it and rescued the lamb out of its mouth. When the lion reared up against me, I grabbed it by its mane, struck it, and killed it. 36 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the ranks of the living God.” 37 David added, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go then! May the Lord be with you.” 38 So Saul dressed David in his own gear.[j] He placed a bronze helmet on his head and dressed him in scaled body armor. 39 David strapped his sword over his gear. David tried to walk around in them, since he had never trained with this kind of equipment before.
David said to Saul, “I cannot go in these, because I have never trained with them.” So David took them off.
40 Then David took his staff in his hand and picked five smooth stones out of the stream bed and put them into the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. He took his sling in his hand and approached the Philistine.
41 The Philistine kept walking and got closer and closer to David. The man who was carrying his shield was walking ahead of him. 42 When the Philistine got a good look at David, he despised him, because David was just a boy, nothing but a good-looking, red-headed boy.[k]
43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will feed your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the countryside.”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth. Then all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and all those gathered here will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle belongs to the Lord, and he will deliver you into our hand.”
48 Then, when the Philistine started advancing to attack David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand into his bag, took a stone from it, shot it from his sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.
50 So David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine and killed him, even though David did not have a sword in his hand. 51 So David ran, stood over the Philistine, took hold of his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and Judah got up, cheering loudly, and pursued the Philistines toward the entrance of the valley, all the way to the gates of Ekron. Fatally-wounded Philistines lined the road from Sha’araim all the way to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put the Philistine’s armor and weapons into his tent.
David and Saul’s Family
55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”
Abner said, “As your soul lives, my King, I do not know.”
56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”
57 As David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”
Serve One Another As Christ Served You
15 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not just to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for the good purpose of building him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who are insulting you fell on me.”[a]
4 Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope. 5 And may God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God. 8 For I am saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs. 9 He also did this so that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
For this reason I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing to your name.[b]
10 And again it says:
Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.[c]
11 And again:
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples give him praise.[d]
12 And again Isaiah says:
There will be a Root of Jesse,
and he is the one who will rise up to rule the Gentiles;
on him the Gentiles will place their hope.[e]
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s Goal: To Bring Christ’s Name Where It Was Not Known
14 I myself am convinced about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are also full of goodness, filled with complete knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 15 But I have written a letter to you (rather boldly at times) as a reminder to you, because of the grace God has given me 16 to be a public minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I am to do the priestly work of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles would be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore I have a reason to boast in Christ Jesus about my service to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak about anything except those things Christ accomplished through me that resulted in the Gentiles’ obedience. Christ accomplished them by word and deed, 19 along with the power of signs and wonders done by the power of God’s[f] Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. 20 And so I consider it an honor to proclaim the gospel where Christ’s name is not known, so that I may not build on another man’s foundation. 21 Instead, as it is written:
Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.[g]
Paul Hopes to Come to Rome on His Way to Spain
22 This is also the reason I have been prevented many times from coming to you. 23 But now I no longer have a place to work in these regions, and I have longed for many years to come to you. 24 So when I go to Spain, I hope to visit you on my way. After I have enjoyed being with you for a while, I hope that you will help me on my journey there.
25 Right now I am going to Jerusalem bringing assistance[h] to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 Indeed, they were pleased to do this and, to be sure, they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual things, then the Gentiles owe it to them to serve them with material things.
28 So, after I complete this project by delivering this fruit safely to them, I will set out for Spain and visit you on the way. 29 And I know that when I come to you, I will arrive with the full blessing of Christ.[i]
30 Now I urge you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to struggle with me in prayers to God on my behalf. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from those in Judea who are disobedient and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God’s will I may come to you in joy and be refreshed in your company.
33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Under the Wrath of the Lord[a]
2 How the Lord, in his anger, has covered the daughter of Zion with a dark cloud!
He threw down the beauty of Israel from heaven to earth.
He did not remember his footstool[b] in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord swallowed up and did not spare the pastures[c] of Jacob.
In his fury he tore down the fortifications of the daughter of Judah.
He brought them down to the ground. He brought dishonor to the kingdom and its officials.
3 He completely chopped off the horn[d] of Israel in burning anger.
He withdrew his right hand in the presence of the enemy.
He burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which consumed all around.
4 He bent his bow like an enemy. His right hand was ready like a foe,
and he killed everyone who was precious in his eyes.
On the tent of the daughter of Zion, he poured out his wrath like fire.
5 The Lord was like an enemy. He swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all her citadels. He left her fortresses in ruins.
He increased mourning and lamenting for the daughter of Judah.
6 He dealt violently with his shelter like a shed in a garden.[e] He ruined his meeting place.
The Lord has caused the appointed assembly and the Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion.
In his indignation and anger he showed contempt for king and priest.
7 The Lord rejected his altar. He abandoned his holy place.
He delivered her walls and palaces into the hand of the enemy.
They gave a shout in the House of the Lord,
like that on the day of an appointed assembly.
8 The Lord had in mind to ruin the wall of the daughter of Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line. He did not restrain his hand from swallowing her up.
He made its rampart and wall mourn. Together they became weak.
9 Her gates have sunk down to the ground. He destroyed and shattered her bars.
Her king and her officials are exiled among the nations. There is no law.
Even her prophets have not received a vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and are silent.
They throw dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are worn out with tears. I am troubled in my heart.
I am emotionally drained[f] over the breaking of the daughter of my people,
while children and infants grow weak in the public squares of the city.
12 They ask their mothers, “Where are the grain and wine?”
while they faint in the public squares of the city, like someone wounded,
while they take their last breath in their mothers’ laps.
13 What testimony can I give on your behalf?
What can I compare to you, daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I place next to you, so that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?
Your wound is as wide as the sea. Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets saw visions for you, but they were empty and worthless.
They did not reveal your guilt, in order to turn away your captivity.
They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading.
15 All who passed by clapped their hands over you.
They hissed and shook their head over the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was said to be the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?”
16 All your enemies opened their mouth against you.
They hissed and gnashed their teeth. They said, “We swallowed her up.
Yes, this is the day we were waiting for. We found it. We saw it.”
17 The Lord has done what he planned. He carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago. He tore down and did not spare.
He let the enemy rejoice over you. He raised up the horn of your foes.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night.
Do not let yourself become numb. Do not let your eye stop crying.
19 Get up! Shout out during the night, as the night watches begin!
Pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s face.
Lift up your hands to him to pray for the life of your children,
who are faint with hunger at every street corner.
20 Look, Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt so harshly?
Should women eat the children they produced,
the children they played with on their knee?
Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s holy place?
21 In the streets young and old lie dead on the ground.
My virgins and my best young men have fallen by the sword.
You killed them on the day of your anger. You slaughtered and did not spare.
22 As you do on a day of assembly, you summoned from every side the things I dread.
On the day of the Lord’s anger, there was no one who escaped or survived.
The enemy destroyed the children I played with on my knee and raised.[g]
Psalm 33
Blessed Is the Nation Whose God Is the Lord
Introductory Praise
1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, you righteous.
The praise of the upright is beautiful.
2 Thank the Lord with a lyre.
Make music for him with the ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing to him a new song.
Play skillfully and shout praises.
4 Yes, the word of the Lord is right,
and everything he does is trustworthy.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The mercy of the Lord fills the earth.
God’s Love in Creation
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.
By the breath of his mouth he made the whole army of stars.[a]
7 He gathers the water of the sea into a heap.
He puts the depths into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world revere him.
9 For he said, “Let it be,” and it was!
He gave a command, and there it stood.
God’s Rule of History
10 The Lord wrecks the plan of the nations.
He hinders the intentions of the peoples.
11 The plan of the Lord stands forever.
The intentions of his heart stand through all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose to be his possession.
13 From heaven the Lord observes.
He sees all the children of Adam.
14 From his throne room he looks at all the inhabitants of earth.
15 He alone is the one who shapes all their hearts.
He understands all their deeds.
16 No king is saved by the great size of his army.
No hero is rescued by his great strength.
17 You cannot rely on a horse to save you.
Its great strength will not deliver you.
18 Look, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who wait for his mercy.
19 He will deliver their souls from death.
He keeps them alive in famine.
Concluding Prayer
20 Our souls wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 Yes, in him our heart rejoices,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 May your mercy, O Lord, be on us,
even as we wait confidently for you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.