M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Family of Elkanah at Shiloh

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah. The name of the other was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ This man would go from his city each year to worship and to give gifts on the altar in Shiloh to the Lord of All. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s religious leaders there. ⁴ On the day when Elkanah killed animals on the altar in worship, he would give part of the gift to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But he would give twice as much to Hannah, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had made it so she could not have children. ⁶ Peninnah would try to make her very angry, because the Lord would not let her have children. ⁷ So it happened, year after year, each time Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, Peninnah would make her angry. Hannah cried and would not eat. ⁸ Then her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying? Why are you not eating, and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

Hannah and Eli

⁹ Then Hannah stood up after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. Eli the religious leader was sitting on the seat by the door of the house of the Lord. ¹⁰ Hannah was very troubled. She prayed to the Lord and cried with sorrow. ¹¹ Then she made a promise and said, “O Lord of All, be sure to look on the trouble of Your woman servant, and remember me. Do not forget Your woman servant, but give me a son. If You will, then I will give him to the Lord all his life. And no hair will ever be cut from his head.”

¹² While she kept praying to the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ Hannah was speaking in her heart. Her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she had drunk too much. ¹⁴ Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put wine away from you.” ¹⁵ But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not drunk wine or strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not think of your woman servant as a woman of no worth. For I have been speaking out of much trouble and pain in my spirit.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. May the God of Israel do what you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ And Hannah said, “Let your woman servant find favor in your eyes.” So she went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Samuel Is Born

¹⁹ The family got up early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. Then they returned to their house in Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ The Lord made it possible for her to have a child, and when the time came she gave birth to a son. She gave him the name Samuel, saying, “I have asked the Lord for him.”

²¹ Then Elkanah went up with all those of his house to give the Lord the gift on the altar in worship as he did each year, and to pay what he had promised. ²² But Hannah did not go. For she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child no longer needs to be nursed. Then I will bring him before the Lord, to stay there forever.” ²³ Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what you think is best. Stay here until he no longer needs to be nursed. Only may the Lord do as He has said.” So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until he no longer needed to be nursed. ²⁴ When she had finished nursing him, she took him with her to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, and the child was young. ²⁵ She brought a three year old bull, one basket of flour and a jar of wine also. Then they killed the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ Hannah said, “O, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this boy, and the Lord has given me what I asked of Him. ²⁸ So I have given him to the Lord. He is given to the Lord as long as he lives.” And they worshiped the Lord there.

1 This letter is from Paul. I am a servant owned by Jesus Christ and a missionary chosen by God to preach His Good News. ² The Good News was promised long ago by God’s early preachers in His Holy Writings. ³ It tells of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was born as a person in the flesh through the family of King David. ⁴ The Holy Spirit proved by a powerful act that Jesus our Lord is the Son of God because He was raised from the dead. ⁵ Jesus has given us His loving-favor and has made us His missionaries. We are to preach to the people of all nations that they should obey Him and put their trust in Him. ⁶ You have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ also. ⁷ So I write to all of you in the city of Rome. God loves you and has chosen you to be set apart for Himself. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you His loving-favor and peace.

⁸ First of all, I keep thanking my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you. This is because the whole world knows of your faith in Christ. ⁹ God knows how I work for Him. He knows how I preach with all my heart the Good News about His Son. He knows how I always pray for you. ¹⁰ I pray that I might be able to visit you, if God wants me to. ¹¹ I want to see you so I can share some special gift of the Holy Spirit with you. It will make you strong. ¹² Both of us need help. I can help make your faith strong and you can do the same for me. We need each other.

¹³ Christian brothers, many times I have wanted to visit you. Something has kept me from going until now. I have wanted to lead some of you to Christ also, as I have done in other places where they did not know God. ¹⁴ I must help the people who have had a chance to hear the Good News and those who have not. I must help those with much learning and those who have never learned from books. ¹⁵ So I want to preach the Good News to you who live in Rome also.

¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power of God. It is the way He saves men from the punishment of their sins if they put their trust in Him. It is for the Jew first and for all other people also. ¹⁷ The Good News tells us we are made right with God by faith in Him. Then, by faith we live that new life through Him. The Holy Writings say, “A man right with God lives by faith.” ^(A)

¹⁸ We see the anger of God coming down from heaven against all the sins of men. These sinful men keep the truth from being known. ¹⁹ Men know about God. He has made it plain to them. ²⁰ Men cannot say they do not know about God. From the beginning of the world, men could see what God is like through the things He has made. This shows His power that lasts forever. It shows that He is God. ²¹ They did know God, but they did not honor Him as God. They were not thankful to Him and thought only of foolish things. Their foolish minds became dark. ²² They said that they were wise, but they showed how foolish they were. ²³ They gave honor to false gods that looked like people who can die and to birds and animals and snakes. This honor belongs to God Who can never die.

²⁴ So God let them follow the desires of their sinful hearts. They did sinful things among themselves with their bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and cared for what God made instead of worshiping the God Who made it. He is the One Who is to receive honor and thanks forever. Let it be so.

²⁶ Because of this, God let them follow their sinful desires which lead to shame. Women used their bodies in ways God had not planned. ²⁷ In the same way, men left the right use of women’s bodies. They did sex sins with other men. They received for themselves the punishment that was coming to them for their sin.

²⁸ Because they would not keep God in their thoughts anymore, He gave them up. Their minds were sinful and they wanted only to do things they should not do. ²⁹ They are full of everything that is sinful and want things that belong to others. They hate people and are jealous. They kill other people. They fight and lie. They do not like other people and talk against them. ³⁰ They talk about people, and they hate God. They are filled with pride and tell of all the good they do. They think of new ways to sin. They do not obey their parents. ³¹ They are not able to understand. They do not do what they say they will do. They have no love and no loving-pity. ³² They know God has said that all who do such things should die. But they keep on doing these things and are happy when others do them also.

Jerusalem Taken by the Babylonians

39 In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came and gathered around Jerusalem. ² And on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the city wall was broken open. ³ Then all the captains of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sarsekim, the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the captains of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his men of war saw them, they ran out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls. They went out toward the Jordan Valley. ⁵ But the Babylonian army went after them and came to Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They took hold of him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And Nebuchadnezzar decided how he should be punished. ⁶ The king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in front of his eyes at Riblah. He killed all the leaders of Judah also. ⁷ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and put him in chains of brass to take him to Babylon. ⁸ The Babylonians burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire. And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the soldiers, carried the rest of the people who were left in the city away to Babylon, those who went over with him, and the people who stayed. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the prison soldiers, left behind in the land of Judah some of the poorest people who had nothing. He gave them grape-fields and fields at the same time.

Jeremiah Is Not Held

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon said what must be done about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers. He said, ¹² “Take him and watch over him. Do not hurt him, but do with him as he tells you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the leading captains of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent for Jeremiah and took him out of the open space of the prison. And they put him in the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah stayed among the people.

Ebed-melech’s Future

¹⁵ The Word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was being kept in the open space of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and tell Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel says: “I will bring My words on this city for bad and not for good. And they will happen in front of you at that time. ¹⁷ I will save you on that day,” says the Lord. “You will not be given over to the men you are afraid of. ¹⁸ For I will be sure to take you away, and you will not be killed by the sword. You will have your life because you have trusted in Me,”’” says the Lord.

Prayer for Help in Time of Trouble

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? ² How long must I plan what to do in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will those who hate me rise above me?

³ Look on me and answer, O Lord, my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death. ⁴ Or the one who hates me will say, “I have power over him.” And those who hate me will be happy when I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in Your loving-kindness. My heart will be full of joy because You will save me. ⁶ I will sing to the Lord, because He has been good to me.

Sinful Men

14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are sinful and their actions are sinful. There is no one who does good. ² The Lord has looked down from heaven on the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand and look for God. ³ They have all turned aside. Together they have become bad. There is no one who does good, not even one.

⁴ Will those who sin never learn? They eat up my people like they eat bread. They do not call on the Lord. ⁵ There they are in much fear. For God is with the people of this day who do what is right and good. ⁶ You would put to shame the planning of the poor. But the Lord keeps him safe.

⁷ O, that it would come out of Zion that Israel would be saved! When the Lord returns His people to their land, Jacob will be full of joy and Israel will be glad.