M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
The Ark of God Captured
And Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and they made camp beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2 The Philistines arrayed themselves in a battle line against Israel, and when the battle was over, Israel was beaten before the Philistines, who struck down on the field of battle about four thousand men. 3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord struck us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that it might come among us and rescue us out of the hand of our enemies.”
4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the ground was in an uproar. 6 When the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, “What does this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp.
7 The Philistines were afraid, when they said, “God is come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For this has never happened to us before. 8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and be men, O Philistines, lest you be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Now be men and fight.”
10 So the Philistines fought and Israel was beaten. And they fled every man into his tent. It was a very great defeat, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 Now the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
12 There ran a man of Benjamin from the battle line, and he came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dust upon his head. 13 When he came, Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching. For his heart feared for the ark of God. Now the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.
14 When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?”
And the man hurriedly came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, “I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the battle line.”
And he said, “What is the word, my son?”
17 The messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there also has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. And the ark of God is taken.”
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke and he died, for he was an old and heavy man. And he had judged Israel forty years.
19 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 About the time of her death the women that stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or regard it.
21 She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory is departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”
The Example of Abraham
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh, has found? 2 If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to him who works, wages are not given as a gift, but as a debt. 5 But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 Even David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness without works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man
to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”[b]
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? We are saying that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision? Or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while being uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while still being uncircumcised.
The Promise Received Through Faith
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his descendants received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law become heirs, faith would be made void and the promise nullified, 15 because the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, there is no sin.
16 Therefore the promise comes through faith, so that it might be by grace, that the promise would be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”[c]) before God whom he believed, and who raises the dead, and calls those things that do not exist as though they did.
18 Against all hope, he believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”[d] 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body to be dead (when he was about a hundred years old), nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform. 22 Therefore “it was credited to him as righteousness.”[e] 23 Now the words, “it was credited to him,” were not written for his sake only, 24 but also for us, to whom it shall be credited if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered for our transgressions, and was raised for our justification.
Jeremiah Warns Against Going to Egypt
42 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near, 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, even for all this remnant. For we are left but a few out of many, as your eyes now see us. 3 Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words. And it shall come to pass, that whatever the Lord will answer you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not act according to all things for which the Lord your God shall send you to us. 6 Whether it is good or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send you so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: 10 If you will still abide in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I will relent of the disaster that I have brought on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are now afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the Lord. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will show mercies to you so that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.
13 “But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, ‘No, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread, and there we will dwell,’ 15 now therefore hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, 16 then it shall come to pass that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt and the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt. And there you shall die. 17 So it shall be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and My fury have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out upon you when you go to Egypt. And you will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. And you shall see this place no more.
19 “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go into Egypt! Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 For you have only deceived yourselves when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God. And according to all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ 21 Now I have this day declared it to you. But you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything for which He has sent me to you. 22 Now therefore certainly know that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place wherever you desire to go and to sojourn.”
Psalm 18(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. He spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love You, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my pillar, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
3 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encircled me,
and the torrents of destruction terrified me.
5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called on the Lord,
and cried for help to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
and my cry for help came before Him to His ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the hills also moved;
they reeled because His anger burned.
8 Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
and fire from His mouth devoured;
coals were kindled by it.
9 He bent the heavens and came down,
and darkness was under His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew;
He flew swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His secret place;
His pavilion was surrounding Him,
dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed by,
hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High gave His voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 He sent out His arrows and scattered them,
and He shot out lightning and distressed them.
15 Then the channels of waters appeared,
and the foundations of the world were discovered
at Your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He also brought me forth into a large place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His judgments were before me,
and I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before Him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in His view.
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
with the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 with the pure You will show Yourself pure;
and with the crooked You will show Yourself crooked.
27 For You will save the afflicted people,
but will bring down prideful eyes.
28 For You will cause my lamp to shine;
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can run through a troop,
and by my God I can leap a wall.
30 As for God, His way has integrity;
the word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield
to all those who take refuge in Him.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
Or who is a rock besides our God?
32 It is God who clothes me with strength,
and gives my way integrity.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and causes me to stand on my high places.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of Your salvation,
and Your right hand has held me up,
and Your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have lengthened my stride under me,
so that my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not return until they were destroyed.
38 I wounded them, and they were not able to rise;
they are fallen under my feet.
39 For You clothed me with strength for the battle;
You subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You gave me the necks of my enemies,
and I destroyed those who hate me.
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save them;
even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind;
I cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the hostilities of the people,
and You have made me the head of nations;
a people whom I have not known serve me.
44 At hearing a report, they obey me;
foreigners come cringing to me.
45 Foreigners fade away,
and come quaking out of their prisons.
46 The Lord lives! And blessed be my Rock!
May the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God who avenges me
and subdues the people under me;
48 He delivers me from my enemies.
You lift me up above those who rise up against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing praises to Your name.
50 He gives great deliverance to His king,
and shows lovingkindness to His anointed,
to David and to his descendants for evermore.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.