M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Philistines and the Ark

5 Now the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. ³ When the Ashdodites arose early in the morning, Dagon had fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. ⁴ When they arose early on the next morning, again Dagon was fallen upon 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 upon the threshold. Only the torso of Dagon was left to him. ⁵ Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any coming into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶ But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites. He desolated them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel cannot remain with us. For His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”

And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around to Gath.” And they carried the ark of the God of Israel there.

⁹ It happened that after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And He struck the men of the city, both small and great. And tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

And it came about that as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people.” ¹¹ So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to His own place that He might not kill me and my people,” for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² The men that did not die were plagued with the tumors. And 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 country of the Philistines seven months. ² The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”

³ They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. But 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 said they, “What will be the guilt offering which we will return to Him?”

They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵ Therefore you will make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land. And you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from off you, even from off your gods and from off your land. ⁶ Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He dealt severely with them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

⁷ “Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke. Then tie the cows to the cart and bring their calves home, away from them. ⁸ Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart. And put the images of gold, which you return to Him for a guilt offering, in a box by the side. And send it away, that it may go. ⁹ See, if it goes up by the way of His own territory to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it is not His hand that struck us; it was by chance that it happened to us.”

¹⁰ The men did so. And they took two milk cows, tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, as well as the box with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. ¹² Then the cows took the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left with the lords of the Philistines walking after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³ Now Beth Shemesh was reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they split the wood of the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, where the articles of gold were, and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord. ¹⁶ When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

¹⁷ These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one. ¹⁸ And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities, and of country villages. And the great stone, where they set the ark of the Lord, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite.

¹⁹ Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men. And the people lamented, because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰ The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom will He go up from us?”

²¹ And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of 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 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and so we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience, ⁴ patience produces character, and character produces hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ While we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ How much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. ¹¹ Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Adam and Christ

¹² Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned.

¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not counted when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s sin, who was a type of Him who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if through the trespass of one man many died, then how much more has the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like the result that came through the one who sinned. For the judgment from one sin led to condemnation, but the free gift, which came after many trespasses, leads to justification. ¹⁷ For if by one man’s trespass death reigned through him, then how much more will those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore just as through the trespass of one man came condemnation for all men, so through the righteous act of One came justification of life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One the many will be made righteous.

²⁰ But the law entered, so that sin might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, ² Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men said to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go into Egypt to sojourn there.’ ³ But Baruch the son of Neriah sets you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon.”

⁴ So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all nations wherever they had been driven to dwell in the land of Judah, ⁶ even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷ So they came into the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. Thus they entered as far as Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying: ⁹ Take some large stones in your hand and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰ and say to them, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. ¹¹ When he comes, he shall ravage the land of Egypt and deliver whoever is meant for death to death, and whoever is meant for captivity to captivity, and whoever is meant for the sword to the sword. ¹² I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt and he shall burn them and carry them away captives. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall depart from there in peace. ¹³ He shall also break the images of Heliopolis that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.

Psalm 19

For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.