M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

War with the Amalekites

15 Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to choose you to be king over His people Israel. Now listen to the Words of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord of All says. ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel in standing against them on the way, when they came up from Egypt. ³ Now go and destroy Amalek. Destroy all they have, and do not let them live. Kill both man and woman, child and baby, cattle and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

⁴ So Saul called the people together and numbered them in Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. ⁵ Saul came to the city of Amalek and hid, waiting in the valley. ⁶ Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, leave the Amalekites, or I might destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites left the Amalekites. ⁷ Then Saul destroyed the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, east of Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and destroyed all the people with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the people did not kill Agag and the best of the sheep, the cattle, the fat animals ready to be killed, the lambs, and all that was good. They would not destroy them. But they destroyed everything that was hated and was of no worth.

Saul Is No Longer King

¹⁰ The Word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹ “I am sorry that I have made Saul king. For he has turned away from following Me. He has not done what I told him to do.” Samuel was much troubled in his heart. He cried out to the Lord all night. ¹² When Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul, he was told, “Saul came to Carmel and set up a stone in his honor. Then he turned and went down to Gilgal.” ¹³ Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “May the Lord bring good to you. I have done what the Lord told me to do.” ¹⁴ But Samuel said, “Then why do I hear the sounds of sheep and cattle?” ¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people saved the best of the sheep and cattle to give to the Lord your God. But we have destroyed all the rest.” ¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And Saul said to him, “Speak.”

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Is it not true that even when you were not important in your own eyes, you were made the head of the families of Israel? The Lord chose you to be king over Israel. ¹⁸ And the Lord sent you to go and destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are no more. ¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? You rushed upon what was left after the battle and did what was sinful in the Lord’s eyes.”

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord. I went where the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek. And I have destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But the people took some of their things that were left. They took sheep and cattle and the best of the things to be destroyed, to give to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” ²² Samuel said, “Is the Lord pleased as much with burnt gifts as He is when He is obeyed? See, it is better to obey than to give gifts. It is better to listen than to give the fat of rams. ²³ To go against what you are told is like the sin of witchcraft. Not to obey is like the sin of worshiping false gods. You have turned away from the Word of the Lord. So He has turned away from you being king.”

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I have sinned against the Word of the Lord and your words, because I was afraid of the people and listened to them. ²⁵ Now I beg you, forgive my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.” ²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have turned away from the Word of the Lord. And the Lord has turned away from you being king over Israel.” ²⁷ As Samuel turned to go, Saul took hold of part of his clothing, and it tore. ²⁸ So Samuel said to him, “Today the Lord has torn the rule of Israel away from you. He has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. ²⁹ And the shining greatness of Israel will not lie or change His mind. For He is not a man that He should change His mind.” ³⁰ Saul said, “I have sinned. But I beg you, honor me now in front of the leaders of my people and in front of Israel. Return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” ³¹ So Samuel returned with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalekites.” Agag was happy when he came to him. Agag said, “For sure the bad feelings of death are past.” ³³ But Samuel said, “As your sword has killed the children of women, so will your mother have no children.” And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. But Samuel was filled with sorrow because of Saul. And the Lord was sorry that He had made Saul king over Israel.

13 Every person must obey the leaders of the land. There is no power given but from God, and all leaders are allowed by God. ² The person who does not obey the leaders of the land is working against what God has done. Anyone who does that will be punished.

³ Those who do right do not have to be afraid of the leaders. Those who do wrong are afraid of them. Do you want to be free from fear of them? Then do what is right. You will be respected instead. ⁴ Leaders are God’s servants to help you. If you do wrong, you should be afraid. They have the power to punish you. They work for God. They do what God wants done to those who do wrong.

⁵ You must obey the leaders of the land, not only to keep from God’s anger, but so your own heart will have peace. ⁶ It is right for you to pay taxes because the leaders of the land are servants for God who care for these things. ⁷ Pay taxes to whom taxes are to be paid. Be afraid of those you should fear. Respect those you should respect.

⁸ Do not owe anyone anything, but love each other. Whoever loves his neighbor has done what the Law says to do. ⁹ The Law says, “You must not do any sex sin. You must not kill another person. You must not steal. You must not tell a lie about another person. You must not want something someone else has.” The Law also says that these and many other Laws are brought together in one Law, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Anyone who loves his neighbor will do no wrong to him. You keep the Law with love.

¹¹ There is another reason for doing what is right. You know what time it is. It is time for you to wake up from your sleep. The time when we will be taken up to be with Christ is not as far off as when we first put our trust in Him. ¹² Night is almost gone. Day is almost here. We must stop doing the sinful things that are done in the dark. We must put on all the things God gives us to fight with for the day. ¹³ We must act all the time as if it were day. Keep away from wild parties and do not be drunk. Keep yourself free from sex sins and bad actions. Do not fight or be jealous. ¹⁴ Let every part of you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not allow your weak thoughts to lead you into sinful actions.

Jerusalem Destroyed

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ² Zedekiah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord, like all that Jehoiakim had done. ³ The Lord became so angry with Jerusalem and Judah that He had them sent away from Him. And Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

⁴ On the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of his rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army to fight against Jerusalem. His soldiers gathered outside the city and built a battle-wall all around it. ⁵ So the city was shut in by the army of the Babylonians until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger became very bad in the city. There was no food for the people of the land. ⁷ Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war ran away. They left the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, while the Babylonians were all around the city. They went by way of the Arabah. ⁸ But the Babylonian army went after King Zedekiah and came to him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was divided and ran away from him. ⁹ They took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he decided what Zedekiah’s punishment would be. ¹⁰ The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in front of his eyes. He killed all the leaders of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, put him in chains of brass, and took him to Babylon. There he was put in prison until the day of his death.

The House of God Destroyed

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan was the captain of the prison soldiers and served the king of Babylon. ¹³ And he burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every great house. ¹⁴ The whole Babylonian army that was with the captain of the prison soldiers broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the prison soldiers, carried away to Babylon some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the able workmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan left some of the poorest people of the land to take care of the vines and fields.

¹⁷ The Babylonians broke in pieces the brass pillars which belonged to the house of the Lord, and the stands and the brass pool which were in the Lord’s house. And they carried all the brass to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away the pots, the tools, the objects for putting out the lamps, the washing pots, the dishes for special perfume, and all the brass objects used in the work of the Lord’s house. ¹⁹ The captain of the prison soldiers also took away the deep dishes, the fire holders, the washing pots, the other pots, the lamp-stands, the dishes for special perfume, and the dishes for drink gifts, that were made of fine gold and fine silver. ²⁰ He took the two pillars, the brass pool, the twelve brass bulls that were under the pool, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The brass of all these objects was too heavy to weigh. ²¹ Each pillar was five times taller than a man, as long around as six long steps, as wide as four fingers, and empty inside. ²² Its top part was brass and as tall as a man can raise his hand, with a network and pomegranates all around the top part, all made of brass. The second pillar with its pomegranates was the same. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. There were one hundred pomegranates on the network all around.

The People Taken to Babylon

²⁴ Then the captain of the prison soldiers took Seraiah, the head religious leader, and Zephaniah, the second religious leader, and the three door keepers of the Lord’s house. ²⁵ He also took from the city one captain who had been over the men of war, and seven of the king’s wise men who were found in the city. He took the writer who worked for the captain of the army, who called together the people of the land. And he took sixty men of the land who were found in the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, ²⁷ and the king of Babylon killed them. He put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led out of its land in chains.

²⁸ These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon: In the seventh year he took 3,023 Jews. ²⁹ In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took 832 people from Jerusalem. ³⁰ In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took away 745 Jews. There were 4,600 people taken away in all.

³¹ On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the thirty-seventh year since King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken away to Babylon, Evilmerodach king of Babylon showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah. It was the first year of his rule, and he brought Jehoiachin out of prison. ³² He spoke to him with kindness, and gave him a seat of honor higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed from his prison clothes, and ate with the king every day for the rest of his life. ³⁴ And a share of money was given to him by the king of Babylon every day as long as he lived, until the day of his death.

Prayer of Trust in God

31 O Lord, in You I have found a safe place. Let me never be ashamed. Set me free, because You do what is right and good. ² Turn Your ear to me, and be quick to save me. Be my rock of strength, a strong place to keep me safe. ³ For You are my rock and my safe place. For the honor of Your name, lead me and show me the way. ⁴ You will free me from the net that they have hidden for me. For You are my strength. ⁵ I give my spirit into Your hands. You have made me free, O Lord, God of truth.

⁶ I hate those who worship false gods. But I trust in the Lord. ⁷ I will be glad and full of joy in Your loving-kindness. For You have seen my suffering. You have known the troubles of my soul. ⁸ You have not given me into the hand of those who hate me. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹ Show me loving-kindness, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My eyes, my soul and my body are becoming weak from being sad. ¹⁰ For my life gets weaker with sorrow, and my years with crying inside myself. My strength has left me because of my sin. And my bones waste away. ¹¹ Because of all those who hate me, I have become a shame to my neighbors. Even my friends do not want to be with me. Those who see me on the street run from me. ¹² I am forgotten like a dead man and they do not think about me. I am like a broken pot. ¹³ For I have heard many say things to hurt me. Fear is on every side. They planned together against me. They thought of ways to take away my life.

¹⁴ But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord. I say, “You are my God.” ¹⁵ My times are in Your hands. Free me from the hands of those who hate me, and from those who try to hurt me. ¹⁶ Make Your face shine upon Your servant. Save me in Your loving-kindness. ¹⁷ Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord. For I call to You. Let the sinful be put to shame. Let them be quiet in the grave. ¹⁸ Let the lying lips be quiet. For they speak with pride and hate those who do right and good.

¹⁹ How great is Your loving-kindness! You have stored it up for those who fear You. You show it to those who trust in You in front of the sons of men. ²⁰ You will hide them with You in secret from the sinful plans of men. You keep them in Your tent in secret from those who fight with tongues. ²¹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord. For He has shown His great loving-favor to me when I was in a city with armies all around. ²² In my fear I said, “You have closed Your eyes to me!” But You heard my cry for loving-kindness when I called to You.

²³ Love the Lord, all you who belong to Him! The Lord keeps the faithful safe. But He gives the proud their pay in full. ²⁴ Be strong. Be strong in heart, all you who hope in the Lord.