M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Did Not Kill Saul

24 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “See, David is in the desert of Engedi.” ² Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel, and went to find David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³ He came to the places where the sheep were kept on the way. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to get rid of his body waste. Now David and his men were sitting farther back in the cave. ⁴ David’s men said to David, “See, this is the day the Lord told you, ‘See, I am about to give the one who hates you into your hand. You will do to him what you think is best.’” Then David got up and cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing in secret. ⁵ After this, David felt guilty in his heart because he had cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing. ⁶ So he said to his men, “May the Lord not let me put out my hand against my leader, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁷ David stopped his men with these words. He did not let them go against Saul. So Saul stood up and left the cave, and went on his way.

⁸ After this David got up and went out of the cave and called to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David put his face to the ground, showing much respect. ⁹ David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘David wants to hurt you’? ¹⁰ See, your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you to me today in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity on you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my leader, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’ ¹¹ Now, my father, see the piece of your clothing in my hand. I cut off the piece of your clothing but did not kill you. So know and understand that I have no desire to do wrong to you. I have not sinned against you, yet you come wanting to kill me. ¹² May the Lord judge between you and me. May He punish you for your action against me. But my hand will not be against you. ¹³ As the men of long ago said in their wisdom, ‘Out of the sinful comes sin,’ but my hand will not be against you. ¹⁴ After whom has the king come out? After whom are you running? After a dead dog? After a little bug? ¹⁵ May the Lord be the One to judge between you and me. May He see and help me, and save me from you.” ¹⁶ When David had finished speaking to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul gave a loud cry. ¹⁷ He said to David, “You are more right and good than I. For you have brought good to me, while I have done wrong to you. ¹⁸ You have said today that you have done good to me. The Lord gave me to you and you did not kill me. ¹⁹ If a man finds the one who hates him, will he let him go away safe? May the Lord bring good to you for what you have done for me this day. ²⁰ Now I know that you will be king for sure. The nation of Israel will be made strong under your power. ²¹ So promise to me by the Lord that you will not destroy my children after me. Promise that you will not destroy my name from my father’s family.” ²² David gave Saul his promise, and Saul went home. But David and his men went up to the safe place.

Sin in the Church

5 Someone has told me about a sex sin among you. It is so bad that even the people who do not know God would not do it. I have been told that one of the men is living with his father’s wife as if she were his wife. ² Instead of being sorry, you are proud of yourselves. The man who is living like that should be sent away from you. ³ I am far from you. Even if I am not there, my spirit is with you. I have already said that the man is guilty of this sin. I am saying this as if I were there with you. ⁴ Call a meeting of the church. I will be with you in spirit. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power, ⁵ hand this person over to the devil. His body is to be destroyed so his spirit may be saved on the day the Lord comes again.

⁶ It is not good for you to be proud of the way things are going in your church. You know a little yeast makes the whole loaf of bread rise. ⁷ Clean out the old yeast. Then you will be new bread with none of the old yeast in you. The Jews killed lambs when they left Egypt. Christ is our lamb. He has already been killed as a gift on the altar to God for us. ⁸ Bread with yeast in it is like being full of sin and hate. Let us eat this supper together with bread that has no yeast in it. This bread is pure and true.

⁹ I told you in my letter not to keep on being with people who do any kind of sex sins. ¹⁰ I was not talking about people doing sex sins who are bad people of this world. I was not talking about people of this world who always want to get more or those who get things in a wrong way or those who worship false gods. To get away from people like that you would have to leave this world! ¹¹ What I wrote was that you should not keep on being with a person who calls himself a Christian if he does any kind of sex sins. You should not even eat with a person who says he is a Christian but always wants to get more of everything or uses bad language or who gets drunk or gets things in a wrong way. ¹² It is not for me to judge those outside the church. You are to judge those who belong to the church. ¹³ God will judge those outside the church. So you must put that sinful person out of your church.

3 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this book, then go and speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this book. ³ And He said to me, “Son of man, eat this book that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel, and speak My words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to people of strange speech and a hard language, but to the people of Israel. ⁶ You are not being sent to many people of strange speech and a hard language whom you cannot understand. If I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷ But the people of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me. All the people of Israel are strong-willed and show no respect. ⁸ See, I have made you as strong-willed and as hard as they are. ⁹ I have made your forehead harder than the hardest stone. Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of how they look, even if they do not obey Me.” ¹⁰ He said to me, “Son of man, take all My words that I say to you into your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ Then go to the Jews who have been taken away from their land. Go to the sons of your people. And if they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’”

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud sounding voice behind me say, “Great is the shining-greatness of the Lord from His place.” ¹³ I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them. It was a loud rushing sound. ¹⁴ The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went with a bitter and angry spirit. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the Jews who had been taken from their land and who lived by the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I sat among them seven days where they were living, and I was filled with fear.

Ezekiel to Watch Over Israel

¹⁶ At the end of seven days the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have chosen you to be a watchman over the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, tell them of the danger. ¹⁸ If I say to the sinful man, ‘You will die for sure,’ and you do not tell him of the danger, and try to turn him from his sinful way so that he may live, that sinful man will die in his sin. But you will be guilty for his blood. ¹⁹ But if you tell a sinful man of the danger he is in, and he does not turn from his sins or from his sinful way, then he will die in his sin. But you will have saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, if a right and good man turns away from his right and good way and sins, and I put a cause of falling in his way, he will die. Because you have not told him of the danger, he will die in his sin, and the right and good things he has done will not be remembered. But you will be guilty for his blood. ²¹ Yet if you have told the right and good man of the danger of his sinning, and he does not sin, he will live for sure because he listened to you. And you will have saved yourself.”

Ezekiel Is Not Able to Speak

²² The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak to you there.” ²³ So I got up and went out to the plain, and saw the shining-greatness of the Lord standing there. It was like the shining-greatness which I saw by the Chebar River, and I fell on my face. ²⁴ Then the Spirit came into me and made me stand on my feet. And He spoke and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house. ²⁵ As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. ²⁶ And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot speak. You will not be able to speak sharp words to them, for they will not obey Me. ²⁷ But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ He who hears, let him hear. And he who is not willing to hear, let him not be willing. For they are a sinful people.

Prayer of a Suffering Man

39 I said, “I will watch my ways so I may not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth shut as if it were tied with ropes, while the sinful are near me.” ² I stayed quiet, not even saying anything good. And my sorrow grew worse. ³ My heart was hot within me. As I thought about things, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue, ⁴ “O Lord, let me know my end and how many days I have to live. Let me know that I do not have long to stay here. ⁵ You have made each of my days as long as a hand is wide. My whole life is nothing in Your eyes. Every man at his best is only a breath. ⁶ Every man walks here and there like a shadow. He makes a noise about nothing. He stores up riches, not knowing who will gather them.

⁷ And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. ⁸ Save me from all my sins. Do not let me be put to shame by the foolish. ⁹ I cannot speak. I do not open my mouth because it is You Who has done it. ¹⁰ Do not punish me any more. I am growing weak by the beatings of Your hand. ¹¹ With sharp words You punish a man for sin. You destroy like a moth what is of worth to him. For sure, every man is only a breath.

¹² O Lord, hear my prayer, and listen to my cry. Do not be quiet when You see my tears. For I am a stranger with You, a visitor like all my fathers. ¹³ Look away from me, so I may have joy again before I go and am no more.”