M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Death of Samuel

25 Now Samuel died. All Israel gathered together and was filled with sorrow for him. They buried him at his house in Ramah.

Then David got ready and went down to the desert of Paran. ² There was a man in Maon who worked in Carmel. The man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was cutting the wool from his sheep in Carmel. ³ The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was of good understanding and beautiful. But the man was bad and sinful in his ways. He was a Calebite. ⁴ David heard in the desert that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men, saying to them, “Go up to Carmel. Visit Nabal and greet him for me. ⁶ Say to him, ‘Have a long life. Peace be to you. Peace be to your family. And peace be to all that you have. ⁷ I have heard that you have men who cut the wool from your sheep. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we have not done them any wrong. And they have not missed anything all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a special day. I ask you to give whatever you have ready to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in David’s name. Then they waited. ¹⁰ But Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are leaving their owners. ¹¹ Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my wool cutters, and give it to men when I do not know where they came from?” ¹² So David’s young men turned away and returned to David and told him all this. ¹³ David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” So every man put on his sword, and David put on his sword also. About 400 men went up behind David, while 200 stayed with their things.

¹⁴ But one of the young men told Nabal’s wife Abigail, “See, David sent men from the desert to greet our owner, and he spoke against them. ¹⁵ But David’s men were very good to us. They did not do anything wrong to us. And we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. ¹⁶ They were a wall to us night and day, all the time we were with them taking care of the sheep. ¹⁷ So know this and think about what you should do. For bad plans have been made against our owner and all his family. He is such a sinful man that no one can speak to him.”

¹⁸ In a hurry Abigail took 200 loaves of bread, two bottles of wine, five sheep ready to eat, five baskets of dry grain, 100 vines of dried grapes and 200 loaves of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ She said to her young men, “Go on before me. See, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ As she went on her donkey and came down hidden by the mountain, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had said, “It was for nothing that I have watched over all this man has in the desert, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him. He has paid me bad for good. ²² May God do the same to David and more, if I leave until morning as much as one male alive of all who belong to him.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey in a hurry. Then she put her face to the ground in front of David. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “Let the sin be on me alone, my lord. I beg you, let your woman servant speak to you. Listen to the words of your woman servant. ²⁵ I beg you, do not let my lord think about this sinful man, Nabal. For he is like his name. Nabal is his name and he is foolish. But I your woman servant did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent. ²⁶ So now, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, let the Lord keep you from being guilty of blood. Let Him keep you from punishing with your own hand. And let those who hate you and those who want to hurt my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ Now let this gift which your woman servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸ I beg you, forgive the sin of your woman servant. For the Lord will be sure to make my lord a family that will last. Because my lord is fighting the Lord’s battles. Sin will not be found in you as long as you live. ²⁹ If men rise up to come after you and try to kill you, then the life of my lord will be taken care of by the Lord your God. But He will throw away the lives of those who hate you, as a rock is thrown from a sling. ³⁰ The Lord will do to my lord all the good that He has promised you. He will make you ruler over Israel. ³¹ Then my lord will have no reason to feel sorry or guilty because of killing without cause or punishing by my lord’s own hand. When the Lord does good things for my lord, remember your woman servant.”

³² Then David said to Abigail, “Thanks be to the Lord God of Israel, Who sent you this day to meet me. ³³ May thanks be given for your wisdom, and thanks be to you. You have kept me this day from being guilty of blood, and from punishing with my own hand. ³⁴ The Lord God of Israel has kept me from hurting you. And as the Lord lives, if you had not been quick to come to meet me, for sure not one male would have been left to Nabal until the morning.” ³⁵ So David received what she had brought him. He said to her, “Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to you and have done what you asked.”

³⁶ Abigail came to Nabal and saw that he was having a special supper in his house, like the special supper of a king. Nabal’s heart was full of joy, because he was very drunk. So she did not tell him anything until the morning. ³⁷ But in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things. And his heart died within him so that he became like a stone. ³⁸ The Lord made Nabal die about ten days later.

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Thanks be to the Lord, Who has punished Nabal for putting me to shame. He has kept His servant from sin. And the Lord has turned the sin of Nabal upon himself.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to be his wife. ⁴⁰ When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you, to take you as his wife.” ⁴¹ She stood up and then put her face to the ground, and said, “See, your woman servant will serve you by washing the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴² Then she got ready in a hurry and traveled on a donkey, with her five young women who followed her. She followed the men David had sent, and became his wife.

⁴³ David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel also. They both became his wives.

⁴⁴ Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Going to Court Against Christians

6 Why do you go to court when you have something against another Christian? You are asking people who are not Christians to judge who is guilty. You should go to those who belong to Christ and ask them. ² Did you not know that those who belong to Christ will someday judge this world? If you judge the people of the world as guilty, are you not able to do this in small things? ³ Did you not know that we are to judge angels? So you should be able to take care of your problem here in this world without any trouble.

⁴ When you have things to decide about this life, why do you go to men in courts who are not even Christians? ⁵ You should be ashamed! Is it true that there is not one person wise enough in your church to decide who is right when people argue? ⁶ Instead, one Christian takes another Christian to court. And that court is made up of people who are not Christians! ⁷ This shows you are wrong when you have to go to court against each other. Would it not be better to let someone do something against you that is wrong? Would it not be better to let them rob you? ⁸ Instead, you rob and do wrong to other Christians.

The Body Is to Be Holy

⁹ Do you not know that sinful men will have no place in the holy nation of God? Do not be fooled. A person who does sex sins, or who worships false gods, or who is not faithful in marriage, or men who act like women, or people who do sex sins with their own sex, will have no place in the holy nation of God. ¹⁰ Also those who steal, or those who always want to get more of everything, or who get drunk, or who say bad things about others, or take things that are not theirs, will have no place in the holy nation of God. ¹¹ Some of you were like that. But now your sins are washed away. You were set apart for God-like living to do His work. You were made right with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

¹² I am allowed to do all things, but not everything is good for me to do! Even if I am free to do all things, I will not do them if I think it would be hard for me to stop when I know I should. ¹³ Food was meant for the stomach. The stomach needs food, but God will bring to an end both food and the stomach. The body was not meant for sex sins. It was meant to work for the Lord. The Lord is for our body. ¹⁴ God raised the Lord from death. He will raise us from death by His power also.

The Body Belongs to the Lord

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are a part of Christ Himself? Am I to take a part of Christ and make it a part of a woman who sells the use of her body? No! Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that a man who joins himself to a woman who sells the use of her body becomes a part of her? The Holy Writings say, “The two will become one.” ¹⁷ But if you join yourself to the Lord, you are one with Him in spirit.

¹⁸ Have nothing to do with sex sins! Any other sin that a man does, does not hurt his own body. But the man who does a sex sin sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a house of God where the Holy Spirit lives? God gave you His Holy Spirit. Now you belong to God. You do not belong to yourselves. ²⁰ God bought you with a great price. So honor God with your body. You belong to Him.

Ezekiel Shows How Jerusalem Will Be Taken

4 “Now, son of man, get a hard clay block. Set it down in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. ² Then build a battle-wall around it to shut it in, and build a hill of dirt against the wall. Cut down trees and lay them on wheels all around the city, to use for breaking down the walls. ³ Then get an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and turn your face toward it. It will be shut in, and you will fight a battle against it. This will be something special for the people of Israel to see.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side, and I will lay the sin of the people of Israel upon you. You will be under the weight of their sin for the number of days that you lie on your side. ⁵ I have set a number of days for you which is the same as the number of years of their sin, 390 days. This is how long you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Israel. ⁶ When you have completed these, you must lie down a second time, but on your right side. And you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Judah. I have set a time of forty days for you to do this, one day for each year. ⁷ Then you must turn your face toward the battle against Jerusalem with no covering on your arm, and tell what will happen against the city. ⁸ I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, until you have completed the days of your battle.

⁹ “Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt and put them in one pot, and make them into bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days that you lie on your side. ¹⁰ The food you eat each day will weigh as much as twenty pieces of silver, and will have to last until the next day. ¹¹ And the water you drink each day will be enough to fill a bottle. You will drink it from time to time. ¹² Eat your food as you would barley cakes, making it ready in front of their eyes over a fire burning human waste.” ¹³ The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat unclean food among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴ But I said, “O Lord God! See, I have never been unclean. Since I was young until now, I have never eaten what died of itself or what was torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever come into my mouth.” ¹⁵ So He said to me, “Then I will let you make your bread over cow’s waste instead of human waste.” ¹⁶ And He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to take away the bread that is needed in Jerusalem. They will weigh the bread they eat and they will drink water from small cups, and be afraid ¹⁷ because there will not be enough bread and water. They will look at one another in fear, and waste away in their sin.

God Keeps His Own

40 I did not give up waiting for the Lord. And He turned to me and heard my cry. ² He brought me up out of the hole of danger, out of the mud and clay. He set my feet on a rock, making my feet sure. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ How happy is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud or to the followers of lies. ⁵ O Lord my God, many are the great works You have done, and Your thoughts toward us. No one can compare with You! If I were to speak and tell of them, there would be too many to number.

⁶ You have not wanted gifts given on the altar in worship. You have opened my ears. You have not wanted burnt gifts or gifts to cover sins. ⁷ Then I said, “Look, I have come. It is written about me in the book. ⁸ I am happy to do Your will, O my God. Your Law is within my heart.”

⁹ I have told the good news about what is right and good in the big meeting with many people. You know I will not close my lips, O Lord. ¹⁰ I have not hidden what is right and good with You in my heart. I have spoken about how faithful You are and about Your saving power. I have not hidden Your loving-kindness and Your truth from the big meeting.

¹¹ O Lord, You will not keep Your loving-pity from me. Your loving-kindness and Your truth will always keep me safe. ¹² Too many troubles gather around me. My sins have taken such a hold on me that I am not able to see. There are more of them than there are hairs on my head. And the strength of my heart has left me.

¹³ Be pleased to save me, O Lord. Hurry, O Lord, to help me. ¹⁴ Let all who want to destroy my life be ashamed and troubled. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away without honor. ¹⁵ Let those who say to me, “O! O!” be filled with fear because of their shame. ¹⁶ But let all who look for You have joy and be glad in You. Let those who love Your saving power always say, “The Lord be honored!” ¹⁷ Because I suffer and am in need, let the Lord think of me. You are my help and the One Who sets me free. O my God, do not wait.

Prayer of a Sick Man about False Friends

41 Happy is the man who cares for the poor. The Lord will save him in times of trouble. ² The Lord will keep him alive and safe. And he will be happy upon the earth. You will not give him over to the desire of those who hate him. ³ The Lord will give him strength on his bed of sickness. When he is sick, You will make him well again.

⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, have loving-kindness for me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.” ⁵ Those who hate me speak bad words against me, saying, “When will he die, and his name be forgotten?” ⁶ When one comes to see me, he speaks lies. His heart gathers up bad stories. Then he goes outside and tells them. ⁷ All who hate me speak in secret together against me. They make plans to hurt me, saying, ⁸ “A bad thing has come over him. When he lies down, he will not rise again.” ⁹ Even a friend of mine whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has turned against me.

¹⁰ Have loving-kindness for me, O Lord. Raise me up, so that I may pay them back. ¹¹ Then I will know that You are pleased with me, because he who hates me does not win over me. ¹² As for me, You hold me up in my honesty. And You set me beside You forever.

¹³ Honor be to the Lord, the God of Israel, forever and ever! Let it be so!