M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Absalom Returns to Jerusalem
14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah recognized that the king’s mind was on Absalom. 2 So Joab sent a request to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He instructed her, “Act as if you are observing mourning rites. Put on mourning garments, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning over the dead like this for many days. 3 Then come to the king and speak to him in this manner.” Thus Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 As the Tekoan woman spoke to the king, she fell on her face toward the ground and bowed low. Then she said, “Help me, O king.”
5 The king said to her, “What troubles you?”
She responded, “Alas, I am a widow, and my husband is dead. 6 Furthermore, your servant had two sons. The two of them were fighting in the field, but there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. 7 Now the entire family has risen up against your maidservant, and they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, so that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and we will destroy the heir also.’ So they will extinguish my remaining ember, and leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”
8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.”
9 The Tekoan woman responded to the king, “May guilt rest upon me and the house of my father, my lord the king, and may the king and his throne be blameless.”
10 The king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not cause you harm again.”
11 Then she said, “May the king remember the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, lest they exterminate my son.”
He said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
12 Then the woman said, “Allow your servant to speak a word to my lord the king.”
So he said, “Speak.”
13 The woman said, “Why have you planned like this against the people of God? The king’s speaking this word is like a self-conviction, for the king has not brought back his own banished one. 14 We will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; He devises plans so that His banished ones will not be cast out from Him.
15 “So now I have come to speak to my lord the king about this matter because the people have made me afraid. So, I thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps the king will perform the request of his servant. 16 For the king may accept my request to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son from the inheritance of God.’
17 “So, your servant thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king provide rest. For like the angel of God, my lord the king discerns good from evil. May the Lord your God be with you.’ ”
18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not conceal from me anything that I ask you.”
The woman said, “May my lord the king please speak.”
19 The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all of this?”
The woman answered and said, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, there is no turning right or left from anything that you spoke, my lord the king, for your servant Joab is the very one who commanded me and placed all of these words in my mouth. 20 In order to change this situation, your servant Joab did this thing; but my lord is wise, as with the wisdom of the angel of God, so as to discern everything happening in the land.”
21 Then the king said to Joab, “This is what I will do. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
22 Then Joab fell with his face to ground and bowed low and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, since the king has granted the request of his servant.”
23 Then Joab arose and went to Geshur, and he brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 The king said, “Let him turn to his own house. He shall not come into my presence.” So Absalom turned to his house and did not come into the king’s presence.
David Forgives Absalom
25 In all of Israel, there was no man as handsome as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, there was not a blemish on him. 26 When he cut the hair of his head (and at the end of every year he cut it, for it was heavy on him), he weighed the hair from his head at two hundred shekels,[a] according to the king’s standard.
27 There were born to Absalom three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman.
28 Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two full years without coming into the king’s presence. 29 Then Absalom sent a message to Joab, requesting that he send him to the king, but he was not willing to come to him. So he sent a second message, but still he was not willing to come. 30 Then he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go, set it on fire.” So the servants of Absalom set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose, came to Absalom at his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my plot of land on fire?”
32 Absalom said to Joab, “I sent a message to you, saying: Come, so that I may send you to the king, asking, ‘Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.’ Now, let me go before the king, and if there is still guilt with me, may he put me to death.”
33 So Joab came and reported this to him. Then he summoned Absalom. So he came to the king, bowed low to him, his face on the ground before the king; then the king kissed Absalom.
7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Paul’s Joy at the Church’s Repentance
2 Accept us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, and we have defrauded no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, so that we would die or live with you. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you; great is my boasting of you. I am filled with comfort, and I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
5 For when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, and we were troubled on every side. On the outside were conflicts; on the inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us through the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, when he told us about your sincere desire, your mourning, and your zeal toward me, so that I rejoiced even more.
8 Though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I perceive that this same letter has caused you sorrow, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorrowful in a godly way, that you might not suffer loss in any way through us. 10 Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, which you sorrowed in a godly way: What carefulness it produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what intense desire, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In all things you have proven yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 So though I wrote to you, I did it not because of him who had done the wrong, nor because of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might be evident to you. 13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort.
Yes, and we were exceedingly the more joyful for the sake of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. 14 So I am not ashamed if I have boasted of anything to him regarding you. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even our boasting in the presence of Titus is found to be true. 15 Now his affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.
Babylon, the Sword of the Lord
21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: I am against you, and will draw My sword from its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, 5 that all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth My sword from its sheath. It shall not return anymore.
6 As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. 7 It shall be when they say to you, “Why do you groan?” that you shall answer, “Because of the news that is coming. And every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. It comes and shall be brought to pass,” says the Lord God.
8 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord! Say:
A sword, a sword is sharpened
and also furbished!
10 It is sharpened to make a slaughter;
it is furbished so that it may glitter like lightning.
Should we then make cheer, the rod of My son despising every tree?
11 He has given it to be furbished,
that it may be handled;
the sword is sharpened,
and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry out and howl, son of man;
for it shall be against My people,
it shall be against all the officials of Israel.
Terrors by reason of the sword
shall be upon My people;
therefore strike your thigh.
13 Because it is a trial, and what if even the rod which despises shall be no more? says the Lord God.
14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy
and clap your hands together.
And let the sword be doubled
the third time,
the sword of the slain.
It is the sword of the great one slain,
which surrounds them.
15 That their hearts may faint,
and many fall at all their gates,
I have given the glittering sword.
Ah! It is made for striking like lightning;
it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Show yourself sharp, go to the right hand.
Set yourself. Go to the left hand,
wherever your edge is set.
17 I will also clap My hands together,
and I will cause My fury to rest;
I the Lord have spoken.
18 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: 19 As for you, son of man, appoint two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And make a signpost. Make it at the head of the way to the city. 20 Appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: He shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks in the liver. 22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem: to appoint battering rams, to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle shout, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast up a ramp, and to build a siege tower. 23 It shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to those who have sworn oaths. But he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be seized.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins do appear, because, I say, that you have come to remembrance, you shall be seized with the hand.
25 You, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the punishment of the end, 26 thus says the Lord God: Remove the diadem and take off the crown. This shall not be the same anymore. Exalt what is low, and abase what is high. 27 A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. And it shall be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I shall give it to Him.
A Sword Against the Ammonites
28 You, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach, and say,
The sword, the sword is drawn,
furbished for the slaughter,
to cause it to consume
that it may be like lightning,
29 while they see vanity for you,
while they divine a lie to you
to bring you upon the necks
of the wicked who are slain,
whose day has come
in the time of the punishment of the end.
30 Return it to its sheath.
I will judge you
in the place where you were created,
in the land of your nativity.
31 I will pour out My indignation upon you;
I will blow against you in the fire of My wrath,
and deliver you into the hand of cruel men,
skilled in destruction.
32 You shall be fuel to the fire;
your blood shall be in the midst of the land.
You shall be no more remembered,
for I the Lord have spoken.
Psalm 68
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David. A Song.
1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered;
let those who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away,
You drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
so may the wicked perish before God.
3 But let the righteous be glad;
let them rejoice before God;
let them rejoice exceedingly.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
raise a song to Him who rides through the deserts—
His name is the Lord;
exult before Him.
5 A father of the fatherless, and a protector of the widows,
is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the deserted in families;
He brings out prisoners into prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
7 O God, when You went forth before Your people,
when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
8 the earth shook;
the heavens also poured down rain
at the presence of God; even Sinai shook
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You, O God, sent plentiful rain;
You established Your inheritance when it was weary.
10 Your congregation has lived in it;
You, O God, by Your goodness have prepared for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word;
great was the company of women who proclaimed it:
12 “Kings of armies flee; they flee!”
Even the women who were at home divided the spoil.
13 Though you sleep between the sheepfolds,
yet you will be like the wings of a dove overlaid with silver,
and its feathers with yellow gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it,
it was white as snow on Mount Zalmon.
15 The mountain of God is as the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks like the mountain of Bashan.
16 Why are you envious, you mountains of many peaks?
This is the mountain which God desires to dwell in;
yes, the Lord will dwell in it forever.
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, even thousands of thousands;
the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 You have ascended on high,
You have led captivity captive;
You have received gifts from people,
yes, even from the rebellious,
that the Lord God might dwell among them.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits,
even the God who is our salvation. Selah
20 That God is for us, the God of saving acts;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
21 But God will shatter the head of His enemies,
and the scalp of one who walks in his trespasses.
22 The Lord said, “I will cause them to return from Bashan,
I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea,
23 that your foot may stomp in the blood of your enemies,
and the tongue of your dogs may have a portion in it.”
24 They have seen Your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
25 The singers went before,
the players on instruments followed after;
among them were the young women playing tambourines.
26 Bless God in the congregations,
the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
27 There is little Benjamin leading them,
the princes of Judah and their throng of people,
the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength;
strengthen, O God, what You have done for us.
29 From Your temple above Jerusalem,
kings will bring gifts to You.
30 Rebuke the animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls, with the calves of the people,
until everyone submits himself with pieces of silver;
scatter peoples who delight in war.
31 Ambassadors will come out of Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
oh, sing praises to the Lord; Selah
33 to Him who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens;
He who sends out His voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God;
His majesty is over Israel,
and His strength is in the clouds.
35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuaries;
the God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to people.
Blessed be God!
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.