M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
17 Ahithophel also said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men so that I may arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will overtake him while he is weary and weak and strike him with terror; all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike only the king, 3 and I will return all of the people to you. When all return except the man whom you are seeking, all of the people will be at peace.” 4 The advice pleased Absalom and all of the elders of Israel.
5 So Absalom said, “Summon Hushai the Arkite so that we may hear what he has to say as well.” 6 When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel had advised. Should we do this thing? If not, you should tell us.”
7 Hushai said to Absalom, “At this time, the advice that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Moreover, Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are warriors, and they have been provoked like a bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is a veteran of warfare. He will not spend the night with the people. 9 Even now, he has hidden himself in a ravine or some other place, and when one of them falls in the first attack, whoever hears will say, ‘It was a defeat for the people who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the valiant one, whose heart is like that of a lion, will completely despair, for all of Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and those who are with him are brave.
11 “Therefore my advice is for all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, to be completely gathered to you like the multitude of the sand along the shoreline and for you to go to battle in person. 12 We will come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, and we will fall upon him like the dew upon the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will remain, not a single one. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all of Israel will bring ropes to that city. We will raze it until it is a valley, until there cannot be found there even a pebble.”
14 Then Absalom and all of the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had decided to undermine the prudent advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity to Absalom.
Hushai Warns David to Escape
15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do one thing, but I advised them to do another thing. 16 Now quickly send someone to report to David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but instead cross over. Otherwise, the king and all of the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’ ”
17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. A servant girl would go report to them, and they would go report to King David, because they could not be seen entering the city. 18 But a young man saw them and reported this to Absalom. So the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it. 19 The wife took a covering and spread it over the opening of the well. Then she scattered grain over it so that nothing could be discerned.
20 The servants of Absalom came to the woman at the house and said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
She said, “They crossed over the brook of water.” When they searched, they could not find them. So they returned to Jerusalem.
21 After they left, they came up from the well, went, and reported to King David. They said to David, “Arise and quickly cross over the water because thus has Ahithophel advised against you.” 22 So David and all of the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By daybreak, there was not one left who had not crossed over the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice was not followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his own city. He gave instruction to his household, then he hanged himself and died; he was interred in the tomb of his father.
Absalom’s Death
24 David came to Mahanaim as Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and every Israelite with him. 25 Now Absalom had placed Amasa over the army in the place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. 26 Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought bedding, metal bowls, ceramic vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, 29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the livestock for David and the people who were with him to eat and use. For they said, “The people are hungry, exhausted, and thirsting in the wilderness.”
Paul Defends His Ministry
10 Now I, Paul, who am lowly in presence among you but bold toward you while absent, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 2 I beg you that when I am present, I might not have to be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, 5 casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is complete.
7 Do you look at things from the outward appearance? If any man trusts that he is Christ’s, let him consider again that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. 8 For even if I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed, 9 lest I appear to frighten you by my letters. 10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” 11 Let such a person consider this: that as we are in word by letters when we are absent, we will also be in deed when we are present.
12 For we dare not count or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. They who measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another are not wise. 13 But we will not boast beyond measure, but within the boundaries which God has appointed us, which reach even you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you, since we have come to you, preaching the gospel of Christ. 15 We are not boasting of things beyond our measure in other men’s labors. But we have hope that when your faith is increased, our region shall be greatly enlarged by you, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man’s accomplishments. 17 But, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”[a] 18 For it is not he who commends himself who is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
The Siege of Jerusalem
24 And in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this same day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:
Put on the pot, put it on,
and also pour water into it.
4 Gather the pieces into it,
even every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder.
Fill it with the choice bones;
5 take the choicest of the flock,
and also pile the bones under it;
make it boil well,
also seethe its bones in it.
6 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the bloody city,
to the pot whose rust is in it,
and whose rust has not gone out of it!
Take out of it piece by piece
without choosing.
7 For her blood is in her midst;
she set it on the bare rock;
she did not pour it on the ground
to cover it with dust.
8 That it may cause fury to come up to take vengeance,
I have set her blood on the bare rock,
that it may not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Woe to the bloody city!
I will also make the pile great.
10 Heap on wood,
kindle the fire;
boil the flesh,
and spice it well,
and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty on its coals,
so that it may be hot and its bronze may glow,
and its filthiness may be melted in it,
and its rust may be consumed.
12 She has wearied Me with toil,
and her great rust has not gone from her.
Let her rust be in the fire.
13 In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I would have purged you, yet you are not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness anymore until I have caused My fury to rest on you.
14 I the Lord have spoken. It shall come to pass and I will act. I will not go back, nor will I spare, nor will I be sorry. According to your ways and according to your deeds, I shall judge you, says the Lord God.
The Death of Ezekiel’s Wife
15 Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 16 Son of man, I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17 Groan silently. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet and do not cover your mustache and do not eat the bread of men.
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And in the morning I did as I was commanded.
19 And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are behaving this way?”
20 Then I answered them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes and the delight of your soul. And your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 22 You shall do as I have done. You shall not cover your mustache, nor will you eat the bread of men. 23 Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet. You shall not mourn or weep. But you shall pine away for your iniquities and groan toward one another. 24 Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you. According to all that he has done you shall do. And when it comes about, then you shall know that I am the Lord God.
25 As for you, son of man, shall it not be on the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters, 26 that on that day he who escapes shall come to you to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 On that day your mouth shall be opened to him who escaped, and you shall speak and be mute no more. Thus you shall be a sign to them. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
Psalm 72
A Psalm of Solomon.
1 Give the king Your judgments, O God,
and Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge Your people with righteousness,
and Your poor with justice.
3 May the mountains bring well-being to the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
4 May he judge the poor of the people,
may he save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May they fear You as long as the sun endures,
and the moon, throughout all generations.
6 May he descend like rain on the mown grass,
as showers dripping on the earth.
7 In his days may the righteous flourish,
and abundance of peace until the moon is no more.
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 May those who dwell in the wilderness bow before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
bring presents;
the kings of Sheba and Seba offer a gift.
11 May all kings bow down before him;
may all nations serve him.
12 Indeed, may he deliver the needy when he cries;
the poor also, and him who has no helper.
13 May he have compassion on the poor and needy,
and save the lives of the needy.
14 May he redeem their life from deceit and violence;
and may their blood be precious in his sight.
15 May he live long,
and may one give him the gold of Sheba;
and pray for him continually;
and all day long may he be blessed.
16 May there be abundance of grain in the earth
on the top of the mountains;
may its fruit shake like Lebanon;
and may those from the city flourish like grass of the earth.
17 May his name endure forever;
may his name increase as long as the sun.
May men be blessed in him;
may all nations call him blessed!
18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous deeds.
19 Blessed be His glorious name forever;
and may the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.