M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Rules over Israel
13 Saul was thirty[a] years old[b] at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned forty-two years[c] over Israel. 2 He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand of these were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 And all Israel did hear, saying, “Saul has defeated the garrison of the Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among the Philistines!” So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal.
Saul’s Blunder
5 And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which is on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that it was too difficult[d] for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults[e] and in the wells. 7 Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army followed him trembling.[f] 8 He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army started to slip away from him.[g] 9 So Saul said, “Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” Then he offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as[h] he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him and to bless him. 11 But Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the army was scattering[i] from me and you did not come at the appointed time[j] and that the Philistines had gathered at Micmash, 12 therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you.”
15 Then Samuel got up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men. 16 Saul and Jonathan his son and the army that remained with them were staying in Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines encamped at Micmash. 17 The raiders[k] went out from the camp of the Philistines in three divisions. One division turned on the road[l] to Ophrah toward the land of Shual. 18 One division turned on the road[m] to Beth Horon, and one turned on the road[n] toward the border overlooking the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
19 Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves.” 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare[o] sharpened. 21 The charge[p] was two-thirds of a shekel[q] for the plowshare and for the mattock, and a third of a shekel for the pick[r] and for the axe, and to set the goading sticks. 22 So[s] on the day of battle, there was not a sword or a spear found in the hands of all the army that was with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and his son Jonathan had them.[t] 23 Now the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Micmash.
A Remnant of Israel Remains
11 Therefore I say, God has not rejected his people, has he?[a] May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, from the descendants of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew! Or do you not know, in the passage about[b] Elijah, what the scripture says—how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life!”[c] 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have left for myself seven thousand people[d] who have not bent the knee to Baal.”[e] 5 So in this way also at the present time, there is a remnant selected by grace[f]. 6 But if by grace, it is no longer by works, for otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What Israel was searching for, this it did not obtain. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened, 8 just as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear,
until this very day.”[g]
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
and a cause for stumbling and a retribution to them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see,
and cause their backs to bend continually[h].”[i]
11 I say then, they did not stumble so that they fell, did they?[j] May it never be! But by their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.[k] 12 And if their trespass means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean?
Gentile Branches Grafted in
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Therefore, inasmuch as I am apostle to the Gentiles, I promote my ministry, 14 if somehow I may provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean except life from the dead? 16 Now if the first fruits are holy, so also is the whole batch of dough, and if the root is holy, so also are the branches.
17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although you[l] were a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree’s richness, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you boast against them, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in.” 20 Well said! They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand firm because of faith. Do not think arrogant thoughts, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural[m] branches, neither will he spare you.[n] 22 See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity upon those who have fallen, but upon you the kindness of God—if you continue in his kindness, for otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And those also, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches[o] be grafted into their own olive tree?
All Israel to be Saved
25 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you will not be wise in your own sight,[p] that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written,
“The deliverer will come out of Zion;
he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 And this is the covenant from me with them[q]
when I take away their sins.”[r]
28 With respect to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but with respect to election, they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you formerly were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of the disobedience of these, 31 so also these have now been disobedient for your mercy, in order that they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God confined them all in disobedience, in order that he could have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and how incomprehensible are his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?[s]
35 Or who has given in advance to him,
and it will be paid back to him?”[t]
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory for eternity! Amen.
A Message Concerning Babylon
50 The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
2 “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
and lift up a banner.
Proclaim, you must not conceal it.
Say, ‘Babylon is captured,
Bel is ashamed,
Merodach is filled with terror,
her idols are ashamed,
her idols are filled with terror.
3 For a nation will come up against her from the north.
It will make her land as a horror,
and an inhabitant will not be in her.
From humans[a] to animals[b] they all will wander off.
They will go away.
4 In those days and in that time,’” declares[c] Yahweh,
“the people[d] of Israel will come,
they and the people[e] of Judah together.
Weeping as they go,[f] they will go,
and Yahweh their God they will seek.
5 They will ask the way to Zion,
turning their faces there.
They will come and join themselves to Yahweh
by an everlasting covenant[g] that will not be forgotten.
6 My people have become lost sheep,
their shepherds have caused them to go astray.
They led them away to the mountains.
From mountain to hill they have gone,
they have forgotten their resting place.
7 All those who found them have devoured them.
And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty,
because[h] they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture,[i]
even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’[j]
8 Flee from the midst of Babylon,
and from the land of the Chaldeans.
Go out and be like he-goats
before[k] the flock.
9 For look, I am going to stir up,
and I am going to bring against Babylon
a contingent of great nations
from the land of the north.
And they will draw up a battle formation against her,
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success,
he does not return without success.
10 And Chaldea will be as booty,
all those who plunder her will be satisfied,” declares[l] Yahweh.
11 “Though you rejoice, though you exult,
O plunderers of my inheritance,
though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass,
and you neigh like the powerful stallions,
12 your mother will be very ashamed.
She who gave birth to you will be humiliated.[m]
Look, she will be the least of the nations,
a desert,[n] dry land, and wilderness.[o]
13 Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited,
but she will be a wasteland, all of her.
Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled
and will hiss because of all her wounds.
14 Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around,
all those who bend the bow, shoot at her.
You must not spare arrows,[p]
for she has sinned against Yahweh.
15 Raise a war cry against her on all sides.
She has surrendered.[q]
Her towers have fallen,
her walls are ruined.
For this is the vengeance of Yahweh.
Take revenge on her.
As she has done to others,
so do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest.
Because of[r] the sword of the oppressor
each one will turn to their people,
and each one will flee to their land.
17 Israel is a sheep scattered,
lions drove them away.
The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria,
and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”
18 Therefore[s] thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Look, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land
just as I punished the king of Assyria.
19 And I will restore Israel to its pasture,
and it will feed on Carmel, and in Bashan,
and on the hills[t] of Ephraim, and in Gilead
its hunger will be satisfied.
20 In those days and at that time,” declares[u] Yahweh,
“the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none,
and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found,
for I will forgive those I left behind.
21 To the land of Merathaim,
go up against her,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod,
massacre and destroy them,” declares[v] Yahweh,
“and do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 The sound of battle is in the land,
and great destruction.
23 How the blacksmith’s hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!
24 I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon.
But you yourself did not know.
You were discovered and seized,
because with Yahweh you measured yourself.
25 Yahweh has opened his armory,
and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for it is a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the end,
open her granaries.
Pile her up like heaps and destroy her.
Let there be no remnant for her.
27 Massacre all her bulls,
let them go down to the slaughtering.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28 There is the sound of fugitives and survivors
from the land of Babylon,
to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God,
the vengeance for his temple.
29 Summon archers against Babylon,
all those who bend the bow.
Encamp all around her,
there must not be for her an escape.
Take revenge on her according to her deeds.
According to all that she has done, so do to her.
For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently,
against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore[w] her young men will fall in her public squares,
and all her soldiers[x] will perish on that day,” declares[y] Yahweh.
31 “Look, I am against you, O arrogant one,”
declares[z] Lord Yahweh of hosts,
“for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 And the arrogant one will stumble and fall,
and there is no one who raises him up.
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour everything around him.”
33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
“The people[aa] of Israel are oppressed,
and the people[ab] of Judah likewise,
for[ac] all their captors have seized them,
they refuse to let them go free.
34 Their redeemer is strong,
his name is Yahweh of hosts.
Surely he will plead their case,
in order to make peace for the earth,
but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares[ad] Yahweh,
“and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials,
and against her wise men.
36 A sword against the oracle priests,
and they will become foolish.
A sword against her warriors,
and they will be filled with terror.
37 A sword against his horses,
and against his chariots,[ae]
and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her,
so that they may become as women.
A sword against her treasures,
so that they may be plundered.
38 A drought will come against her waters,
and they will dry up,
for it is a land of images,
and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.
39 Therefore[af] desert creatures will live there[ag] with jackals,
and daughters of ostriches[ah] will inhabit her.
And she will not be inhabited again forever,[ai]
and she will not be dwelt in for all generations.[aj]
40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and their neighbors,” declares[ak] Yahweh,
“no one will live there,
and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.
41 Look, a people is about to come
from the north,
and a great nation and many kings are woken up
from the remotest part of the earth.
42 They keep hold of bow and short sword.
They are cruel and they have no mercy.
Their sound is like the sea, it roars,
and upon horses they ride.
Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle,
against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon heard their report
and his hands grew slack.
Anxiety has seized him,
fear and pain like the woman who gives birth.
44 Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets[al] of the Jordan
against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream,[am]
so I will chase them away quickly[an] from her,
and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her.
For who is like me, and who can summon me,
and who is this shepherd who can stand before me?[ao]
45 Therefore[ap] hear the plan of Yahweh
that he has planned against Babylon,
and his plans
that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans.
Surely[aq] they will drag them away,
the little ones of the flock.
Surely[ar] he will cause their grazing place
to be desolate over them.
46 At the sound, ‘Babylon has been captured,’
the earth will quake,
and a cry for help among the nations
will be heard.”
A Prayer for Help, and Joy in Its Answer
A psalm of David.[a]
28 To you, O Yahweh, I call.
O my rock, do not be deaf to me.
Or else, if you are silent to me,
then I will become like those descending to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your holy inner sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked
or with the workers of evil,
who speak of peace with their neighbors,
while evil is in their heart.
4 Give to them according to their work,
even according to the evil of their deeds.
Give to them according to the work of their hands;
repay them their rightful due.
5 Because they do not regard the works of Yahweh,
nor the work of his hands,
he will destroy them
and not rebuild them.
6 Blessed is Yahweh,
because he has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield.
My heart trusts him and I am helped.
So my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will give thanks to him.
8 Yahweh is their strength,
and he is the refuge for the salvation of his anointed one.
9 Save your people
and bless your heritage.
Shepherd them also and carry them always.
Praise to God for His Glory and Strength
A psalm of David.[b]
29 Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of God,[c]
ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due[d] his name.
Worship Yahweh in holy array.
3 The voice of Yahweh is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders.
Yahweh is over many waters.
4 The voice of Yahweh is powerful.
The voice of Yahweh is majestic.
5 The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars.
Yahweh shatters even the cedars of Lebanon.
6 And he makes them skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of Yahweh flashes[e] flames of fire.
8 The voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness.
Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of Yahweh causes deer[f] to give birth
and strips the forests bare.
And at his temple all in it say, “Glory!”
10 Yahweh sits enthroned at the flood,
and Yahweh sits as king forever.
11 May Yahweh give strength to his people.
May Yahweh bless his people with peace.
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