M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Israel Defeats the Amalekites
15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So then, listen to the words[a] of Yahweh! 2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, how he opposed him[b] when he went up from Egypt. 3 So then, go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that is his! You must not spare him, but kill both man and woman, both child and nursing infant, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.’”
4 Saul summoned the army and mustered them at Telaim; two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 Then Saul came up to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the wadi.[c] 6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the Israelites[d] when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites left from among the Amalekites. 7 Then Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as one goes to Shur which is east of[e] Egypt. 8 He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the edge[f] of the sword. 9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second best of the young fatlings and all that was valuable;[g] they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed.
Samuel Announces the Downfall of Saul
10 Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word.” Samuel became angry,[h] and he cried out to Yahweh all night. 12 Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he is setting up a monument for himself.” Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal.
13 When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh.” 14 But Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of the sheep that I hear in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” So he said to him, “Speak.”
17 Samuel said, “Even though you are small in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. 18 When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: ‘Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you[i] have destroyed them.’ 19 Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!” 20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. 21 The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal.”
22 Then Samuel said,
“Is there as much delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as there is in obeying[j] Yahweh?
Look! To obey[k] is better than sacrifice;
to give heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination;
arrogance is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh,
he has rejected you from being king!”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh[l] and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. 25 So then, please pardon my sin and return with me so that I can worship[m] Yahweh.” 26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!”
27 As Samuel turned around to go, he[n] caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Then Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.[o] 29 Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he is not a human that he should regret.” 30 Then he[p] said, “I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me so that I can worship[q] Yahweh your God.” 31 So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshiped[r] Yahweh.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of Amalek out to me!” Agag came to him confidently,[s] for Agag thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is over.”[t]
33 Samuel said,
“Just as your sword bereaved women,
so will your mother be bereaved among women!”
Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces in the presence of Yahweh at Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Samuel did not see Saul again[u] until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned over Saul, and Yahweh regretted that he made Saul king over Israel.
Obedience to the Governing Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, and those that exist are put in place by God. 2 So then, the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God, and those who resist will receive condemnation on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of terror for a good deed, but for bad conduct. So do you want not to be afraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it, 4 for it is God’s servant to you for what is good. But if you do what is bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God’s servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does what is bad. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities[a] are servants of God, busily engaged in this very thing. 7 Pay to everyone what is owed: pay taxes to whom taxes are due; pay customs duties to whom customs duties are due; pay respect to whom respect is due; pay honor to whom honor is due.[b]
Love Fulfills the Law
8 Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves someone else has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”[c] and if there is any other commandment, are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[d] 10 Love does not commit evil against a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this because you[e] know the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we believed. 12 The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. Therefore let us throw off[f] the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. 13 Let us live decently, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old[a] at his beginning to reign, and he reigned eleven years[b] in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For because of the anger[c] of Yahweh this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until his casting them from his presence.[d] And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And then[e] in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army. And they laid siege to it, and built siege works[f] against it all around. 5 So the city came under siege[g] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city was breached, and all the soldiers[h] fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls that are at the garden of the king, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went in the direction of the Jordan Valley.[i] 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.[j] 10 And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 Then he made blind the eyes of Zedekiah, and they tied him up with bronze fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon. And he put him in prison[k] until the day of his death.
12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard,[l] who stood before[m] the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem. 13 And he burned the temple[n] of Yahweh, and the palace[o] of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard[p] broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. 15 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard[q] deported some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard[r] left some of the poor of the land to serve as vinedressers and farmers.
17 And the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the temple[s] of Yahweh, and the kettle stands and the sea of bronze that were in the temple[t] of Yahweh, and they carried all their bronze to Babylon. 18 And they took with them the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze which were used in temple service. 19 And the captain of the guard[u] took the bowls, and the firepans, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the pans, and the libation bowls, those made of solid gold[v] and those made of solid silver.[w] 20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that were under the kettle stands which King Solomon had made for the temple[x] of Yahweh—there was not a weight for the bronze of all these vessels! 21 Now the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits,[y] and a thread of twelve cubits[z] surrounded it, and its thickness was four fingers, hollowed out. 22 And a capital upon it was bronze and the height of the one capital was five cubits, and latticework and pomegranates were on the capital on all sides, all of bronze. And like these was the second pillar with pomegranates. 23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides;[aa] all the pomegranates on the latticework on all sides were a hundred.
24 Then the captain of the guard[ab] took Seraiah the chief priest,[ac] and Zephaniah the second priest,[ad] and three keepers of the threshold. 25 And from the city he took one high official who was chief officer over the soldiers,[ae] and seven men of the king’s advisors[af] who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who levied for military service the people of the land, and sixty men[ag] of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. 26 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard[ah] took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.
28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred and thirty-two persons[ai] from Jerusalem; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard,[aj] deported seven hundred and forty-five Judean persons;[ak] there were four thousand six hundred persons[al] in all.
An Allowance for Jehoiachin
31 And then[am] in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, the king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and brought him out from prison.[an] 32 Then he spoke with him kindly and gave his seat above the seats[ao] of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So he changed the garments of his imprisonment and he ate food before him[ap] continually all the days of his life. 34 And his allowance, a continual allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon on a daily basis[aq] all the days of his life up to the day of his death.
Yahweh Is a Fortress
For the music director. A psalm of David.[a]
31 In you, O Yahweh, I have taken refuge.
Let me not be put to shame ever.
Deliver me by your righteousness.
2 Incline your ear to me.
Quickly deliver me.
Become my rock of refuge,
a fortified keep[b] to save me.
3 For you are my rock and my fortress.
So, for the sake of your name,
lead me and guide me.
4 Bring me out of the net that they have secretly set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Yahweh, faithful God.[c]
6 I hate those devoted to useless idols,
but I trust Yahweh.
7 I will exult and rejoice in your loyal love.
Because you have seen my misery,
you know the distresses of my life.[d]
8 And you have not delivered me
into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a broad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh,
because I have distress.
My eye wastes away because of vexation,
along with my soul and my body.[e]
10 For my life is at an end with sorrow,
and my years with sighing.
My strength stumbles because of my iniquity,
and my bones waste away.
11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace,
especially to my neighbors,
and a dread to my acquaintances.
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have become forgotten like one dead, out of mind.[f]
I am like a destroyed vessel.
13 For I hear the rumor of many,
“Terror on every side!”
When conspiring together against me,
they have plotted to take my life.
14 But as for me, I trust you, O Yahweh.
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times[g] are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies
and from those who pursue me.
16 Shine your face upon your servant.
Save me by your loyal love.
17 O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call on you.
Let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them go silently[h] to Sheol.
18 Let lying lips be dumb,
that speak against the righteous[i] unrestrained
with arrogance and contempt.
19 How abundant is your goodness
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you perform for those who take refuge in you
before the children of humankind.
20 You will hide them in the protection of your presence
from the plots of man.
You will hide them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed is Yahweh,
because he has worked marvelously his loyal love to me
in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from before your eyes.”
However you heard the voice of my supplications
when I cried to you for help.
23 Love Yahweh, all you his faithful ones.
Yahweh preserves the faithful
but repays abundantly the one who acts arrogantly.
24 Be strong and let your[j] heart show strength,
all you who wait for Yahweh.
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