M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
14 One day Jonathan, Saul’s son, said to the officer who carried his armor, “Come, let’s go over to the Philistine camp on the other side.” But Jonathan did not tell his father.
2 Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree at the threshing floor near Gibeah. He had about six hundred men with him. 3 One man was Ahijah who was wearing the holy vest. (Ahijah was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub. Ichabod was the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh.) No one knew Jonathan had left.
4 There was a steep slope on each side of the pass that Jonathan planned to go through to reach the Philistine camp. The cliff on one side was named Bozez, and the cliff on the other side was named Seneh. 5 One cliff faced north toward Micmash. The other faced south toward Geba.
6 Jonathan said to his officer who carried his armor, “Come. Let’s go to the camp of those men who are not circumcised. Maybe the Lord will help us. The Lord can give us victory if we have many people, or just a few.”
7 The officer who carried Jonathan’s armor said to him, “Do whatever you think is best. Go ahead. I’m with you.”
8 Jonathan said, “Then come. We will cross over to the Philistines and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, ‘Stay there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are. We won’t go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, and the Lord will let us defeat them. This will be the sign for us.”
11 When both Jonathan and his officer let the Philistines see them, the Philistines said, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in!” 12 The Philistines in the camp shouted to Jonathan and his officer, “Come up to us. We’ll teach you a lesson!”
Jonathan said to his officer, “Climb up behind me, because the Lord has given the Philistines to Israel!” 13 So Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, and his officer climbed just behind him. Jonathan struck down the Philistines as he went, and his officer killed them as he followed behind him. 14 In that first fight Jonathan and his officer killed about twenty Philistines over a half acre of ground.
15 All the Philistine soldiers panicked—those in the camp and those in the raiding party. The ground itself shook! God had caused the panic.
16 Saul’s guards were at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin when they saw the Philistine soldiers running in every direction. 17 Saul said to his army, “Check to see who has left our camp.” When they checked, they learned that Jonathan and his officer were gone.
18 So Saul said to Ahijah the priest, “Bring the Ark of God.” (At that time it was with the Israelites.) 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp was growing. Then Saul said to Ahijah, “Put your hand down!”
20 Then Saul gathered his army and entered the battle. They found the Philistines confused, striking each other with their swords! 21 Earlier, there were Hebrews who had served the Philistines and had stayed in their camp, but now they joined the Israelites with Saul and Jonathan. 22 When all the Israelites hidden in the mountains of Ephraim heard that the Philistine soldiers were running away, they also joined the battle and chased the Philistines. 23 So the Lord saved the Israelites that day, and the battle moved on past Beth Aven.
Saul Makes Another Mistake
24 The men of Israel were miserable that day because Saul had made an oath for all of them. He had said, “No one should eat food before evening and before I finish defeating my enemies. If he does, he will be cursed!” So no Israelite soldier ate food.
25 Now the army went into the woods, where there was some honey on the ground. 26 They came upon some honey, but no one took any because they were afraid of the oath. 27 Jonathan had not heard the oath Saul had put on the army, so he dipped the end of his stick into the honey and lifted some out and ate it. Then he felt better. 28 Then one of the soldiers told Jonathan, “Your father made an oath for all the soldiers. He said any man who eats today will be cursed! That’s why they are so weak.”
29 Jonathan said, “My father has made trouble for the land! See how much better I feel after just tasting a little of this honey! 30 It would have been much better for the men to eat the food they took from their enemies today. We could have killed many more Philistines!”
31 That day the Israelites defeated the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon. After that, they were very tired. 32 They had taken sheep, cattle, and calves from the Philistines. Now they were so hungry they killed the animals on the ground and ate them, without draining the blood from them! 33 Someone said to Saul, “Look! The men are sinning against the Lord. They’re eating meat without draining the blood from it!”
Saul said, “You have sinned! Roll a large stone over here now!” 34 Then he said, “Go to the men and tell them that each person must bring his ox and sheep to me and kill it here and eat it. Don’t sin against the Lord by eating meat without draining the blood from it.”
That night everyone brought his animals and killed them there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to the Lord. It was the first altar he had built to the Lord.
36 Saul said, “Let’s go after the Philistines tonight and rob them. We won’t let any of them live!”
The men answered, “Do whatever you think is best.”
But the priest said, “Let’s ask God.”
37 So Saul asked God, “Should I chase the Philistines? Will you let us defeat them?” But God did not answer Saul at that time. 38 Then Saul said to all the leaders of his army, “Come here. Let’s find out what sin has been done today. 39 As surely as the Lord lives who has saved Israel, even if my son Jonathan did the sin, he must die.” But no one in the army spoke.
40 Then Saul said to all the Israelites, “You stand on this side. I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other side.”
The men answered, “Do whatever you think is best.”
41 Then Saul prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, “Give me the right answer.”
And Saul and Jonathan were picked; the other men went free. 42 Saul said, “Now let us discover if it is I or Jonathan my son who is guilty.” And Jonathan was picked.
43 Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.”
So Jonathan told Saul, “I only tasted a little honey from the end of my stick. And must I die now?”
44 Saul said, “Jonathan, if you don’t die, may God punish me terribly.”
45 But the soldiers said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die? Never! He is responsible for saving Israel today! As surely as the Lord lives, not even a hair of his head will fall to the ground! Today Jonathan fought against the Philistines with God’s help!” So the army saved Jonathan, and he did not die.
46 Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines, and they went back to their own land.
Saul Fights Israel’s Enemies
47 When Saul became king over Israel, he fought against Israel’s enemies all around. He fought Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the king of Zobah, and the Philistines. Everywhere Saul went he defeated Israel’s enemies. 48 He fought bravely and defeated the Amalekites. He saved the Israelites from their enemies who had robbed them.
49 Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-Shua. His older daughter was named Merab, and his younger daughter was named Michal. 50 Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul’s uncle. 51 Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.
52 All Saul’s life he fought hard against the Philistines. When he saw strong or brave men, he took them into his army.
Give Your Lives to God
12 So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. 2 Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. 3 Because God has given me a special gift, I have something to say to everyone among you. Do not think you are better than you are. You must decide what you really are by the amount of faith God has given you. 4 Each one of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. 5 In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts. 6 We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us. The person who has the gift of prophecy should use that gift in agreement with the faith. 7 Anyone who has the gift of serving should serve. Anyone who has the gift of teaching should teach. 8 Whoever has the gift of encouraging others should encourage. Whoever has the gift of giving to others should give freely. Anyone who has the gift of being a leader should try hard when he leads. Whoever has the gift of showing mercy to others should do so with joy.
9 Your love must be real. Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good. 10 Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves. 11 Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all your heart. 12 Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times. 13 Share with God’s people who need help. Bring strangers in need into your homes.
14 Wish good for those who harm you; wish them well and do not curse them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and be sad with those who are sad. 16 Live in peace with each other. Do not be proud, but make friends with those who seem unimportant. Do not think how smart you are.
17 If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. 18 Do your best to live in peace with everyone. 19 My friends, do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with his anger. It is written: “I will punish those who do wrong; I will repay them,”[a] says the Lord. 20 But you should do this:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him a drink.
Doing this will be like pouring burning coals on his head.” Proverbs 25:21–22
21 Do not let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.
51 This is what the Lord says:
“I will soon cause a destroying wind to blow
against Babylon and the Babylonian people.
2 I will send foreign people to destroy Babylon
like a wind that blows chaff away.
They will destroy the land.
Armies will surround the city
when the day of disaster comes upon her.
3 Don’t let the Babylonian soldiers prepare their bows to shoot.
Don’t even let them put on their armor.
Don’t feel sorry for the young men of Babylon,
but completely destroy her army.
4 They will be killed in the land of the Babylonians
and will die in her streets.
5 The Lord God All-Powerful
did not leave Israel and Judah,
even though they were completely guilty
in the presence of the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Run away from Babylon
and save your lives!
Don’t stay and be killed because of Babylon’s sins.
It is time for the Lord to punish Babylon;
he will give Babylon the punishment she deserves.
7 Babylon was like a gold cup in the Lord’s hand
that made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank Babylon’s wine,
so they went crazy.
8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been broken.
Cry for her!
Get balm for her pain,
and maybe she can be healed.
9 “Foreigners in Babylon say, ‘We tried to heal Babylon,
but she cannot be healed.
So let us leave her and each go to his own country.
Babylon’s punishment is as high as the sky;
it reaches to the clouds.’
10 “The people of Judah say, ‘The Lord has shown us to be right.
Come, let us tell in Jerusalem
what the Lord our God has done.’
11 “Sharpen the arrows!
Pick up your shields!
The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes,
because he wants to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will punish them as they deserve
for destroying his Temple.
12 Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon!
Bring more guards.
Put the watchmen in their places,
and get ready for a secret attack!
The Lord will certainly do what he has planned
and what he said he would do against the people of Babylon.
13 People of Babylon, you live near much water
and are rich with many treasures,
but your end as a nation has come.
It is time to stop you from robbing other nations.
14 The Lord All-Powerful has promised in his own name:
‘Babylon, I will surely fill you with so many enemy soldiers they will be like a swarm of locusts.
They will stand over you and shout their victory.’
15 “The Lord made the earth by his power.
He used his wisdom to build the world
and his understanding to stretch out the skies.
16 When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar.
He makes clouds rise in the sky all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
17 “People are so stupid and know so little.
Goldsmiths are made ashamed by their idols,
because those statues are only false gods.
They have no breath in them.
18 They are worth nothing; people make fun of them.
When they are judged, they will be destroyed.
19 But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols.
He made everything,
and he chose Israel to be his special people.
The Lord All-Powerful is his name.
20 “You are my war club,
my battle weapon.
I use you to smash nations.
I use you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I use you to smash horses and riders.
I use you to smash chariots and drivers.
22 I use you to smash men and women.
I use you to smash old people and young people.
I use you to smash young men and young women.
23 I use you to smash shepherds and flocks.
I use you to smash farmers and oxen.
I use you to smash governors and officers.
24 “But I will pay back Babylon and all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Jerusalem in your sight,” says the Lord.
25 The Lord says,
“Babylon, you are a destroying mountain,
and I am against you.
You have destroyed the whole land.
I will put my hand out against you.
I will roll you off the cliffs,
and I will make you a burned-out mountain.
26 People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones.
People will not take any rocks from Babylon to use for the foundation of a building,
because your city will be just a pile of ruins forever,” says the Lord.
27 “Lift up a banner in the land!
Blow the trumpet among the nations!
Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon.
Call these kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to fight against her.
Choose a commander to lead the army against Babylon.
Send so many horses that they are like a swarm of locusts.
28 Get the nations ready for battle against Babylon—
the kings of the Medes,
their governors and all their officers,
and all the countries they rule.
29 The land shakes and moves in pain,
because the Lord will do what he has planned to Babylon.
He will make Babylon an empty desert,
where no one will live.
30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting.
They stay in their protected cities.
Their strength is gone,
and they have become like frightened women.
Babylon’s houses are burning.
The bars of her gates are broken.
31 One messenger follows another;
messenger follows messenger.
They announce to the king of Babylon
that his whole city has been captured.
32 The river crossings have been captured,
and the swamplands are burning.
All of Babylon’s soldiers are terribly afraid.”
33 This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:
“The city of Babylon is like a threshing floor,
where people crush the grain at harvest time.
The time to harvest Babylon is coming soon.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has defeated and destroyed us.
In the past he took our people away,
and we became like an empty jar.
He was like a giant snake that swallowed us.
He filled his stomach with our best things.
Then he spit us out.
35 Babylon did terrible things to hurt us.
Now let those things happen to Babylon,”
say the people of Jerusalem.
“The people of Babylon killed our people.
Now let them be punished for what they did,” says Jerusalem.
36 So this is what the Lord says:
“I will soon defend you, Judah,
and make sure that Babylon is punished.
I will dry up Babylon’s sea
and make her springs become dry.
37 Babylon will become a pile of ruins,
a home for wild dogs.
People will be shocked by what happened there.
No one will live there anymore.
38 Babylon’s people roar like young lions;
they growl like baby lions.
39 While they are stirred up,
I will give a feast for them
and make them drunk.
They will shout and laugh.
And they will sleep forever and never wake up!” says the Lord.
40 “I will take the people of Babylon to be killed.
They will be like lambs,
like sheep and goats waiting to be killed.
41 “How Babylon has been defeated!
The pride of the whole earth has been taken captive.
People from other nations are shocked at what happened to Babylon,
and the things they see make them afraid.
42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
its roaring waves cover her.
43 Babylon’s towns are ruined and empty.
It has become a dry, desert land,
a land where no one lives.
People do not even travel through Babylon.
44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon.
I will make him spit out what he has swallowed.
Nations will no longer come to Babylon;
even the wall around the city will fall.
45 “Come out of Babylon, my people!
Run for your lives!
Run from the Lord’s great anger.
46 Don’t lose courage;
rumors will spread through the land, but don’t be afraid.
One rumor comes this year, and another comes the next year.
There will be rumors of terrible fighting in the country,
of rulers fighting against rulers.
47 The time will surely come
when I will punish the idols of Babylon,
and the whole land will be disgraced.
There will be many dead people lying all around.
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them
will shout for joy about Babylon.
They will shout because the army comes from the north
to destroy Babylon,” says the Lord.
49 “Babylon must fall, because she killed people from Israel.
She killed people from everywhere on earth.
50 You who have escaped being killed with swords,
leave Babylon! Don’t wait!
Remember the Lord in the faraway land
and think about Jerusalem.”
51 “We people of Judah are disgraced,
because we have been insulted.
We have been shamed,
because strangers have gone into
the holy places of the Lord’s Temple!”
52 So the Lord says, “The time is coming soon
when I will punish the idols of Babylon.
Wounded people will cry with pain
all over that land.
53 Even if Babylon grows until she touches the sky,
and even if she makes her highest cities strong,
I will send people to destroy her,” says the Lord.
54 “Sounds of people crying are heard in Babylon.
Sounds of people destroying things
are heard in the land of the Babylonians.
55 The Lord is destroying Babylon
and making the loud sounds of the city become silent.
Enemies come roaring in like ocean waves.
The roar of their voices is heard all around.
56 The army has come to destroy Babylon.
Her soldiers have been captured,
and their bows are broken,
because the Lord is a God who punishes people for the evil they do.
He gives them the full punishment they deserve.
57 I will make Babylon’s rulers and wise men drunk,
and her governors, officers, and soldiers, too.
Then they will sleep forever and never wake up,” says the King,
whose name is the Lord All-Powerful.
58 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Babylon’s thick wall will be completely pulled down
and her high gates burned.
The people will work hard, but it won’t help;
their work will only become fuel for the flames!”
A Message to Babylon
59 This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the officer Seraiah son of Neriah, who was the son of Mahseiah. Seraiah went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year Zedekiah was king of Judah. His duty was to arrange the king’s food and housing on the trip. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon, all these words about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, be sure to read this message so all the people can hear you. 62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals will live in it. It will be an empty ruin forever.’ 63 After you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. 64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and will not rise again because of the terrible things I will make happen here. Her people will fall.’”
The words of Jeremiah end here.
Thanksgiving for Escaping Death
A psalm of David. A song for giving the Temple to the Lord.
30 I will praise you, Lord,
because you rescued me.
You did not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I prayed to you,
and you healed me.
3 You lifted me out of the grave;
you spared me from going down to the place of the dead.
4 Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him;
praise his holy name.
5 His anger lasts only a moment,
but his kindness lasts for a lifetime.
Crying may last for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
6 When I felt safe, I said,
“I will never fear.”
7 Lord, in your kindness you made my mountain safe.
But when you turned away, I was frightened.
8 I called to you, Lord,
and asked you to have mercy on me.
9 I said, “What good will it do if I die
or if I go down to the grave?
Dust cannot praise you;
it cannot speak about your truth.
10 Lord, hear me and have mercy on me.
Lord, help me.”
11 You changed my sorrow into dancing.
You took away my clothes of sadness,
and clothed me in happiness.
12 I will sing to you and not be silent.
Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.