M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Spares Saul’s Life

24 When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, it was reported to him, saying, “David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” ² Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the rocks of the wild goats.

³ He came to the sheep pens by the way and a cave was there. And Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the rear of the cave. ⁴ The men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I am giving your enemy into your hand. You may do with him as seems good in your eyes.’ ” Then David arose and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵ Afterward David’s heart troubled him because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁶ He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him. For he is anointed of the Lord.” ⁷ So David dispersed his men by these words and did not let them rise against Saul. And Saul arose from the cave and went on his way.

⁸ David arose afterward and went out from the cave. And he called after Saul saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David had bowed down with his face to the ground and paid homage. ⁹ David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men saying, ‘David seeks your harm’? ¹⁰ This day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave. So that some said to kill you, but my eye had compassion on you. And I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is anointed of the Lord.’ ¹¹ See, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand. Indeed, I cut off the corner of your robe, but I did not kill you. Observe and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand. I have not sinned against you, but you are lying in wait for my life to take it. ¹² The Lord will judge between me and you, and the Lord will avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you. ¹³ As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness,’ but my hand will not be against you.

¹⁴ “After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? A single flea? ¹⁵ May the Lord be judge, and decide between me and you. And may He see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.”

¹⁶ When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ¹⁷ And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I. For you have rewarded me with good, while I have rewarded you with evil. ¹⁸ And you have shown today that you have dealt well with me, when the Lord delivered me into your hand and you did not kill me. ¹⁹ For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him safely go away? Therefore may the Lord reward you well for what you have done for me this day. ²⁰ Now, listen, I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. ²¹ Therefore swear to me now by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s household.”

²² So David swore to Saul and Saul went home. But David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Judgment Against Immorality

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father’s wife. ² But you are arrogant. Instead you should have mourned, so that he who has done this deed might be removed from among you. ³ For indeed, though absent in body but present in spirit, I have already, as if I were present, judged him who has done this deed, ⁴ in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are assembled, along with my spirit, in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵ deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch? ⁷ Therefore purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, nor with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I did not mean the sexually immoral people of this world, or the covetous and extortioners, or the idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But I have written to you not to keep company with any man who is called a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Do not even eat with such a person.

¹² For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³ But God judges those who are outside. Therefore “put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”^[a]

3 Moreover He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll and go speak to the house of Israel. ² So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.

³ He said to me, Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your inward parts with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it, and it was as honey for sweetness in my mouth.

⁴ Then He said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. ⁵ For you are not being sent to a people of foreign speech and hard language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶ nor to many peoples of foreign speech and hard language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me. For all the house of Israel is impudent and obstinate. ⁸ But I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. ⁹ As emery harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

¹⁰ Moreover He said to me: Son of man, all My words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears. ¹¹ Go to the captives, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, “Thus says the Lord God.”

¹² Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a great thundering voice: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord in His place.” ¹³ I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another and the noise of the wheels beside them, even a great rushing sound. ¹⁴ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the captives at Tel Aviv, who lived by the River Kebar, and I sat there where they sat seven days, causing consternation among them.

Ezekiel, a Watchman for Israel

¹⁶ At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Whenever you hear the word from My mouth, then warn them from Me. ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you do not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered. But his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. And you have delivered your soul.

²² The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, Rise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there. ²³ Then I arose, and went out into the plain. And the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Kebar, and I fell on my face.

²⁴ Then the Spirit entered me, and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: Go, shut yourself up within your house. ²⁵ As for you, son of man, they shall put bands on you and shall bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. ²⁶ And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth so that you shall be mute and cannot be one to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷ But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.” He who hears, let him hear. And he who refuses, let him refuse. For they are a rebellious house.

Psalm 39

For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.