M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Philistines Prepare for War

28 Later, the Philistines gathered their armies to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “Do you understand that you and your men must go with me to fight against Israel?”

² David answered, “Certainly, then you can see for yourself what I can do.”

Achish said, “Fine, I will make you my permanent bodyguard.”

Saul and the Woman at Endor

³ After Samuel died, all the Israelites mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his hometown.

Saul had removed the mediums and fortunetellers from Israel.

⁴ The Philistines prepared for war. They came to Shunem and made their camp at that place. Saul gathered all the Israelites together and made his camp at Gilboa. ⁵ Saul saw the Philistine army, and he was afraid. His heart pounded with fear. ⁶ He prayed to the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him. God did not talk to Saul in dreams. God did not use the Urim to give him an answer, and God did not use prophets to speak to Saul. ⁷ Finally, Saul said to his officers, “Find me a woman who is a medium. Then I can go ask her what will happen.”

His officers answered, “There is a medium at Endor.^[a]”

⁸ That night, Saul put on different clothes so that no one would know who he was. Then Saul and two of his men went to see the woman. Saul said to her, “I want you to bring up a ghost who can tell me what will happen in the future. You must call for the ghost of the person I name.”

⁹ But the woman said to him, “You know that Saul forced all the mediums and fortunetellers to leave the land of Israel. You are trying to trap me and kill me.”

¹⁰ Saul used the Lord’s name to make a promise to the woman. He said, “As surely as the Lord lives, you won’t be punished for doing this.”

¹¹ The woman asked, “Who do you want me to bring up for you?”

Saul answered, “Bring up Samuel.”

¹² And it happened—the woman saw Samuel and screamed. She said to Saul, “You tricked me! You are Saul.”

¹³ The king said to the woman, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?”

The woman said, “I see a spirit coming up out of the ground.^[b]”

¹⁴ Saul asked, “What does he look like?”

The woman answered, “He looks like an old man wearing a special robe.”

Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down. His face touched the ground. ¹⁵ Samuel said to Saul, “Why did you bother me? Why did you bring me up?”

Saul answered, “I am in trouble! The Philistines have come to fight me, and God has left me. God won’t answer me anymore. He won’t use prophets or dreams to answer me, so I called you. I want you to tell me what to do.”

¹⁶ Samuel said, “The Lord left you and is now your enemy, so why are you asking me for advice? ¹⁷ The Lord used me to tell you what he would do, and now he is doing what he said he would do. He is tearing the kingdom out of your hands and giving it to your neighbor, David. ¹⁸ The Lord was angry with the Amalekites and told you to destroy them. But you did not obey him. That’s why the Lord is doing this to you today. ¹⁹ The Lord will let the Philistines defeat you and the army of Israel today. Tomorrow, you and your sons will be here with me.”

²⁰ Saul quickly fell to the ground and lay stretched out there. Saul was afraid because of what Samuel said. Saul was also very weak because he had not eaten any food all that day and night.

²¹ The woman came over to Saul and saw how afraid he was. She said, “Look, I am your servant. I have obeyed you. I risked my life and did what you told me to do. ²² Please, listen to me. You need to eat. Let me get you some food. Then you will have enough strength to go on your way.”

²³ But Saul refused. He said, “I won’t eat.”

Saul’s officers joined the woman and begged him to eat. Finally, Saul listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴ The woman had a calf that she had been fattening. She quickly killed the calf. She took some flour and pressed it with her hands. Then she baked some bread without yeast. ²⁵ The woman put the food before Saul and his officers and they ate. Then they got up and left during the night.

Rights That Paul Has Not Used

9 I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus our Lord. You people are an example of my work in the Lord. ² Others may not accept me as an apostle, but surely you do. You are proof that I am an apostle in the Lord.

³ Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them: ⁴ We have the right to eat and drink, don’t we? ⁵ We have the right to bring a believing wife with us when we travel, don’t we? The other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter all do this. ⁶ And are Barnabas and I the only ones who must work to earn our living? ⁷ No soldier ever serves in the army and pays his own salary. No one ever plants a vineyard without eating some of the grapes himself. No one takes care of a flock of sheep without drinking some of the milk himself.

⁸ These aren’t just my own thoughts. God’s law says the same thing. ⁹ Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses: “When a work animal is being used to separate grain, don’t keep it from eating the grain.”^[a] When God said this, was he thinking only about work animals? No. ¹⁰ He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work. ¹¹ We planted spiritual seed among you, so we should be able to harvest from you some things for this life. Surely that is not asking too much. ¹² Others have this right to get things from you. So surely we have this right too. But we don’t use this right. No, we endure everything ourselves so that we will not stop anyone from obeying the Good News of Christ. ¹³ Surely you know that those who work at the Temple get their food from the Temple. And those who serve at the altar get part of what is offered at the altar. ¹⁴ It is the same with those who have the work of telling the Good News. The Lord has commanded that those who tell the Good News should get their living from this work.

¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights, and I am not trying to get anything from you. That is not my purpose for writing this. I would rather die than to have someone take away what for me is a great source of pride. ¹⁶ It’s not my work of telling the Good News that gives me any reason to boast. That is my duty—something I must do. If I don’t tell people the Good News, I am in real trouble. ¹⁷ If I did it because it was my own choice, I would deserve to be paid. But I have no choice. I must tell the Good News. So I am only doing the duty that was given to me. ¹⁸ So what do I get for doing it? My reward is that when I tell people the Good News I can offer it to them for free and not use the rights that come with doing this work.

¹⁹ I am free. I belong to no other person, but I make myself a slave to everyone. I do this to help save as many people as I can. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew so that I could help save Jews. I myself am not ruled by the law, but to those who are ruled by the law I became like someone who is ruled by the law. I did this to help save those who are ruled by the law. ²¹ To those who are without the law I became like someone who is without the law. I did this to help save those who are without the law. (But really, I am not without God’s law—I am ruled by the law of Christ.) ²² To those who are weak, I became weak so that I could help save them. I have become all things to all people. I did this so that I could save people in any way possible. ²³ I do all this to make the Good News known. I do it so that I can share in the blessings of the Good News.

²⁴ You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! ²⁵ All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn’t last. But our prize is one that will last forever. ²⁶ So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air. ²⁷ It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it.

Disaster Is Coming to Jerusalem

7 Then the word of the Lord came to me. ² He said, “Now, son of man, here is a message from the Lord God. This message is for the land of Israel:

⁵ This is what the Lord God said: “There will be one disaster after another! ⁶ The end is coming, and it will come quickly! ⁷ You people living in Israel, disaster is coming. It is time for punishment. Those are not shouts of joy in the mountains. Those are cries of panic. ⁸ Very soon now, I will show you how angry I am. I will show all of my anger against you. I will punish you for the evil things you did. I will make you pay for all the terrible things you did. ⁹ I will not show you any mercy or feel sorry for you. I am punishing you for the evil things you did. You have done such terrible things. Now, you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “That time of punishment has come like a plant sprouting, budding, and flowering. God has given the signal, the enemy is prepared, and their proud king is ready. ¹¹ This violent man is ready to punish the evil people. There are many people in Israel—but he is not one of them. He is not a person in that crowd. He is not some important leader from them.

¹² “The time of punishment has come. The day is here. Those who buy things will not be happy, and those who sell things will not feel bad about selling them because that terrible punishment will happen to everyone. ¹³ The people who sold their property^[a] will never go back to it. Even if some people escape alive, they will never go back to their property, because this vision is for the whole crowd. So even if some people escape alive, it will not make everyone feel better.

¹⁴ “They will blow the trumpet to warn the people. The people will get ready for battle, but they will not go out to fight because I will show the whole crowd how angry I am. ¹⁵ The enemy with his sword is outside the city. Disease and hunger is inside the city. If some people go out into the fields, enemy soldiers will kill them. If they stay in the city, hunger and disease will destroy them.

¹⁶ “But some people will escape. The survivors will run to the mountains, but they will not be happy. They will be sad for all their sins. They will cry and make sad noises like doves. ¹⁷ They will be too tired and sad to raise their arms. Their legs will be like water. ¹⁸ They will wear sackcloth and be covered with fear. You will see the shame on every face. They will shave their heads to show their sadness. ¹⁹ They will throw their silver idols into the streets. They will treat their gold statues like dirty rags, because those things will not be able to save them when the Lord shows his anger. Those things were nothing but a trap that caused the people to fall. They will not give food to the people or put food in their bellies.

²⁰ “They used their beautiful jewelry and made an idol. They were proud of that statue. They made their terrible statues. They made those filthy things, so I will throw them away like a dirty rag. ²¹ I will let strangers take them. Those strangers will make fun of them. They will kill some of the people and take others away as prisoners. ²² I will turn my head away from them—I will not look at them. The strangers will ruin my Temple—they will go into the secret parts of that holy building and make it unfit for worship.

²³ “Make chains for the prisoners, because many people will be punished for killing other people. There will be violence every place in the city. ²⁴ I will bring evil people from other nations, and they will get all the houses of the people of Israel. I will stop all you powerful people from being so proud. Those people from other nations will get all your places of worship.

²⁵ “You will shake with fear. You will look for peace, but there will be none. ²⁶ You will hear one sad story after another. You will hear nothing but bad news. You will look for a prophet and ask him for a vision. The priests will have nothing to teach you, and the elders will not have any good advice to give you. ²⁷ Your king will be crying for the people who died. The leaders will wear sackcloth. The common people will be very afraid, because I will pay them back for what they did. I will decide their punishment, and I will punish them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

To the director: To the tune “Shoshanim.”^[a] A maskil from the Korah family. A love song.