M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Moves to Hebron
2 It happened after this that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” And Yahweh said to him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” 2 So David went up there along with[a] his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel[b] and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 Also, David brought up his men who were with him, each with[c] his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.
David Anointed King over Judah at Hebron
4 Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David there as king over the house of Judah, and they told David, “The men of Jabesh-Gilead buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by Yahweh because you did this loyal love with your lord, with Saul, and you buried him. 6 Now may Yahweh show loyal love and faithfulness with you. I will also show the good with you that you have done in this matter. 7 So then, let your hands be strong and be valiant,[d] for your lord Saul is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them.”
Ish-Bosheth over Israel
8 But Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. 9 He made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over Israel, all of it. 10 Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel and he reigned two years; however, the house of Judah followed[e] David. 11 The number of days that David was king over Hebron, over the house of Judah, was seven years and six months.
War between Judah and Israel
12 Abner the son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Then Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out, and they met at the pool of Gibeon. The one group sat on one side of the pool, and the other sat on the other side. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men come up and fight in our presence.” And Joab said, “Let them come up.” 15 So they came forward and passed by in number: twelve for Benjamin and for Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. 16 Then each seized his opponent[f] by the head and each thrust his sword in the side of his opponent, so they fell together. So they[g] called the name of that place Helkath Hazzurim,[h] which is in Gibeon. 17 Then the battle became increasingly fierce[i] on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated before the servants of David.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was swift with his feet as one of the gazelles which is in the open field. 19 So Asahel pursued[j] Abner, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left from going after Abner. 20 Abner turned around and said, “Are you this Asahel?” And he said, “Yes.” 21 Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left; seize for yourself one of the young men, and take his belongings for yourself.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from him. 22 So Abner said to Asahel once again,[k] “For your own sake,[l] turn aside from following me.[m] Why should I strike you down to the ground? How could I show my face[n] to Joab your brother?” 23 But he refused to turn away, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of the spear, and the spear went out of his back. He fell there and he died on the spot.[o] Then[p] all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died just stood there.
24 So Joab and Abishai pursued[q] Abner when[r] the sun went down. And they came to the hill country of Ammah, which is before Giah[s] on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The descendants[t] of Benjamin rallied after Abner, and they became as one fighting group and stood on the top of a certain hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Will the sword devour forever? Do you not know that there will be bitterness in the end? How long[u] will you not tell the people to turn away from pursuing[v] their brothers?” 27 Joab said, “As God lives,[w] for if you had not spoken, the people would surely have gone up in the morning, each one of them from following after[x] his brother.” 28 Then Joab blew on the trumpet and all the people stopped, and they no longer pursued after Israel, and they did not fight with them again.
29 Then Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night, and they crossed over the Jordan. They went all the forenoon and came to Mahanaim. 30 After Joab returned from pursuing[y] Abner, he gathered all the people; nineteen of the servants of David were missing along with Asahel. 31 The servants of David had killed some of the Benjaminites among the men of Abner; three hundred and sixty men had died. 32 Then they picked up Asahel and buried him in the grave of his father, which was at Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all that night arriving in Hebron at first light.[z]
Love, the More Excellent Way
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a ringing brass gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I parcel out all my possessions, and if I hand over my body in order that I will be burned,[a] but do not have love, it benefits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it does not boast, it does not become conceited, 5 it does not behave dishonorably, it is not selfish[b], it does not become angry, it does not keep a record of wrongs, 6 it does not rejoice at unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will pass away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but whenever the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside the things of a child. 12 For now we see through a mirror indirectly[c], but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know completely, just as I have also been completely known. 13 And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Judgment On Evil Rulers
11 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple[a] of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people. 2 And he said to me, “Son of man,[b] these are the men who devise mischief,[c] and who are offering bad counsel in this city, 3 who are saying, “The building of houses is not near; the city is the pot, and we are the flesh. 4 Therefore prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”[d]
5 And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them,[e] the thoughts of your spirit. 6 You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets with slain ones.”’[f] 7 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I[g] will bring you out from its midst. 8 The sword you have feared, and the sword I will bring against you!” declares[h] the Lord Yahweh. 9 “And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you. 10 By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 11 It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would be[i] in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you. 12 And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose[j] rules you did not follow, and whose[k] regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.”’[l]
13 And it happened that as I was prophesying,[m] Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!” 14 And the word of Yahweh came[n] to me, saying,[o] 15 “Son of man,[p] your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem,[q] ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries to which they have gone.’”[r] 17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you. 18 And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it. 19 And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give[s] in their inner parts. And I will remove their[t] heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God. 21 But to[u] the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” declares[v] the Lord Yahweh.’”
22 Then[w] the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their[x] wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.[y] 23 And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city. 24 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles,[z] in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen left me.[aa] 25 And I spoke to the exiles[ab] all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.
An Oracle Concerning Sacrifices
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
50 The Supreme God, God, Yahweh, has spoken
and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun
to its setting.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and he is not silent.
Before him fire devours,
and around him it is very tempestuous.
4 He summons the heavens above
and the earth that he might judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my loyal ones,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens declare his righteousness,
because God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 It is not concerning a lack of your sacrifices that I rebuke you,
and your burnt offerings are before me continually.
9 I will not take from your house a bull
or from your stalls a he-goat,
10 because every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains,
and every moving creature in the field is mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
because the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a thank offering
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 And call me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
and mention my covenant with your mouth,[b]
17 while you yourself hate discipline,
and cast my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, then you are pleased with him,
and your association is with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and you harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
You imagined that I was just like you.
I will rebuke you and present an argument before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.
23 He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,
and he who orders his way;
I will show him the salvation of God.”
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