M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Absalom Dies in Battle
18 Then David mustered the people who were with him, and he appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 David sent forth a third of the troops under the command of Joab,[a] and a third under the command of Abishai,[b] the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the remaining third under the command of Ittai[c] the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I, even I, will certainly go out[d] with you.” 3 Then the troops said, “You will not go out, for if we must flee,[e] then they will not care about us;[f] even if half of us die, they will not care about us,[g] but now, you are like ten thousand of us. And so then, it is better for us that you be in the city to help.” 4 The king said to them, “I will do what seems good in your eyes.” So the king stood at the side of the gate while all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “With respect to the young man Absalom, deal gently for me.” And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.
6 The army went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The army of Israel was defeated there before the servants of David, and the defeat there was great on that day: twenty thousand. 8 The battle there was spreading over the surface of all the land, and the forest devoured more among the army than[h] the sword did on that day. 9 Absalom was found in the presence of the servants of David as he was riding on the mule. The mule went under the thicket of the great oak tree, and his head was caught in the tree. He was left hanging between heaven and earth, and the mule which was under him went on. 10 When a certain man saw it, he told Joab, and he said, “Look, I saw Absalom hanging in the oak tree!” 11 Then Joab said to the man who was telling him, “Look, if you saw, why did you not strike him down to the ground there? I would have gladly given you[i] ten pieces of silver and a leather belt.” 12 The man said to Joab, “Even if I felt the weight[j] of a thousand pieces of silver in my palms, I would not have sent my hand against the son of the king, for in our ears the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Whoever you may be, protect the young man Absalom.’ 13 If I had dealt treacherously against his life, and there is not any matter hidden from the king, you would have presented yourself aloof.”[k] 14 Joab said, “No longer will I wait in your presence.” Then he took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree. 15 Then ten of the young men who bore the weapons of Joab surrounded him and struck and killed Absalom. 16 Then Joab blew on the trumpet and the troops returned from pursuing after Israel, for Joab kept back the troops. 17 They took Absalom and they threw him into the large pit in the forest and raised a very great heap of stones over him. Then all of Israel fled, each to his tent.
18 (Now Absalom had taken and set up for himself in his lifetime a stone pillar that is in the valley of the king, because he said, “I have no son in order to remember my name,” and he called the stone pillar by his name. It is called the monument of Absalom until this day). 19 Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and bring the good news to the king that Yahweh has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies.” 20 Joab said to him, “You will not be a man bringing[l] good news this day! You may bring good news on another day, but today you will not be bringing good news because the king’s son is dead.” 21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen”; then the Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran off. 22 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may,[m] please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab asked, “Why are you wanting to run, my son, when for you there is no messenger’s reward?”[n] 23 “Come what may,[o] I want to run.” He said to him, “Run,” so Ahimaaz ran on the road on the plain, and he passed the Cushite.
24 Now David was sitting between the two gates, and the sentinel went up to the roof of the gate by the wall and he lifted up his eyes and watched, and look, a man was running by himself. 25 The sentry called and told the king, and the king said, “If he is alone, good news is in his mouth.” He kept coming closer.[p] 26 Then the sentinel saw another man running, so the sentinel called to the gatekeeper and said, “Look, a man running alone.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.” 27 The sentinel said, “I am seeing that the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zakok.” The king said, “He is a good man; he will come, for good news.” 28 Then Ahimaaz called and said to the king, “Peace.” He bowed down to the king with his face to the ground, and he said, “May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delivered the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.” 29 The king said, “Is it peace for the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz said, “I saw the great commotion when Joab the servant of the king sent your servant, but I do not know what it was all about.” 30 Then the king said, “Turn aside, take your place here,” so he turned aside and waited. 31 Suddenly the Cushite arrived and said, “May my lord the king receive the good news, for Yahweh has vindicated you today from the power of all who stood up against you.” 32 The king said to the Cushite, “Is it peace for the young man Absalom?” Then the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you to harm you[q] be like the young man!” 33 [r] The king was upset, and he went up to the upper room of the gate and wept. He said as he went, “My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. If only[s] I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son.”
Paul Defends His Apostleship
11 I wish that you would put up with me in something a little foolish[a]—but indeed you are putting up with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds may be led astray from the sincerity and the purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if the one who comes proclaims another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed, or you receive a different spirit which you did not receive, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you put up with it well enough! 5 For I consider myself in no way to be inferior to the preeminent apostles.[b] 6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not in knowledge; certainly in everything we have made this clear to you in every way. 7 Or did I commit a sin by[c] humbling myself in order that you may be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you without payment? 8 I robbed other churches by[d] accepting support from them for the ministry to you. 9 And when I[e] was present with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will keep myself from being a burden. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine[f] will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why[g]? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 But what I am doing, I will also do, in order that I may remove the opportunity of those who want an opportunity, that they may be found just as also we are in what they are boasting about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not a great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Paul Boasts in His Sufferings
16 Again I say, do not let anyone think I am foolish. But indeed, if you do, accept me even as foolish, in order that I also may boast a little. 17 What I am saying in this project of boasting, I am not saying as the Lord would say, but as in foolishness. 18 Since many are boasting according to human standards, I also will boast. 19 For because you[h] are wise, you put up with foolish people gladly! 20 For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is presumptious toward you, if someone strikes you in the face. 21 I say this to my shame, namely, that we have been weak.
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am speaking in foolishness—I also dare to boast. 22 Are they Hebrews? I am also! Are they Israelites? I am also! Are they descendants of Abraham? I am also! 23 Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as though I were beside myself—I am more so, with far greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with beatings to a much greater degree, in danger of death many times. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. A day and a night I have spent in the deep water. 26 I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers because of false brothers, 27 with toil and hardship, often in sleepless nights, with hunger and thirst, often going hungry, in cold and poorly clothed. 28 Apart from these external things, there is the pressure on me every day of the anxiety about all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to sin, and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If it is necessary to boast, I will boast about the things related to my weakness[i]. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever[j], knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to take me into custody, 33 and I was lowered through a window through the wall in a rope-basket, and I escaped his hands.
Judgment upon Various Gentile Nations
25 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “Son of man,[c] set your face toward the Ammonites[d] and prophesy against them, 3 and you must say to the Ammonites,[e] ‘Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of your saying, ‘Ah!’ to my sanctuary when it was profaned, and to the land of Israel when it was[f] desolate, and to the house of Judah when they went into the exile, 4 therefore look! I am giving you to the people[g] of the East as a possession, and they will set up their encampments in you, and they will make in you their dwelling places; they themselves[h] will eat your fruit and they themselves[i] will drink your milk. 5 And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the Ammonites[j] as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 6 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of clapping your hand and stamping with your foot, and because you rejoiced in[k] yourself with all of your malice over the land of Israel, 7 therefore look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I will give you as plunder[l] to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will destroy you from the countries, and I will wipe you out, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”
8 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of Moab and Seir saying, ‘The house of Judah is like all of the nations,’ 9 therefore, look! I am opening the side of[m] Moab from the cities on its frontier, the glory of the land: Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give it to the people[n] of the East in addition to the Ammonites[o] as a possession, so that the Ammonites[p] will not be remembered among the nations. 11 And on Moab I will execute punishments, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”
12 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of the doings of Edom in avenging himself with vengeance for[q] the house of Judah, and so they became very guilty and[r] they avenged themselves on them,” 13 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “so[s] I will stretch out my hand against Edom and I will cut off from it both human and animal, and I will make it a ruin from Teman and Dedan; they will fall by the sword. 14 And I will exact my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my rage, and they will know my vengeance,” declares[t] the Lord Yahweh.
15 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of the acting[u] of the Philistines in vengeance, so that they avenged themselves relentlessly with malice in themselves for destruction with everlasting hostility,[v] 16 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Kerethites, and I will destroy the remainder of the seacoast.[w] 17 And I will execute on them great vengeance with punishments of rage, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I exact my vengeance on them!”
The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted
A song of Asaph.[a]
73 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those pure of heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped,
3 because I envied the boastful
when I saw the well-being[b] of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains up to their death,
and their bodies are healthy.[c]
5 They do not have ordinary trouble,[d]
and they are not plagued as other people.[e]
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
an outfit of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fat.[f]
Imaginings overflow their heart.
8 They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;
they speak as though from on high.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue roams the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn there,[g]
and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?”
and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 See, these are the wicked,
and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 And I have been plagued all day
and rebuked every morning.[h]
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
behold, I would have acted treacherously
against your children’s generation.
16 When I thought about how to understand this,
it was troubling in my eyes
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their fate.
18 Surely you set them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall onto ruin.[i]
19 How they become a desolation in a moment!
They come to a complete end by terrors.
20 Like a dream upon awakening,
when you wake up, O Lord,
you will despise their fleeting form.[j]
21 When my heart was embittered
and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
22 then I was brutish and ignorant.
With you I was like the beasts.
23 But I am continually with you;
you have hold of my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice,
and afterward you will take me into honor.[k]
25 Whom do I have in the heavens except you?
And with you I have no other desire on earth.
26 My flesh and heart failed,
but God is the strength[l] of my heart and my reward forever.
27 For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.
You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
28 But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.
I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
in order to tell all your works.
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