M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.(A) 2 He had two wives; the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.(B)
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.(C) 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters,(D) 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion[b] because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.(E) 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.(F) 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”(G)
9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord.[c] Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.(H) 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,[d] and no razor shall touch his head.”(I)
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk.(J) 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”(K) 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.(L) 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”(M) 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went her way and ate and drank with her husband,[e] and her countenance was sad no longer.[f](N)
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.(O) 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”(P)
21 The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.(Q) 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.”[g](R) 23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish your[h] word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.(S) 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull,[i] an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and the child was young.(T) 25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the child to Eli.(U) 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence praying to the Lord.(V) 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him.(W) 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” And they worshiped the Lord there.(X)
Salutation
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,(A) 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh(B) 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit[a] of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,(C) 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name,(D) 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(E)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.(F) 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel[b] of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers,(G) 10 asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened— 12 or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as I have among the rest of the gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, 15 hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The Power of the Gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes,[c] for the Jew first and also for the Greek.(H) 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”[d](I)
The Guilt of Humankind
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.(J) 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse,(K) 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.(L) 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.(M)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.(N) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.(O)
26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Their females exchanged natural intercourse[e] for unnatural,(P) 27 and in the same way also the males, giving up natural intercourse[f] with females, were consumed with their passionate desires for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.(Q)
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done.(R) 29 They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,[g] insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,(S) 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.(T) 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.(U)
The Fall of Jerusalem
39 This is how Jerusalem was captured:[a] in the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it;(A) 2 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.(B) 3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.(C) 4 When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the King’s Garden through the gate between the two walls, and they went toward the Arabah.(D) 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him up to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.(E) 6 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.(F) 7 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon.(G) 8 The Chaldeans burned with fire the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.(H) 9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained.(I) 10 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.(J)
Jeremiah, Set Free, Remembers Ebed-melech
11 King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying,(K) 12 “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he may ask you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent 14 and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan to be brought home. So he stayed with his own people.(L)
15 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the court of the guard: 16 Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to fulfill my words against this city for evil and not for good, and they shall be accomplished in your presence on that day.(M) 17 But I will save you on that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be handed over to those whom you dread.(N) 18 For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me, says the Lord.(O)
Psalm 13
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?(A)
2 How long must I bear pain[a] in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?(B)
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,(C)
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.(D)
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.(E)
6 I will sing to the Lord
because he has dealt bountifully with me.(F)
Psalm 14
Denunciation of Godlessness
To the leader. Of David.
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt; they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.(G)
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.(H)
3 They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.(I)
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?(J)
5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.(K)
6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.(L)
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.(M)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.