M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

A Levite, a woman, and her father

19 In those days when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living as an immigrant in the far corners of the Ephraim highlands. He married a secondary wife from Bethlehem in Judah. ² In an act of unfaithfulness toward him, his secondary wife left him and went back to her father’s household at Bethlehem in Judah. She stayed there four full months. ³ Then her husband set out after her to convince her to come back. He had his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. She took him into her father’s house, and when the young woman’s father saw him, he was happy to welcome him. ⁴ Since his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, insisted, he stayed with him three days, eating, drinking, and spending the night there.

⁵ On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he got ready to set out. But the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Eat a little food to give you strength, and then you can go.” ⁶ So the two of them sat down and ate and drank together. The young woman’s father said to the man, “Why not spend the night and enjoy yourself?” ⁷ When the man got ready to set out, his father-in-law persuaded him, and he spent the night there again. ⁸ On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to set out, and the young woman’s father said, “Have some food for strength.” So the two of them ate, sitting around until late in the day. ⁹ When the man got ready to set out with his secondary wife and servant, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said, “Look, the day has turned to evening, so spend the night. Seriously, the day is over. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey, and you can head home.”

¹⁰ But the man was unwilling to spend another night. He got up, set out, and went as far as the area of Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had a couple of saddled donkeys and his secondary wife with him. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus, the day was totally gone. The servant said to his master, “Come on, let’s turn into this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”

¹² But his master replied to him, “We won’t turn into a city of foreigners who aren’t Israelites. We’ll travel on to Gibeah. ¹³ “Come on,” he said to his servant, “let’s reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” ¹⁴ So they traveled on, and the sun set when they were near Gibeah in Benjamin. ¹⁵ They turned in to enter there, so they could spend the night in Gibeah, and he went and sat down in the city square. But no one offered to take them home to spend the night.

Rape and murder at Gibeah

¹⁶ Then in the evening, an old man was coming home from his daily work in the fields. This man was from the Ephraim highlands and was an immigrant in Gibeah, the people of that place being Benjaminites. ¹⁷ He looked up and saw the traveler in the city square. “Where are you heading and where have you come from?” the old man asked.

¹⁸ “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the far corners of the Ephraim highlands,” he replied to the old man. “That’s where I’m from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m heading to my home.^[a] But no one has offered to take me in tonight. ¹⁹ We’ve got our own straw and feed for our donkeys, plus food and wine to provide for me, the woman, and my servant with us. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰ The old man answered, “You’re welcome to stay with me,^[b] but let me take care of all your needs. Just don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ And he took him into his house. He mixed feed for the donkeys, and they washed their feet, ate, and drank.

²² While they were relaxing, suddenly the men of the city, a perverse bunch, surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the owner of the house, “Send out the man who came to your house, so we can have sex with him!”

²³ The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, please don’t commit such an evil act, given that this man has come to my home as a guest. Don’t do this disgraceful thing! ²⁴ Here’s my daughter, the young woman, and his secondary wife. Let me send them out, and you can abuse them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” ²⁵ But the men refused to listen to him.

So the Levite grabbed his secondary wife and sent her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night long until morning. They finally let her go as dawn was breaking.

²⁶ At daybreak, the woman came and collapsed at the door of the man’s house where her husband was staying, where she lay until it was daylight. ²⁷ When her husband got up in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went outside to set out on his journey. And there was his secondary wife, lying at the entrance of the house, with her hands clutching the doorframe. ²⁸ “Get up,” he said to her, “let’s go.” But there was no response. So he laid her across a donkey, and the man set out for home. ²⁹ When he got home, he picked up a knife, took his secondary wife, and chopped her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces. Then he sent them into all the areas of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Has such a thing ever happened or been seen since the time when the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until today? Think about it, decide what to do, and speak out!”

23 Paul stared at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with an altogether clear conscience right up to this very day.” ² The high priest Ananias ordered those standing beside Paul to strike him in the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is about to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit and judge me according to the Law, yet disobey the Law by ordering that I be struck.”

⁴ Those standing near him asked, “You dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵ Paul replied, “Brothers, I wasn’t aware that he was the high priest. It is written, You will not speak evil about a ruler of your people.”^[a]

⁶ Knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, Paul exclaimed in the council, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I am on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷ These words aroused a dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ This is because Sadducees say that there’s no resurrection, angel, or spirit, but Pharisees affirm them all. ⁹ Council members were shouting loudly. Some Pharisees who were legal experts stood up and insisted forcefully, “We find nothing wrong with this man! What if a spirit or angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ The dispute became so heated that the commander feared they might tear Paul to pieces. He ordered soldiers to go down and remove him by force from their midst. Then they took him back to the military headquarters.

¹¹ The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Be encouraged! Just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so too you must testify in Rome.”

A murder plot discovered

¹² The next morning some Jewish leaders formulated a plot and solemnly promised that they wouldn’t eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ More than forty people were involved in the conspiracy. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have solemnly promised to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ You and the council must explain to the commander that you need Paul brought down to you. Pretend that you want to examine his case more closely. We’re prepared to kill him before he arrives.”

¹⁶ Paul’s sister had a son who heard about the ambush and he came to the military headquarters and reported it to Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called for one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander because he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸ He took him to the commander and said, “The prisoner Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”

¹⁹ The commander took him by the hand and withdrew to a place where they could speak privately. He asked, “What do you have to report to me?”

²⁰ He replied, “The Jewish leaders have conspired to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow. They will pretend that they want to investigate his case more closely. ²¹ Don’t fall for it! More than forty of them are waiting to ambush him. They have solemnly promised not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, awaiting your consent.”

²² The commander dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Don’t tell anyone that you brought this to my attention.”

²³ The commander called two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴ Have horses ready for Paul to ride, so they may take him safely to Governor Felix.” ²⁵ He wrote the following letter:

³¹ Following their orders, the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris. ³² The following day they let the horsemen continue on with Paul while they returned to the military headquarters in Jerusalem. ³³ The horsemen entered Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and brought Paul before him. ³⁴ After he read the letter, he asked Paul about his home province. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ the governor said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept in custody in Herod’s palace.

Restoration of Judah and Israel

33 While he was still confined to the prison quarters, the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah a second time: ² The Lord proclaims, the Lord who made the earth,^[a] who formed and established it, whose name is the Lord: ³ Call to me and I will answer and reveal to you wondrous secrets that you haven’t known.

⁴ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that were torn down to defend against the siege ramps and weapons ⁵ of the invading Babylonians.^[b] They will be filled with the corpses of those slain in my fierce anger. I hid my face from the people of this city because of all their evil deeds, ⁶ but now I will heal and mend them. I will make them whole and bless them^[c] with an abundance of peace and security. ⁷ I will bring back the captives of Judah and Israel, and I will rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸ I will cleanse them of all the wrongdoing they committed against me, and I will forgive them for all of their guilt and rebellion. ⁹ Then this city^[d] will bring me great joy, praise, and renown before all nations on earth, when they hear of all the good I provide for them. They will be in total awe at all the good and prosperity I provide for them.

¹⁰ The Lord proclaims: You have said about this place, “It is a wasteland, without humans or animals.” Yet in the ravaged and uninhabited towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, ¹¹ the sounds of joy and laughter and the voices of the bride and the bridegroom will again be heard. So will the voices of those who say, as thank offerings are brought to the Lord’s temple, “Give thanks to the Lord of heavenly forces, for the Lord is good and his kindness lasts forever.” I will bring back the captives of this land as they were before, says the Lord.

¹² The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims: This wasteland, without humans or animals—and all its towns—will again become pastures for shepherds to care for their flocks. ¹³ Shepherds will again count their flocks in the towns of the highlands, the western foothills and the arid southern plain, in the land of Benjamin, as well as in the outlying areas of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, says the Lord.

¹⁴ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness. ¹⁷ The Lord proclaims: David will always have one of his descendants sit on the throne of the house of Israel. ¹⁸ And the levitical priests will always have someone in my presence to make entirely burned offerings and grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.

¹⁹ Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ This is what the Lord says: If one could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time, ²¹ only then could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the levitical priests who minister before me be broken; only then would David no longer have a descendant to rule on his throne. ²² And just as the stars in the sky can’t be numbered and the sand on the shore can’t be counted, so I will increase the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.

²³ Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ Aren’t you aware of what people are saying: “The Lord has rejected the two families that he had chosen”? They are insulting my people as if they no longer belong to me.^{[e] 25} The Lord proclaims: I would no sooner break my covenant with day and night or the laws of heaven and earth ²⁶ than I would reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David and his descendants as rulers for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will restore the captives and have compassion on them.

Psalm 3

A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.

Psalm 4

For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.