M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

4 And Samuel’s word went out to all Israel.

The Philistines capture God’s chest

In those days the Philistines gathered for war against Israel,^[a] so Israel went out to engage the Philistines in war. Israel camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. ² The Philistines readied themselves to fight Israel. When the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³ When the troops returned to the camp, Israel’s elders said, “Why did the Lord defeat us today before the Philistines? Let’s bring the chest containing the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh so it can go with us and save us from our enemies’ power.” ⁴ So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the chest containing the covenant of the Lord of heavenly forces, who sits enthroned on the winged heavenly creatures.^[b] Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the chest containing God’s covenant.

⁵ When the chest containing the Lord’s covenant entered the camp, all Israel let out such a loud shout that the ground shook. ⁶ When the Philistines heard the sound of that shout, they asked, “What is that loud shouting in the Hebrew camp about?” When they learned that the Lord’s chest had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid and said, “A god has come into that camp! We’re doomed,” they said, “because nothing like this has ever happened before. ⁸ We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the grip of these powerful deities? They are the same gods who struck the Egyptians in the desert with every kind of wound. ⁹ Pull yourselves together and act like men, Philistines! Otherwise, you’ll serve the Hebrews like they’ve been serving you. Act like men and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated, and everyone fled to their homes. It was a massive defeat: thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fell, ¹¹ God’s chest was taken, and Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

¹² That very day, a Benjaminite ran from the battle to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head. ¹³ When he got there, Eli was sitting in a chair beside the road, waiting because he was nervous about God’s chest. The man arrived and gave the news to the city, and the whole city cried out.

¹⁴ Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, “What’s all this noise about?”

The man hurriedly went and told Eli the news. (¹⁵ Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.) ¹⁶ The man told Eli, “I’m the one who just came from the battle. I fled from the battle today.”

“What’s the report, my son?” Eli asked.

¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines. The army has suffered a massive defeat. Also, your own two sons Hophni and Phinehas have died, and God’s chest has been taken!” ¹⁸ At the mention of God’s chest, Eli fell backward off the chair beside the gate. His neck broke, and he died because he was an old man and overweight. Eli had judged Israel for forty years.

¹⁹ Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news that God’s chest had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she doubled over and gave birth because her labor pains overwhelmed her. ²⁰ As she was about to die, the women standing by helping her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she didn’t answer or pay them any attention. ²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[c] saying, “The glory has left Israel,” referring to the capture of God’s chest and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² “The glory has left Israel because God’s chest has been taken,” she said.

Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness

4 So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? ² Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. ³ What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.^{[a] 4} Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. ⁵ But faith is credited as righteousness to those who don’t work, because they have faith in God who makes the ungodly righteous. ⁶ In the same way, David also pronounces a blessing on the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from actions:

⁹ Is this state of happiness only for the circumcised or is it also for those who aren’t circumcised? We say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰ So how was it credited? When he was circumcised, or when he wasn’t circumcised? In fact, it was credited while he still wasn’t circumcised, not after he was circumcised. ¹¹ He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that comes from the faith he had while he still wasn’t circumcised. It happened this way so that Abraham could be the ancestor of all those people who aren’t circumcised, who have faith in God, and so are counted as righteous. ¹² He could also be the ancestor of those circumcised people, who aren’t only circumcised but who also walk in the path of faith, like our ancestor Abraham did while he wasn’t circumcised.

Abraham’s promise is received through faith

¹³ The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. ¹⁴ If they inherit because of the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. ¹⁵ The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. ¹⁶ That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. ¹⁷ As it is written: I have appointed you to be the father of many nations.^[c] So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence. ¹⁸ When it was beyond hope, he had faith in the hope that he would become the father of many nations, in keeping with the promise God spoke to him: That’s how many descendants you will have.^{[d] 19} Without losing faith, Abraham, who was nearly 100 years old, took into account his own body, which was as good as dead, and Sarah’s womb, which was dead. ²⁰ He didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God. ²¹ He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised. ²² Therefore, it was credited to him as righteousness.

²³ But the scripture that says it was credited to him^[e] wasn’t written only for Abraham’s sake. ²⁴ It was written also for our sake, because it is going to be credited to us too. It will be credited to those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over because of our mistakes, and he was raised to meet the requirements of righteousness for us.

Don’t go to Egypt!

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan, Kareah’s son, and Jezaniah, Hoshaiah’s son, and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, approached ² Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “We have something to ask you: Please pray to the Lord your God for us, this small group, for as you can see we were once many but now are very few. ³ May the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ The prophet Jeremiah replied, “Yes, I’ll pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. And I’ll tell you whatever the Lord says; I won’t hide anything from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything that the Lord your God tells us through you. ⁶ Whether we like it or not, we will obey all that the Lord our God says. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we’re sending you, so it may go well for us.”

⁷ Ten days later Jeremiah received the Lord’s word. ⁸ So he called Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and he said to them: You have sent me to present your plea to the Lord, and this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ¹⁰ If you live in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not dig you up because I grieve over the disaster I have brought upon you. ¹¹ You don’t have to be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, declares the Lord, for I will be with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. ¹² I will be merciful to you, and he will be merciful and return you to your land.

¹³ But if you say, “We won’t live in this land,” you will disobey the Lord your God. ¹⁴ And if you insist, “No, we’re going to live in Egypt, where there’s no war, battle alarms, or hunger, and there we will stay,” ¹⁵ then listen to the Lord’s word, you remaining Judeans. The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you then go and live there, ¹⁶ then the war you fear will seize you in the land of Egypt; and the famine you dread will hunt you down in Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ Every one of you who is determined to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword, famine, and disease. No one will escape the disaster that I will bring upon them there.

¹⁸ The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as my fierce anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace. And you will never see this place again. ¹⁹ You who survive from Judah, the Lord has told you: Don’t go to Egypt. Know without a doubt that I have warned you this day. ²⁰ You are putting your lives at risk^[a] by sending me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.” ²¹ Today I have told you, but you still haven’t obeyed all that the Lord your God has sent me to tell you. ²² So know without a doubt that you will die by war, famine, and disease in the place you yearn to go and live.

Psalm 18^[a]

For the music leader. Of David the Lord’s servant, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord after the Lord delivered him from the power of all his enemies and from Saul.