M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David and Bathsheba

11 In the spring,^[a] when kings^[b] go off to war, David sent Joab, along with his servants and all the Israelites, and they destroyed the Ammonites, attacking the city of Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. ³ David sent someone and inquired about the woman. The report came back: “Isn’t this Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ So David sent messengers to take her. When she came to him, he had sex with her. (Now she had been purifying herself after her monthly period.) Then she returned home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David.

“I’m pregnant,” she said.

⁶ Then David sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked about the welfare of Joab and the army and how the battle was going. ⁸ Then David told Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”

Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ However, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with all his master’s servants. He didn’t go down to his own house. ¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah didn’t go down to his own house,” so David asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just returned from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ “The chest and Israel and Judah are all living in tents,” Uriah told David. “And my master Joab and my master’s troops are camping in the open field. How^[c] could I go home and eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? I swear on your very life,^[d] I will not do that!”

¹² Then David told Uriah, “Stay here one more day. Tomorrow I’ll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. The next day ¹³ David called for him, and he ate and drank, and David got him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, alongside his master’s servants, but he did not go down to his own home.

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ He wrote in the letter, “Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be struck down and die.”

¹⁶ So as Joab was attacking the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew there were strong warriors. ¹⁷ When the city’s soldiers came out and attacked Joab, some of the people from David’s army fell. Uriah the Hittite was also killed. ¹⁸ Joab sent a complete report of the battle to David.

¹⁹ “When you have finished reporting all the news of the battle to the king,” Joab instructed the messenger, ²⁰ “if the king gets angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Jerubbaal’s son Abimelech?^[e] didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone on top of him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.’”

²² So the messenger set off, and when he arrived he reported to David everything Joab sent him to say.

²³ “The men overpowered us,” the messenger told David. “They came out against us in the open field, but we fought against them^[f] up to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Archers shot down on your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants died. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.”

²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t be upset about this because the sword is that way: taking the life of this person or that person. Continue attacking the city and destroy it!’ Encourage Joab!”

²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ After the time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her back to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

But what David had done was evil in the Lord’s eyes.

4 This is why we don’t get discouraged, given that we received this ministry in the same way that we received God’s mercy. ² Instead, we reject secrecy and shameful actions. We don’t use deception, and we don’t tamper with God’s word. Instead, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God by the public announcement of the truth. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are on the road to destruction. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who don’t have faith so they couldn’t see the light of the gospel that reveals Christ’s glory. Christ is the image of God.

⁵ We don’t preach about ourselves. Instead, we preach about Jesus Christ as Lord, and we describe ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ God said that light should shine out of the darkness. He is the same one who shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Physical bodies and eternal glory

⁷ But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. ⁸ We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. ⁹ We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out.

¹⁰ We always carry Jesus’ death around in our bodies so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies. ¹¹ We who are alive are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that Jesus’ life can also be seen in our bodies that are dying. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

¹³ We have the same faithful spirit as what is written in scripture: I had faith, and so I spoke.^[a] We also have faith, and so we also speak. ¹⁴ We do this because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus, and he will bring us into his presence along with you. ¹⁵ All these things are for your benefit. As grace increases to benefit more and more people, it will cause gratitude to increase, which results in God’s glory.

¹⁶ So we aren’t depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person that we are on the inside is being renewed every day. ¹⁷ Our temporary minor problems are producing an eternal stockpile of glory for us that is beyond all comparison. ¹⁸ We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal.

Sins of parents and children

18 The Lord’s word came to me: ² What do you mean by this proverb of yours about the land of Israel: “When parents eat unripe grapes, the children’s teeth suffer”? ³ As surely as I live, says the Lord God, no longer will you use this proverb in Israel! ⁴ All lives are mine; the life of the parent and the life of the child belong to me. Only the one who sins will die.

⁵ People are declared innocent when they act justly and responsibly. ⁶ They don’t eat on the hills or give their attention to the idols of the house of Israel. They don’t defile the wives of their neighbors or approach menstruating women. ⁷ They don’t cheat anyone, but fulfill their obligations. They don’t rob others, but give food to the hungry and clothes to the naked. ⁸ They don’t impose interest or take profit. They refrain from evil and settle cases between people fairly. ⁹ They follow my regulations, keep my case laws, and act faithfully. Such people are innocent, and they will live, proclaims the Lord God.

¹⁰ But suppose one of them has a violent child who sheds blood or does any one of these things, ¹¹ even though his parents didn’t do any of them. He eats on the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, ¹² oppresses the poor and needy, robs others and doesn’t fulfill his obligations, pays attention to the idols and does detestable things, ¹³ and takes interest and profit. Should he live? He should not. He engaged in all these detestable practices. He will surely die, and his blood will be on him.

¹⁴ But suppose he has a child who sees all the sins that his father committed. He becomes alarmed and doesn’t do them. ¹⁵ He doesn’t eat on the mountains or pay attention to the idols of the house of Israel. He doesn’t defile his neighbor’s wife. ¹⁶ He doesn’t cheat anyone, either by seizing collateral for loans or committing robbery. He gives his food to the hungry and clothes to the naked. ¹⁷ He refrains from oppressing the poor by taking neither interest nor profit. He observes my case laws and follows my regulations. He won’t die because of his father’s guilt. He will surely live. ¹⁸ As for his father: If he exploited the weak or committed robbery, or did anything else that wasn’t good for the people, he will die because of his own guilt.

¹⁹ You will say, “Why doesn’t the child bear his parent’s guilt?” The child has acted justly and responsibly. The child kept all my regulations and observed them. The child will surely live. ²⁰ Only the one who sins will die. A child won’t bear a parent’s guilt, and a parent won’t bear a child’s guilt. Those who do right will be declared innocent, and the wicked will be declared guilty.

²¹ But if the wicked turn away from all the sins that they have committed, keep all my regulations, and act justly and responsibly, they will surely live and not die. ²² None of the sins that they committed will be held against them, but they will live because they do the right things. ²³ Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Certainly not! If they change their ways, they will live.

²⁴ If those who do the right thing turn from righteousness and engage in the same detestable practices that the wicked committed, can they do these things and live? None of their righteous deeds will be remembered. They will die because of their treacheries and sins. ²⁵ But you say, “My Lord’s way doesn’t measure up.” Listen, house of Israel, is it my ways that don’t measure up? Isn’t it your ways that don’t measure up? ²⁶ When those who do the right thing turn from their responsible ways and act maliciously, they will die because of it. For their malicious acts they will die. ²⁷ And when the wicked turn from their wicked deeds and act justly and responsibly, they will preserve their lives. ²⁸ When they become alarmed and turn away from all their sins, they will surely live; they won’t die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, “My Lord’s way doesn’t measure up.” Is it my ways that don’t measure up? Isn’t it your ways that don’t measure up, house of Israel? ³⁰ Therefore, I will judge each of you according to your ways, house of Israel. This is what the Lord God says. Turn, turn away from all your sins. Don’t let them be sinful obstacles for you. ³¹ Abandon all of your repeated sins. Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, house of Israel? ³² I most certainly don’t want anyone to die! This is what the Lord God says. Change your ways, and live!

Psalm 62

For the music leader. According to Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

Psalm 63

A psalm of David, when he was in the Judean desert.