M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David’s Last Words
23 These are the last words of David:
“This message is from David son of Jesse.
This message is from the man God made great.
He is the king chosen by the God of Jacob,
the sweet singer of Israel.[a]
2 The Lord’s Spirit spoke through me.
His word was on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel spoke.
The Rock of Israel said to me,
‘Whoever rules people fairly,
who rules with respect for God,
4 is like the morning light at dawn,
like a morning without clouds.
He is like sunshine after a rain
that makes tender grass grow from the ground.’
5 “God made my family strong and secure.[b]
He made an agreement with me forever.
God made sure this agreement was
good and secure in every way.
So surely he will give me every victory.
He will give me everything I want!
6 “But evil people are like thorns.
People don’t hold thorns.
They throw them away.
7 If someone touches them,
it hurts like a spear made of wood and iron.
Yes, evil people are like thorns.
They will be thrown into the fire,
and they will be completely burned.”
The Three Heroes
8 These are the names of David’s special soldiers:
Josheb Basshebeth the Tahkemonite[c] was captain of the king’s special forces.[d] He used his spear to kill 800 men at one time.[e]
9 Next, there was Eleazar son of Dodai[f] who was there with David when he challenged the Philistines who had gathered for battle. The Israelites ran away, 10 but Eleazar stood and fought the Philistines until his hand became so tired that it cramped around his sword handle. The Lord won a great victory that day. The people of Israel came back, but only to take things from the dead.
11 Next there was Shammah son of Agee from Harar. The Philistines came together to fight. They fought in a field of lentils.[g] The people ran away from the Philistines. 12 But Shammah stood in the middle of the field and defended it. He defeated the Philistines. The Lord gave Israel a great victory that day.
13 Once during harvest time David was at the cave of Adullam, and three of the Thirty Heroes[h] went down to meet him there. At the same time the Philistine army was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.[i]
14 Another time David was in the fortress, and a group of Philistines soldiers was stationed in Bethlehem. 15 David was thirsty for some water from his hometown, so he said, “Oh, if only I could have some water from that well by the gate in Bethlehem.” 16 So the Three Heroes[j] fought their way through the Philistine army and got some water from the well near the city gate in Bethlehem. They took it to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it on the ground as an offering to the Lord. 17 David said, “Lord, I cannot drink this water. It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives for me.” This is why David refused to drink the water. The Three Heroes did many brave things like that.
Other Brave Soldiers
18 Abishai was the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah. Abishai was the leader of the Three Heroes. He used his spear against 300 enemies and killed them. He became as famous as the Three. 19 Abishai was as famous as the Three Heroes. He became their leader, even though he was not one of them.
20 Then there was Benaiah son of Jehoiada, from Kabzeel. He was the son of a powerful man.[k] Benaiah did many brave things. He killed two of the best soldiers in Moab. One day when it was snowing, Benaiah went down into a hole in the ground and killed a lion. 21 Benaiah also killed a big Egyptian soldier. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, and Benaiah only had a club. He grabbed the spear in the Egyptian’s hands and took it away from him. Then Benaiah killed the Egyptian with his own spear. 22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada did many more brave things like that. He was as famous as the Three Heroes. 23 Benaiah was even more famous than the Thirty Heroes, but he did not become a member of the Three Heroes. David made Benaiah the leader of his bodyguards.
The Thirty Heroes
24 The following men were among the Thirty Heroes:
Asahel, the brother of Joab;
Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;
25 Shammah the Harodite;
Elika the Harodite;
26 Helez the Paltite;
Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa;
27 Abiezer from Anathoth;
Mebunnai the Hushathite;
28 Zalmon the Ahohite;
Maharai from Netophah;
29 Heled son of Baanah from Netophah;
Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah of Benjamin;
30 Benaiah the Pirathonite;
Hiddai from the Brooks of Gaash;
31 Abi Albon the Arbathite;
Azmaveth the Barhumite;
32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite;
the sons of Jashen;
Jonathan 33 the son of Shammah from Harar;
Ahiam son of Sharar from Harar;
34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite;
Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;
35 Hezro the Carmelite;
Paarai the Arbite;
36 Igal son of Nathan of Zobah;
Bani the Gadite;
37 Zelek the Ammonite;
Naharai from Beeroth (Naharai carried the armor for Joab son of Zeruiah);
38 Ira the Ithrite;
Gareb the Ithrite;
39 and Uriah the Hittite.
There were 37 in all.
God’s Blessing Comes Through Faith
3 You people in Galatia are so foolish! Why do I say this? Because I told you very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But now it seems as though you have let someone use their magical powers to make you forget. 2 Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the message about Jesus and believed it. 3 You began your life in Christ with the Spirit. Now do you try to complete it by your own power? That is foolish. 4 You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope they were not wasted! 5 Does God give you the Spirit because you follow the law? Does God work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, God gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you because you heard the message about Jesus and believed it.
6 The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham. “Abraham believed God, and because of this faith he was accepted as one who is right with God.”[a] 7 So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith. 8 The Scriptures told what would happen in the future. These writings said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. God told this Good News to Abraham before it happened. God said to Abraham, “I will use you to bless all the people on earth.”[b] 9 Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. All people who believe are blessed the same as Abraham was.
10 But people who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse. As the Scriptures say, “They must do everything that is written in the law. If they do not always obey, they are under a curse.”[c] 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by the law. The Scriptures say, “The one who is right with God by faith will live forever.”[d]
12 The law does not depend on faith. No, it says that the only way a person will find life by the law is to obey its commands.[e] 13 The law says we are under a curse for not always obeying it. But Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse. The Scriptures say, “Anyone who is hung on a tree[f] is under a curse.”[g] 14 Because of what Jesus Christ did, the blessing God promised to Abraham was given to all people. Christ died so that by believing in him we could have the Spirit that God promised.
The Law and the Promise
15 Brothers and sisters, let me give you an example from everyday life: Think about an agreement that one person makes with another. After that agreement is made official, no one can stop it or add anything to it, and no one can ignore it. 16 God made promises to Abraham and his Descendant.[h] The Scripture does not say, “and to your descendants.” That would mean many people. But it says, “and to your Descendant.” That means only one, and that one is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: The agreement that God gave to Abraham was made official long before the law came. The law came 430 years later. So the law could not take away the agreement and change God’s promise.
18 Can following the law give us the blessing God promised? If we could receive it by following the law, then it would not be God’s promise that brings it to us. But God freely gave his blessings to Abraham through the promise God made.
19 So what was the law for? The law was given to show the wrong things people do. The law would continue until the special Descendant of Abraham came. This is the Descendant mentioned in the promise, which came directly from God. But the law was given through angels, and the angels used Moses as a mediator to give the law to the people. 20 But when God gave the promise, there was no mediator, because a mediator is not needed when there is only one side, and God is one.[i]
The Purpose of the Law of Moses
21 Does this mean that the law works against God’s promises? Of course not. The law was never God’s way of giving new life to people. If it were, then we could be made right with God by following the law. 22 But this is not possible. The Scriptures put the whole world in prison under the control of sin, so that the only way for people to get what God promised would be through faith in[j] Jesus Christ. It is given to those who believe in him.
23 Before this faith came, the law held us as prisoners. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming. 24 I mean the law was the guardian in charge of us until Christ came. After he came, we could be made right with God through faith. 25 Now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law to be our guardian.
26-27 You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 28 Now, in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or free, male or female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. 29 You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.
The Army of Babylon Will Attack Egypt
30 The word of the Lord came to me again. He said, 2 “Son of man,[a] speak for me. Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
“‘Cry and say,
“A terrible day is coming.”
3 That day is near!
Yes, the Lord’s day for judging is near.
It will be a cloudy day,
the time for judging the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt!
People in Ethiopia will shake with fear, when Egypt falls.
The army of Babylon will take the Egyptians as prisoners.
Egypt’s foundations will be torn down.
5 “‘Many people made peace agreements with Egypt. But all those people from Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and the people of Israel[b] will be destroyed!
6 “‘This is what the Lord says:
Those who support Egypt will fall!
The pride in her power will end.
The people in Egypt will be killed in battle,
all the way from Migdol to Aswan.
This is what the Lord God said!
7 Egypt will join the other countries that were destroyed.
Its cities will be among those that are in ruins.
8 I will start a fire in Egypt,
and all her helpers will be destroyed.
Then they will know that I am the Lord!
9 “‘At that time I will send out messengers. They will go in ships to carry the bad news to Ethiopia. Ethiopia now feels safe, but the people of Ethiopia will shake with fear when Egypt is punished. That time is coming!’”
10 This is what the Lord God says:
“I will use the king of Babylon.
I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the people of Egypt.
11 Nebuchadnezzar and his people
are the most terrible of the nations,
and I will bring them to destroy Egypt.
They will pull out their swords against Egypt.
They will fill the land with dead bodies.
12 I will make the Nile River become dry land.
Then I will sell the dry land to evil people.
I will use strangers to make that land empty.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
The Idols of Egypt Will Be Destroyed
13 This is what the Lord God says:
“I will also destroy the idols in Egypt.
I will take the statues away from Memphis.
There will no longer be a leader in the land of Egypt.
I will put fear there instead.
14 I will make Pathros empty.
I will start a fire in Zoan.
I will punish Thebes.
15 I will pour out my anger against Pelusium, the fortress of Egypt!
I will destroy the people of Thebes.
16 I will start a fire in Egypt;
the city of Pelusium will ache with fear.
The soldiers will break into the city of Thebes,
and Memphis will have new troubles every day.
17 The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis[c] will die in battle,
and the women will be taken away as prisoners.
18 It will be a dark day in Tahpanhes when I break Egypt’s control.[d]
Her proud power will be finished!
A cloud will cover Egypt,
and her daughters will be taken away as prisoners.
19 So I will punish Egypt.
Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
Egypt Will Become Weak Forever
20 On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of exile,[e] the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. No one will wrap his arm with a bandage. It will not heal, so his arm will not be strong enough to hold a sword.”
22 This is what the Lord God says: “I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the strong arm and the arm that is already broken. I will make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. 24 I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong. I will put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh will cry out in pain, the kind of cry that a dying man makes. 25 So I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“I will put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon. Then he will stretch the sword out against the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
38 But God was merciful.
He forgave their sins and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger.
He never let it get out of control.
39 He remembered that they were only people,
like a wind that blows and then is gone.
40 Oh, they caused him so much trouble in the desert!
They made him so sad.
41 Again and again they tested his patience.
They really hurt the Holy One of Israel.
42 They forgot about his power.
They forgot the many times he saved them from the enemy.
43 They forgot the miracles in Egypt,
the miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44 God turned the rivers into blood,
and the Egyptians could not drink the water.
45 He sent swarms of flies that bit them.
He sent the frogs that ruined their lives.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their other plants to locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their trees with sleet.
48 He killed their animals with hail
and their cattle with lightning.
49 He showed the Egyptians his anger.
He sent his destroying angels against them.
50 He found a way to show his anger.
He did not spare their lives.
He let them die with a deadly disease.
51 He killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
He killed every firstborn in Ham’s[a] family.
52 Then he led Israel like a shepherd.
He led his people like sheep into the desert.
53 He guided them safely.
They had nothing to fear.
He drowned their enemies in the sea.
54 He led his people to his holy land,
to the mountain he took with his own power.
55 He forced the other nations out before them
and gave each family its share of the land.
He gave each tribe of Israel a place to live.
56 But they tested God Most High and made him very sad.
They didn’t obey his commands.
57 They turned against him and were unfaithful just like their ancestors.
They changed directions like a boomerang.
58 They built high places and made God angry.
They built statues of false gods and made him jealous.
59 God heard what they were doing and became very angry.
So he rejected Israel completely!
60 He abandoned his place at Shiloh,[b]
the Holy Tent where he lived among the people.
61 He let foreigners capture the Box of the Agreement,
the symbol of his power and glory.
62 He showed his anger against his people
and let them be killed in war.
63 Their young men were burned to death,
and there were no wedding songs for their young women.
64 Their priests were killed,
but the widows had no time to mourn for them.
65 Finally, our Lord got up
like a man waking from his sleep,
like a soldier after drinking too much wine.
66 He forced his enemies to turn back defeated.
He brought them shame that will last forever.
67 Then he rejected Joseph’s family.
He did not accept Ephraim’s family.
68 No, he chose the tribe of Judah,
and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves.
69 He built his holy Temple high on that mountain.
Like the earth, God built his Temple to last forever.
70 He chose David to be his special servant.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71 He took him away from the job of caring for sheep
and gave him the job of caring for the descendants of Jacob—Israel, his chosen people.
72 And David led them with a pure heart
and guided them very wisely.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International