M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

13 After David had consulted with all of his army officers, ² he addressed the assembled men of Israel as follows:

“Since you think that I should be your king, and since the Lord our God has given his approval, let us send messages to our brothers throughout the land of Israel, including the priests and Levites, inviting them to come and join us. ³ And let us bring back the Ark of our God, for we have been neglecting it ever since Saul became king.”

⁴ There was unanimous consent, for everyone agreed with him. ⁵ So David summoned the people of Israel from all across the nation^[a] so that they could be present when the Ark of God was brought from Kiriath-jearim.

⁶ Then David and all Israel went to Baalah (i.e., Kiriath-jearim) in Judah to bring back the Ark of the Lord God enthroned above the Guardian Angels.^{[b] 7} It was taken from the house of Abinadab on a new cart. Uzza and Ahio drove the oxen. ⁸ Then David and all the people danced before the Lord with great enthusiasm, accompanied by singing and by zithers, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. ⁹ But as they arrived at the threshing floor of Chidon, the oxen stumbled and Uzza reached out his hand to steady the Ark. ¹⁰ Then the anger of the Lord blazed out against Uzza, and killed him because he had touched the Ark. And so he died there before God. ¹¹ David was angry at the Lord for what he had done to Uzza and he named the place “The Outbreak Against Uzza.” And it is still called that today.

¹² Now David was afraid of God and asked, “How shall I ever get the Ark of God home?”

¹³ Finally he decided to take it to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite instead of bringing it to the City of David. ¹⁴ The Ark remained there with the family of Obed-edom for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his family.

14 King Hiram of Tyre sent masons and carpenters to help build David’s palace and he supplied him with much cedar lumber. ² David now realized why the Lord had made him king and why he had made his kingdom so great; it was for a special reason—to give joy to God’s people!

³ After David moved to Jerusalem, he married additional wives and became the father of many sons and daughters.

^4-7 These are the names of the sons born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, Eliphelet.

⁸ When the Philistines heard that David was Israel’s new king, they mobilized their forces to capture him. But David learned that they were on the way, so he called together his army. ⁹ The Philistines were raiding the valley of Rephaim, ¹⁰ and David asked the Lord, “If I go out and fight them, will you give me the victory?”

And the Lord replied, “Yes, I will.”

¹¹ So he attacked them at Baal-perazim and wiped them out. He exulted, “God has used me to sweep away my enemies like water bursting through a dam!” That is why the place has been known as Baal-perazim ever since (meaning, “The Place of Breaking Through”).

¹² After the battle the Israelis picked up many idols left by the Philistines, but David ordered them burned.

¹³ Later the Philistines raided the valley again, ¹⁴ and again David asked God what to do.

The Lord replied, “Go around by the mulberry trees and attack from there. ¹⁵ When you hear a sound like marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that is your signal to attack, for God will go before you and destroy the enemy.”

¹⁶ So David did as the Lord commanded him; and he cut down the army of the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. ¹⁷ David’s fame spread everywhere, and the Lord caused all the nations to fear him.

1 From: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To: Jewish Christians scattered everywhere. Greetings!

² Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, ³ for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.

⁵ If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. ⁶ But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; ^7-8 and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way and then that. If you don’t ask with faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.

⁹ A Christian who doesn’t amount to much in this world should be glad, for he is great in the Lord’s sight. ^10-11 But a rich man should be glad that his riches mean nothing to the Lord, for he will soon be gone, like a flower that has lost its beauty and fades away, withered—killed by the scorching summer sun. So it is with rich men. They will soon die and leave behind all their busy activities.

¹² Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love him. ¹³ And remember, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it. ¹⁴ Temptation is the pull of man’s own evil thoughts and wishes. ¹⁵ These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to the death penalty from God. ¹⁶ So don’t be misled, dear brothers.

¹⁷ But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow. ¹⁸ And it was a happy day for him when^[a] he gave us our new lives through the truth of his Word, and we became, as it were, the first children in his new family.

¹⁹ Dear brothers, don’t ever forget that it is best to listen much, speak little, and not become angry; ²⁰ for anger doesn’t make us good, as God demands that we must be.

²¹ So get rid of all that is wrong in your life, both inside and outside, and humbly be glad for the wonderful message we have received, for it is able to save our souls as it takes hold of our hearts.

²² And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves. ²³ For if a person just listens and doesn’t obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; ²⁴ as soon as he walks away, he can’t see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. ²⁵ But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

²⁶ Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn’t control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn’t worth much. ²⁷ The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord—not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.

8 Then the Lord God showed me, in a vision, a basket full of ripe fruit.

² “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”

Then the Lord said, “This fruit represents my people Israel—ripe for punishment. I will not defer their punishment again. ³ The riotous sound of singing in the Temple will turn to weeping then. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence.” The Lord has spoken.

⁴ Listen, you merchants who rob the poor, trampling on the needy; ⁵ you who long for the Sabbath to end and the religious holidays to be over so you can get out and start cheating again—using your weighted scales and under-sized measures; ⁶ you who make slaves of the poor, buying them for their debt of a piece of silver or a pair of shoes, or selling them your moldy wheat:

⁷ The Lord, the Pride of Israel, has sworn: “I won’t forget your deeds! ⁸ The land will tremble as it awaits its doom, and everyone will mourn. It will rise up like the river Nile at floodtime, toss about, and sink again. ⁹ At that time I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in the daytime. ¹⁰ And I will turn your parties into times of mourning, and your songs of joy will be turned to cries of despair. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads as signs of sorrow, as if your only son had died; bitter, bitter will be that day.

¹¹ “The time is surely coming,” says the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. ¹² Men will wander everywhere from sea to sea, seeking the word of the Lord, searching, running here and going there, but will not find it. ¹³ Beautiful girls and fine young men alike will grow faint and weary, thirsting for the word of God. ¹⁴ And those who worship the idols of Samaria, Dan, and Beersheba shall fall and never rise again.”

3 ^1-2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar, a message came from God to John (the son of Zacharias), as he was living out in the deserts. (Pilate was governor over Judea at that time; Herod, over Galilee; his brother Philip, over Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, over Abilene; and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.) ³ Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God and away from their sins, in order to be forgiven.^[a]

⁴ In the words of Isaiah the prophet, John was “a voice shouting from the barren wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord to travel on! Widen the pathway before him! ⁵ Level the mountains! Fill up the valleys! Straighten the curves! Smooth out the ruts! ⁶ And then all mankind shall see the Savior sent from God.’”

⁷ Here is a sample of John’s preaching to the crowds that came for baptism: “You brood of snakes! You are trying to escape hell without truly turning to God! That is why you want to be baptized! ⁸ First go and prove by the way you live that you really have repented. And don’t think you are safe because you are descendants of Abraham. That isn’t enough. God can produce children of Abraham from these desert stones! ⁹ The ax of his judgment is poised over you, ready to sever your roots and cut you down. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowd replied, “What do you want us to do?”

¹¹ “If you have two coats,” he replied, “give one to the poor. If you have extra food, give it away to those who are hungry.”

¹² Even tax collectors—notorious for their corruption—came to be baptized and asked, “How shall we prove to you that we have abandoned our sins?”

¹³ “By your honesty,” he replied. “Make sure you collect no more taxes than the Roman^[b] government requires you to.”

¹⁴ “And us,” asked some soldiers, “what about us?”

John replied, “Don’t extort money by threats and violence; don’t accuse anyone of what you know he didn’t do; and be content with your pay!”

¹⁵ Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and eager to know whether or not John was he. This was the question of the hour and was being discussed everywhere.

¹⁶ John answered the question by saying, “I baptize only with water; but someone is coming soon who has far higher authority than mine; in fact, I am not even worthy of being his slave.^[c] He will baptize you with fire—with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ He will separate chaff from grain, and burn up the chaff with eternal fire and store away the grain.” ¹⁸ He used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.

^19-20 (But after John had publicly criticized Herod, governor of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done, Herod put John in prison, thus adding this sin to all his many others.)

²¹ Then one day, after the crowds had been baptized, Jesus himself was baptized; and as he was praying, the heavens opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove settled upon him, and a voice from heaven said, “You are my much loved Son, yes, my delight.”

^23-38 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.