M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David’s Battles

18 After this David won the war against the Philistines and put them under his power. He took Gath and its towns from the Philistines. ² He won the war against Moab. And the Moabites were made to work for David, bringing taxes to him. ³ David won the war against King Hadadezer of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to bring his power to the Euphrates River. ⁴ David took from him 1,000 war-wagons, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And he cut the legs of all but 100 war-wagon horses.

⁵ The Syrians of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah. But David killed 22,000 of the Syrian men. ⁶ Then David put soldiers in Syria of Damascus. And the Syrians became servants to David, paying taxes. The Lord helped David in every place he went. ⁷ David took the battle-coverings of gold which were carried by Hadadezer’s servants, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ He took a very large amount of brass from Hadadezer’s cities, Tibhath and Cun. This was the brass Solomon used to make the brass pool, the pillars, and the brass pots.

⁹ King Tou of Hamath heard that David had won the war against all the army of King Hadadezer of Zobah. ¹⁰ So he sent his son Hadoram to King David, to greet him and give honor to him, because David had fought against Hadadezer and won. For Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. Hadoram brought all kinds of things of gold and silver and brass. ¹¹ King David set these apart to the Lord, with the silver and gold he had carried away from all the nations. He took things from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Abishai the son of Zeruiah won the war from 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put soldiers in Edom. And the Edomites became servants to David. The Lord helped David every place he went.

¹⁴ So David ruled over all Israel. He did what was fair and right and good for all his people. ¹⁵ Joab the son of Zeruiah was captain of the army. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud wrote down the things of the nation. ¹⁶ Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were religious leaders. Shavsha was the one who writes everything down. ¹⁷ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And the sons of David were leaders at the king’s side.

5 Listen, you rich men! Cry about the troubles that will come to you. ² Your riches are worth nothing. Your fine clothes are full of moth holes. ³ Your gold and silver have rusted. Their rust will speak against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have saved riches for yourselves for the last days. ⁴ See! The men working in your fields are crying against you because you have kept back part of their pay. Their cries have been heard by the Lord Who hears His people. ⁵ You have had everything while you lived on the earth and have enjoyed its fun. You have made your hearts fat and are ready to be killed as an animal is killed. ⁶ You have killed men who are right with God who were not making it hard for you.

The Lord Will Come Again

⁷ Christian brothers, be willing to wait for the Lord to come again. Learn from the farmer. He waits for the good fruit from the earth until the early and late rains come. ⁸ You must be willing to wait also. Be strong in your hearts because the Lord is coming again soon. ⁹ Do not complain about each other, Christian brothers. Then you will not be judged. See! The Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ See how the early preachers spoke for the Lord by their suffering and by being willing to wait. ¹¹ We think of those who stayed true to Him as happy even though they suffered. You have heard how long Job waited. You have seen what the Lord did for him in the end. The Lord is full of loving-kindness and pity.

¹² My Christian brothers, do not swear. Do not use heaven or earth or anything else to swear by. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. You will be guilty for saying anything more.

The Power of Prayer in Healing

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone happy? He should sing songs of thanks to God. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? He should send for the church leaders and they should pray for him. They should pour oil on him in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ The prayer given in faith will heal the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Tell your sins to each other. And pray for each other so you may be healed. The prayer from the heart of a man right with God has much power. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man as we are. He prayed that it might not rain. It did not rain on the earth for three and one-half years. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again that it would rain. It rained much and the fields of the earth gave fruit.

Bring Back Those Who Are Lost in Sin

¹⁹ My Christian brothers, if any of you should be led away from the truth, let someone turn him back again. ²⁰ That person should know that if he turns a sinner from the wrong way, he will save the sinner’s soul from death and many sins will be forgiven.

Jonah’s Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God while in the stomach of the fish, ² saying, “I called out to the Lord because of my trouble, and He answered me. I cried for help from the place of the dead, and You heard my voice. ³ You threw me into the deep waters, to the very bottom of the sea. A flood was all around me and all Your waves passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been sent away from Your eyes. But I will look again toward Your holy house.’ ⁵ Waters closed in over me. The sea was all around me. Weeds were around my head. ⁶ I went down to the roots of the mountains. The walls of the earth were around me forever. But You have brought me up from the grave, O Lord my God. ⁷ While I was losing all my strength, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to You, into Your holy house. ⁸ Those who worship false gods have given up their faith in You. ⁹ But I will give gifts in worship to You with a thankful voice. I will give You what I have promised. The Lord is the One Who saves.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out onto the dry land.

The Healing of the Captain’s Helper ^(A)

7 When Jesus had finished teaching the people, He went back to Capernaum. ² A captain of the army had a servant whom he thought much of. This servant was very sick and was about to die. ³ When the captain heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to Him. They were to ask if He would come and heal this servant. ⁴ They came to Jesus and begged Him, saying, “The man is respected and should have this done for him. ⁵ He loves our nation and has built our Jewish place of worship.”

⁶ Jesus went with them. When He was not far from the house, the captain told some friends to tell this to Jesus, “Lord, do not take the time to come to my house, because I am not good enough. ⁷ And I am not good enough to come to You. But just say the word and my servant will be healed. ⁸ For I am a man who works for someone else also, and I have soldiers who work for me. I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes. I say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I say to my workman, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

⁹ Jesus was surprised when He heard this. He turned to the people following Him and said, “I tell you, I have not found so much faith even in the Jewish nation.” ¹⁰ Those who had been sent went back to the captain’s house and found the servant well again.

The Son of a Woman Whose Husband Had Died Was Raised from the Dead

¹¹ The next day Jesus went to a city called Nain. His followers and many other people went with Him. ¹² When they came near the city gate, a dead man was being carried out. He was the only son of a woman whose husband had died. Many people of the city were with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, He had loving-pity for her and said, “Do not cry.” ¹⁴ He went and put His hand on the box in which the dead man was carried. The men who were carrying it, stopped. Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The man who was dead sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶ Everyone was afraid and they gave thanks to God. They said, “A great Man Who speaks for God has come among us! God has cared for His people!” ¹⁷ The news about Jesus went through all the country of Judea and over all the land.

John the Baptist Asks about Jesus ^(B)

¹⁸ The followers of John the Baptist told him about all these things. ¹⁹ John called two of his followers and sent them to Jesus to ask, “Are You the One Who is to come? Or are we to look for another?” ²⁰ The men came to Jesus and said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask You, ‘Are You the One Who is to come? Or are we to look for another?’”

²¹ At that time Jesus was healing many people of all kinds of sickness and disease and was putting out demons. Many that were blind were able to see. ²² Jesus said to John’s followers, “Go back to John the Baptist and tell him what you have seen and heard. Tell him the blind are made to see. Those who could not walk, are walking. Those with a bad skin disease are healed. Those who could not hear, are hearing. The dead are raised to life and poor people have the Good News preached to them. ²³ The person who is not ashamed of Me and does not turn away from Me is happy.”

Jesus Tells about John the Baptist ^(C)

²⁴ As John’s followers were going away, Jesus began to tell the people about John the Baptist. He said, “Why did you go out to the desert? Did you go out to see a small tree moving in the wind? ²⁵ What did you go out to see? A man dressed in good clothes? Those who are dressed in good clothes are in the houses of kings. ²⁶ But what did you go to see? One who speaks for God? Yes, I tell you, he is more than one who speaks for God. ²⁷ This is the man the Holy Writings spoke of when they said, ‘See! I will send My helper to carry news ahead of You. He will make Your way ready for You!’ ^(D)

²⁸ “I tell you, of those born of women, there is no one greater than John the Baptist. The least in the holy nation of God is greater than he.”

²⁹ All the people who heard Jesus and those who gathered taxes showed they knew God was right and were baptized by John. ³⁰ But the proud religious law-keepers and the men who knew the Law would not listen. They would not be baptized by John and they did not receive what God had for them.

Jesus Speaks Against the People of This Day

³¹ Then the Lord said, “What are the people of this day like? ³² They are like children playing in front of stores. They call to their friends, ‘We have played music for you, but you did not dance. We have had sorrow for you, but you did not have sorrow.’ ³³ John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you say, ‘See! He likes food and wine. He is a friend of men who gather taxes and of sinners!’ ³⁵ Wisdom is shown to be right by those who are wise.”

A Woman Puts Special Perfume on the Feet of Jesus

³⁶ One of the proud religious law-keepers wanted Jesus to eat with him. Jesus went to his house and sat down to eat. ³⁷ There was a woman in the city who was a sinner. She knew Jesus was eating in the house of the proud religious law-keeper. She brought a jar of special perfume. ³⁸ Then she stood behind Him by His feet and cried. Her tears wet His feet and she dried them with her hair. She kissed His feet and put the special perfume on them.

³⁹ The proud religious law-keeper who had asked Jesus to eat with him saw this. He said to himself, “If this Man were One Who speaks for God, He would know who and what kind of a woman put her hands on Him. She is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to him, “I have something to say to you, Simon.” And Simon said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹ “There were two men who owed a certain man some money. The one man owed 500 pieces of silver money. The other man owed 50 pieces of silver money. ⁴² Neither one of them had any money, so he told them they did not have to pay him back. Tell Me, which one would love him the most?” ⁴³ Simon said, “I think it would be the one who owed the most.” And Jesus said to him, “You have said the right thing.”

⁴⁴ He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house and you gave Me no water to wash My feet. She washed My feet with her tears and dried them with the hairs of her head. ⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but this woman has kissed my feet from the time I came in. ⁴⁶ You did not put even oil on My head but this woman has put special perfume on My feet. ⁴⁷ I tell you, her many sins are forgiven because she loves much. But the one who has been forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then He said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Those who were eating with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this Man Who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you from the punishment of sin. Go in peace.”