M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
19 When King Nahash of Ammon died, his son Hanun became the new king.
2-3 Then David declared, “I am going to show friendship to Hanun because of all the kind things his father did for me.”
So David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun for the death of his father. But when David’s ambassadors arrived, King Hanun’s counselors warned him, “Don’t fool yourself that David has sent these men to honor your father! They are here to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!”
4 So King Hanun insulted King David’s ambassadors by shaving their beards and cutting their robes off at the middle to expose their buttocks; then he sent them back to David in shame. 5 When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his embarrassed emissaries, telling them to stay at Jericho until their beards had grown out again. 6 When King Hanun realized his mistake he sent $2,000,000 to enlist mercenary troops, chariots, and cavalry from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. 7 He hired thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the support of the king of Maacah and his entire army. These forces camped at Medeba where they were joined by the troops King Hanun had recruited from his cities.
8 When David learned of this, he sent Joab and the mightiest warriors of Israel. 9 The army of Ammon went out to meet them and began the battle at the gates of the city of Medeba. Meanwhile, the mercenary forces were out in the field. 10 When Joab realized that the enemy forces were both in front and behind him, he divided his army and sent one group to engage the Syrians. 11 The other group, under the command of his brother Abishai, moved against the Ammonites.
12 “If the Syrians are too strong for me, come and help me,” Joab told his brother; “and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you. 13 Be courageous and let us act like men to save our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is best.”
14 So Joab and his troops attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians turned and fled. 15 When the Ammonites, under attack by Abishai’s troops, saw that the Syrians were retreating, they fled into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.
16 After their defeat, the Syrians summoned additional troops from east of the Euphrates River, led personally by Shophach, King Hadadezer’s commander-in-chief. 17-18 When this news reached David, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and engaged the enemy troops in battle. But the Syrians again fled from David, and he killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand of their troops. He also killed Shophach, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army. 19 Then King Hadadezer’s troops surrendered to King David and became his subjects. And never again did the Syrians aid the Ammonites in their battles.
20 The following spring (spring was the season when wars usually began) Joab led the Israeli army in successful attacks against the cities and villages of the people of Ammon. After destroying them, he laid siege to Rabbah and conquered it. Meanwhile, David had stayed in Jerusalem. 2 When David arrived on the scene, he removed the crown from the head of King Milcom[a] of Rabbah and placed it upon his own head. It was made of gold inlaid with gems and weighed seventy-five pounds! David also took great amounts of plunder from the city. 3 He drove the people from the city and set them to work with saws,[b] iron picks, and axes, as was his custom with all the conquered Ammonite peoples. Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.
4 The next war was against the Philistines again, at Gezer. But Sibbecai, a man from Hushath, killed one of the sons of the giant, Sippai, and so the Philistines surrendered. 5 During another war with the Philistines, Elhanan (the son of Jair) killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the giant; the handle of his spear was like a weaver’s beam! 6-7 During another battle, at Gath, a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (his father was also a giant) defied and taunted Israel; but he was killed by David’s nephew Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea. 8 These giants were descendants of the giants of Gath, and they were killed by David and his soldiers.
1 From: Peter, Jesus Christ’s missionary.
To: The Jewish Christians driven out of Jerusalem and scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia.
2 Dear friends, God the Father chose you long ago and knew you would become his children. And the Holy Spirit has been at work in your hearts, cleansing you with the blood of Jesus Christ and making you to please him. May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.
3 All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. 4 And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.
7 These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him; though not seeing him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. 9 And your further reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was something the prophets did not fully understand. Though they wrote about it, they had many questions as to what it all could mean. 11 They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about, for he told them to write down the events which, since then, have happened to Christ: his suffering, and his great glory afterwards. And they wondered when and to whom all this would happen.
12 They were finally told that these things would not occur during their lifetime, but long years later, during yours. And now at last this Good News has been plainly announced to all of us. It was preached to us in the power of the same heaven-sent Holy Spirit who spoke to them; and it is all so strange and wonderful that even the angels in heaven would give a great deal to know more about it.
13 So now you can look forward soberly and intelligently to more of God’s kindness to you when Jesus Christ returns.
14 Obey God because you are his children; don’t slip back into your old ways—doing evil because you knew no better. 15 But be holy now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be his child. 16 He himself has said, “You must be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And remember that your heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge you with perfect justice for everything you do; so act in reverent fear of him from now on until you get to heaven. 18 God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver as you very well know. 19 But he paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but only recently was he brought into public view, in these last days, as a blessing to you.
21 Because of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. Now your faith and hope can rest in him alone. 22 Now you can have real love for everyone because your souls have been cleansed from selfishness and hatred when you trusted Christ to save you; so see to it that you really do love each other warmly, with all your hearts.
23 For you have a new life. It was not passed on to you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. This new one will last forever, for it comes from Christ, God’s ever-living Message to men. 24 Yes, our natural lives will fade as grass does when it becomes all brown and dry. All our greatness is like a flower that droops and falls; 25 but the Word of the Lord will last forever. And his message is the Good News that was preached to you.
3 1-2 Then the Lord spoke to Jonah again: “Go to that great city, Nineveh,” he said, “and warn them of their doom, as I told you to before!”
3 So Jonah obeyed and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city with many villages around it—so large that it would take three days to walk through it.[a]
4-5 But the very first day when Jonah entered the city and began to preach, the people repented. Jonah shouted to the crowds that gathered around him, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” And they believed him and declared a fast; from the king on down, everyone put on sackcloth—the rough, coarse garments worn at times of mourning.[b]
6 For when the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne, laid aside his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And the king and his nobles sent this message throughout the city: “Let no one, not even the animals, eat anything at all, nor even drink any water. 8 Everyone must wear sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and let everyone turn from his evil ways, from his violence and robbing. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will decide to let us live and will hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
10 And when God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he abandoned his plan to destroy them and didn’t carry it through.
8 Not long afterwards he began a tour of the cities and villages of Galilee[a] to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, and took his twelve disciples with him. 2 Some women went along, from whom he had cast out demons or whom he had healed; among them were Mary Magdalene (Jesus had cast out seven demons from her), 3 Joanna, Chuza’s wife (Chuza was King Herod’s business manager and was in charge of his palace and domestic affairs), Susanna, and many others who were contributing from their private means to the support of Jesus and his disciples.
4 One day he gave this illustration to a large crowd that was gathering to hear him—while many others were still on the way, coming from other towns.
5 “A farmer went out to his field to sow grain. As he scattered the seed on the ground, some of it fell on a footpath and was trampled on; and the birds came and ate it as it lay exposed. 6 Other seed fell on shallow soil with rock beneath. This seed began to grow, but soon withered and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed landed in thistle patches, and the young grain stalks were soon choked out. 8 Still other fell on fertile soil; this seed grew and produced a crop one hundred times as large as he had planted.” (As he was giving this illustration he said, “If anyone has listening ears, use them now!”)
9 His apostles asked him what the story meant.
10 He replied, “God has granted you to know the meaning of these parables, for they tell a great deal about the Kingdom of God. But these crowds hear the words and do not understand, just as the ancient prophets predicted.
11 “This is its meaning: The seed is God’s message to men. 12 The hard path where some seed fell represents the hard hearts of those who hear the words of God, but then the devil comes and steals the words away and prevents people from believing and being saved. 13 The stony ground represents those who enjoy listening to sermons, but somehow the message never really gets through to them and doesn’t take root and grow. They know the message is true, and sort of believe for a while; but when the hot winds of persecution blow, they lose interest. 14 The seed among the thorns represents those who listen and believe God’s words but whose faith afterwards is choked out by worry and riches and the responsibilities and pleasures of life. And so they are never able to help anyone else to believe the Good News.
15 “But the good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and steadily spread them to others who also soon believe.”
16 Another time he asked,[b] “Who ever heard of someone lighting a lamp and then covering it up to keep it from shining? No, lamps are mounted in the open where they can be seen. 17 This illustrates the fact that someday everything in men’s hearts[c] shall be brought to light and made plain to all. 18 So be careful how you listen; for whoever has, to him shall be given more; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.”
19 Once when his mother and brothers came to see him, they couldn’t get into the house where he was teaching because of the crowds. 20 When Jesus heard they were standing outside and wanted to see him, 21 he remarked, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear the message of God and obey it.”
22 One day about that time, as he and his disciples were out in a boat, he suggested that they cross to the other side of the lake. 23 On the way across he lay down for a nap, and while he was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger.
24 They rushed over and woke him up. “Master, Master, we are sinking!” they screamed.
So he spoke to the storm: “Quiet down,” he said, and the wind and waves subsided and all was calm! 25 Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
And they were filled with awe and fear of him and said to one another, “Who is this man, that even the winds and waves obey him?”
26 So they arrived at the other side, in the Gerasene country across the lake from Galilee. 27 As he was climbing out of the boat a man from the city of Gadara came to meet him, a man who had been demon-possessed for a long time. Homeless and naked, he lived in a cemetery among the tombs. 28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell to the ground before him, screaming, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? Please, I beg you, oh, don’t torment me!”
29 For Jesus was already commanding the demon to leave him. This demon had often taken control of the man so that even when shackled with chains he simply broke them and rushed out into the desert, completely under the demon’s power. 30 “What is your name?” Jesus asked the demon. “Legion,” they replied—for the man was filled with thousands of them![d] 31 They kept begging Jesus not to order them into the Bottomless Pit.
32 A herd of pigs was feeding on the mountainside nearby, and the demons pled with him to let them enter into the pigs. And Jesus said they could. 33 So they left the man and went into the pigs, and immediately the whole herd rushed down the mountainside and fell over a cliff into the lake below, where they drowned. 34 The herdsmen rushed away to the nearby city, spreading the news as they ran.
35 Soon a crowd came out to see for themselves what had happened and saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting quietly at Jesus’ feet, clothed and sane! And the whole crowd was badly frightened. 36 Then those who had seen it happen told how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 And everyone begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone (for a deep wave of fear had swept over them). So he returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake.
38 The man who had been demon-possessed begged to go too, but Jesus said no.
39 “Go back to your family,” he told him, “and tell them what a wonderful thing God has done for you.”
So he went all through the city telling everyone about Jesus’ mighty miracle.
40 On the other side of the lake the crowds received him with open arms, for they had been waiting for him.
41 And now a man named Jairus, a leader of a Jewish synagogue, came and fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come home with him, 42 for his only child was dying, a little girl twelve years old. Jesus went with him, pushing through the crowds.
43-44 As they went a woman who wanted to be healed came up behind and touched him, for she had been slowly bleeding for twelve years, and could find no cure (though she had spent everything she had on doctors[e]). But the instant she touched the edge of his robe, the bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, so many are crowding against you. . . . ”
46 But Jesus told him, “No, it was someone who deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”
47 When the woman realized that Jesus knew, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him and told why she had touched him and that now she was well.
48 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the Jairus’s home with the news that the little girl was dead. “She’s gone,” he told her father; “there’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
50 But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to the father, “Don’t be afraid! Just trust me, and she’ll be all right.”
51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn’t let anyone into the room except Peter, James, John, and the little girl’s father and mother. 52 The home was filled with mourning people, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she is only asleep!” 53 This brought scoffing and laughter, for they all knew she was dead.
54 Then he took her by the hand and called, “Get up, little girl!” 55 And at that moment her life returned and she jumped up! “Give her something to eat!” he said. 56 Her parents were overcome with happiness, but Jesus insisted that they not tell anyone the details of what had happened.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.