M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

10 Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head. And he kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you over His inheritance as ruler? ² When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys, and worries for you, saying, “What will I do for my son?” ’

³ “Then you will go forward from there, and you will come to the plain of Tabor. And there you will meet three men going up to God to Bethel: one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. ⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will receive from their hands.

⁵ “After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. And when you come there to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre before them. And they will prophesy. ⁶ And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them. And you will be turned into another man. ⁷ And it will be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires; for God is with you.

⁸ “Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. And listen, I will be coming down to you, in order to offer burnt offerings, and to offer sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you will wait, until I come to you. Then I will make known to you what you will do.”

⁹ And it happened, that when he turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart. And all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came to the hill, a group of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ So when all who previously knew him saw that he prophesied among the prophets, the people said one to another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² And a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ And Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?”

And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw that they were nowhere around, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not mention.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Therefore Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And he said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹ But you have today rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and your distresses. And you have said to Him, ‘No, but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, and by your clans.”

²⁰ So Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. ²¹ Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin by its families. And the family of Matri was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord answered, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.”

²³ So they ran and took him from there. When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. ²⁴ Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Truly there is none like him among all the people.”

And all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king.”

²⁵ Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom, and wrote them in a book, and laid them up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

²⁶ Saul also went home to Gibeah. And there went with him a band of valiant men whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some worthless men said, “How will this man save us?” And they despised him, and did not bring him a present. But he remained silent.

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, ⁷ for the carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.

The Glory That Is to Be

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. ¹⁹ The eager expectation of the creation waits for the appearance of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. ²³ Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves while eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For we are saved through hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does a man still hope for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

The Love of God

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes, who is risen, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.

² Thus says the Lord:

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

Psalm 24

A Psalm of David.