M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Rescues Jabesh Gilead
11 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”
2 Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes. So I will inflict it as a reproach upon all Israel.”
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the territory of Israel. And then if there is no one to rescue us, we will come out to you.”
4 So the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke the words in the ears of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. 5 Now Saul was coming out of the field after the cattle, and Saul said, “Why are the people weeping?” And they reported to him the words of the men of Jabesh.
6 The Spirit of God came strongly upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 7 He took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces. And he sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so will it be done to his oxen.” And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8 When he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9 They said to the messengers that came, “Thus will you say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have help.’ ” And the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh and they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us all that seems good to you.”
11 On the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those surviving were scattered, so that even two of them were not left together.
Saul Confirmed as King
12 The people said to Samuel, “Who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.”
13 Saul said, “There will not be a man put to death this day. For today the Lord has worked deliverance in Israel.”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” 15 All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. And there they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. And there Saul and all Israel’s fighting men rejoiced greatly.
God’s Election of Israel
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen by race, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, 5 to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom, according to the flesh, is Christ, who is over all, God forever blessed. Amen.
6 It is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are descendants of Abraham, but “In Isaac shall your descendants be called.”[a] 8 So those who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise, “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”[b]
10 Not only that, but Rebekah also had conceived by one man, our father Isaac. 11 For before the children had been born, having done neither evil nor good, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but through Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The elder shall serve the younger.”[c] 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”[d]
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid! 15 For He says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[e]
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”[f] 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
Wrath and Mercy of God
19 You will then say to me, “Why does He yet find fault? For who can resist His will?” 20 Rather, O man, who are you to answer back to God? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does the potter not have power over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He previously prepared for glory, 24 even us, whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed He says in Hosea:
“I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved,’ ”[g]
26 and,
“In the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
there they shall be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”[h]
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the children of Israel be like the sand of the sea,
a remnant shall be saved.[i]
28 For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness,
because the Lord will make a quick work upon the earth.”[j]
29 And as Isaiah previously said:
“Unless the Lord of Hosts
had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and been made like Gomorrah.”[k]
Israel and the Gospel
30 What shall we say then? The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain the law of righteousness. 32 Why not? Because they did not seek it by faith, but by the works of the law. For they stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“Look! I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and rock of offense,
and whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.”[l]
Judgment on Moab(A)
48 Concerning Moab:
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated.
Kiriathaim is humiliated and captured;
Misgab[a] is humiliated and dismayed.
2 There is no more praise for Moab;
in Heshbon they have devised evil against her:
“Come and let us cut it off from being a nation!”
Also you will be cut down, O Madmen.
The sword will pursue you.
3 A sound of crying will be from Horonaim:
“Devastation and great destruction!”
4 “Moab is destroyed”;
her little ones have caused a cry of distress to be heard;
5 for by the Ascent of Luhith they will go up
with continual weeping;
for at the descent of Horonaim
they have heard a cry of destruction.
6 Flee, save your lives,
and be like the juniper in the wilderness.
7 For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,
you will also be captured;
and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity
together with his priests and his officials.
8 The destroyer will come upon every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley also will perish,
and the plain will be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.
9 Give wings to Moab,
that she may flee and get away;
for the cities will become desolate,
without any to dwell in them.
10 Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently,
and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.
11 Moab has been at ease from his youth,
and he has also been undisturbed,
like wine on its dregs,
and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
and his scent has not changed.
12 Therefore, surely the days are coming,
says the Lord,
when I will send to him those who tip vessels,
and they will tip him over,
and will empty his vessels
and break his bottles.
13 Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
of Bethel, their confidence.
14 How do you say, “We are mighty
and strong men for the war”?
15 Moab has been devastated and gone up out of her cities,
and her chosen young men have also gone down to the slaughter,
says the King whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
16 The calamity of Moab will come soon,
and his affliction hastens fast.
17 All you who are about him, mourn for him.
And all you who know his name,
say, “How the strong staff has been broken,
the beautiful rod!”
18 O daughter who inhabits Dibon,
come down from your glory
and sit on the parched ground,
for the destroyer of Moab
will come upon you,
and he will destroy your strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer,
stand by the road and keep watch.
Ask him who flees and her who escapes,
and say, “What has happened?”
20 Moab has been humiliated, for it has been broken down.
Howl and cry out.
Tell it in Arnon,
that Moab has been devastated.
21 And judgment has come upon the plain country:
upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,
22 and Dibon and Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
23 and Kiriathaim and Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
24 and Kerioth and Bozrah,
and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 The horn of Moab has been cut off
and his arm has been broken,
says the Lord.
26 Make him drunk,
for he magnified himself against the Lord.
Moab also will wallow in his vomit,
and he also will be held in derision.
27 For was not Israel a derision to you?
Or was he caught among thieves?
For each time you speak of him,
you shake your head in scorn.
28 O you who dwell in Moab,
leave the cities and dwell in the rock,
and be like the dove that makes her nest
in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab
(he is very proud),
of his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his wrath,
says the Lord,
but it is futile. His lies have accomplished nothing.
31 Therefore I will howl for Moab,
and I will cry out for all Moab.
My heart shall mourn for the men of Kir Hareseth.
32 O vine of Sibmah,
I will weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer.
Your plants have stretched over the sea,
they reach even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits
and upon your vintage.
33 Joy and gladness are taken away
from the plentiful field, even from the land of Moab,
and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses;
no one will tread with shouting.
Their shouting will not be shouts of joy.
34 From the outcry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, and even to Jahaz,
they have uttered their voice,
from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath Shelishiyah;
for also the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,
says the Lord,
him who offers sacrifice in the high place
and him who burns incense to his gods.
36 Therefore My heart will wail for Moab like pipes,
and My heart will wail like pipes for the men of Kir Hareseth,
because the riches that they have gotten have perished.
37 For every head will be bald
and every beard clipped;
upon all the hands will be gashes,
and upon the loins sackcloth.
38 There will be lamentation everywhere
upon all the housetops of Moab
and in the streets,
for I have broken Moab
like a vessel in which is no pleasure,
says the Lord.
39 How it is broken down! How they have wailed!
How Moab has turned his back with shame!
So Moab will be a derision
and a terror to all around him.
40 For thus says the Lord:
Look, one will fly as an eagle
and spread his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth has been captured,
and the strongholds have been seized,
and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab in that day
will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 Moab will be destroyed from being a people
because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
43 Fear and the pit and the snare will be upon you,
O inhabitant of Moab,
says the Lord.
44 He who flees from the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who gets up out of the pit
will be taken in the snare;
for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab,
the year of their punishment,
says the Lord.
45 The fugitives stand without strength
under the shadow of Heshbon;
for a fire will come out of Heshbon
and a flame from the midst of Sihon,
and will devour the forehead of Moab
and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46 Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh have perished;
for your sons have been taken away captive
and your daughters into captivity.
47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab
in the latter days,
says the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
Psalm 25
A Psalm of David.
1 To You, O Lord,
do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in You;
may I not be ashamed;
may my enemies not triumph over me.
3 Yes, let none who wait on You
be ashamed;
let them be ashamed
who transgress without cause.
4 Make me to know Your ways, O Lord;
teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are the God of my salvation;
on You I wait all the day.
6 Remember Your mercies, O Lord, and Your lovingkindness,
for they are from old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
or my transgressions;
according to Your lovingkindness remember me,
on account of Your goodness, O Lord.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore He will teach sinners in the way.
9 The meek will He guide in judgment,
and the meek He will teach His way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth,
for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11 For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity,
for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?
He will teach him in the way He should choose.
13 He will dwell at ease,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
14 The counsel of the Lord is with those who fear him,
and He will make His covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for He will lead my feet from the net.
16 Turn to me, and be gracious to me,
for I am isolated and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Look on my pain and misery,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider my enemies, for they are many,
and they hate me with violent hatred.
20 Watch over my life, and deliver me!
Let me not suffer shame,
for I seek refuge in You.
21 Truth and integrity will preserve me
while I wait for You.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all their troubles.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.