M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Fears David
18 When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, so that Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day and would not permit him to return home to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. 4 So Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, even his garments, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
5 David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he was successful. So Saul set him over the men of war, and it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of the servants of Saul.
6 When they came home, as David was returning from slaying the Philistine, the women came out from all cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 The dancing women sang and said,
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
8 Saul became very angry, and this saying was displeasing to him. Therefore he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what remains for him to have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul was suspicious of David from that day and forward.
10 It came to pass the following day, that an evil spirit from God came upon Saul, so that he raved in the midst of the house. And David was playing the lyre, as at other times. Now there was a spear in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul threw the spear. For he said, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David avoided him two times.
12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and placed him as his captain over a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 David was successful in all his ways and the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he was very successful, he was afraid of him. 16 Now all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
David Marries Michal
17 Saul said to David, “Behold my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as your wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I? And what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 19 So when it was time that Merab, daughter of Saul, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.
20 Now Michal, daughter of Saul, loved David and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul said, “I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him, and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David, “For a second time, you may be my son-in-law today.”
22 Saul commanded his servants, saying, “Speak to David in secret saying, ‘Listen, the king delights in you and all his servants love you. Now therefore become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23 So the servants of Saul spoke these words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?”
24 And the servants of Saul reported to him saying, “According to these words, David spoke.” 25 Saul said, “Thus will you say to David, ‘The king does not desire any dowry but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
26 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Now the days had not expired; 27 therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins and they gave them in full to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter for a wife.
28 When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, his daughter, loved him, 29 Saul was yet the more afraid of David, and Saul became the enemy of David continually.
30 Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to make war. And when they went out David was more successful than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly honored.
Personal Greetings
16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant[a] of the church at Cenchrea, 2 that you welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself as well.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I, but also all the churches of the Gentiles, give thanks.
5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house.
Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the first convert of Achaia for Christ.
6 Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners, who are noteworthy among the apostles, who also came to Christ before me.
8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ.
Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
11 Greet Herodion, my kinsman.
Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord.
Greet the beloved Persis, who also labored much in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who is like a mother to me.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.
15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
The churches of Christ greet you.
17 Now I urge you, brothers, to closely watch those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and avoid them. 18 For such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and through smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 Your obedience has become known to all men. Therefore I am glad on your behalf. Yet I want you to be wise to that which is good, and innocent to that which is evil.
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.
Erastus, who is the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.
24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Doxology
25 Now to Him who has power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret for long ages past, 26 but now is revealed by the prophetic Scriptures according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all the Gentiles for the obedience of faith, 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
The Prophet’s Anguish
3 I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light.
3 Surely against me has He turned His hand
continually, the whole day long.
4 My flesh and my skin He has made waste away;
He has broken my bones;
5 He has besieged and enveloped me
with gall and travail.
6 He has set me in dark places,
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me a bear lying in wait,
a lion in hiding.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow
and set me as a target for the arrow.
13 He has caused the arrows of His quiver
to pierce my inward parts.
14 I have become the derision of all my people,
their mocking song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has sated me with wormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and covered me with ashes.
17 My soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten prosperity.
18 So I say, “My strength and my hope
from the Lord have perished.”
19 Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
20 Surely my soul remembers
and is humbled within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed;
His compassions do not fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that a man should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord
will not cast off forever.
32 But though He causes grief, yet He will have compassion
according to the abundance of His mercies.
33 For He does not afflict from His heart,
nor grieve the sons of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn aside the justice due a man
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause,
the Lord does not approve.
37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad proceed?
39 Why should a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways,
and return to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger and pursued us;
You have killed and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
so that no prayer should pass through.
45 You have made us filthy refuse
in the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths
against us.
47 Panic and snare have come upon us,
desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes flow with rivers of tears
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and do not cease,
without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven
looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies chased me like a bird,
without cause.
53 They cut off my life in the pit
and cast stones on me.
54 Waters flowed over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
55 I called on Your name, O Lord,
from the lowest pit.
56 You have heard my plea:
“Do not close Your ear to my cry for help!”
57 You drew near on the day I called on You,
and You said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul;
You have redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, You have seen the wrong done to me;
judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
all their schemes against me,
62 the lips of my enemies and
their devices against me all the day.
63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up;
I am their mocking song.
64 Render to them a recompense, O Lord,
according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them hardness of heart;
may Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger pursue and destroy them
from under Your heavens, O Lord!
Psalm 34
A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he departed.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise will continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and became radiant,
and their faces are not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints;
for the ones who fear Him will not be in need.
10 The young lions are in want and suffer hunger,
but the ones who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
and loves a long life in order to see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against the ones doing evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the contrite of spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 A righteous one keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of His servants,
and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.