M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
20 David ran for his life. He left Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan.
David: What have I done? Of what am I guilty? What crime have I committed against your father to make him want to kill me?
Jonathan: 2 Impossible! Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to die. My father doesn’t make any decision, large or small, without telling me. And why would my father hide this from me? It is not so.
David: 3 But your father knows we are friends, and he has said, “Don’t tell Jonathan about this; he will be upset.” I swear to you, as the Eternal lives—and as you live—I am on the verge of being killed.
Jonathan: 4 Whatever you ask, I will do for you.
David: 5 Look. Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should be sitting with the king at his table. But let me go and hide myself in the field until three days have passed. 6 If your father asks about me, tell him that I asked to return to my hometown, Bethlehem, for an annual family sacrifice. 7 If he says, “Fine,” then all will be well with your servant. But if he is angry, you will know that he intends to harm me. 8 So deal kindly with your servant, for you have made a sacred covenant with me, your servant. But if I am guilty, then kill me yourself. Why should you have to bring me in front of your father?
Jonathan: 9 That will never happen. If I knew my father planned to hurt you, wouldn’t I tell you?
David: 10 So who will tell me if your father gives you a good or bad answer?
Jonathan: 11 Let’s go out to the field.
They went out to the field so that David could find a place to lie low.
Jonathan (to David): 12 Let the Eternal God of Israel be my witness; this is my vow. When I have talked to my father, about this time tomorrow or no later than the third day, if he acts friendly about you, won’t I send an answer to you? 13 But if my father plans to harm you, then may the Eternal do to me what he plans for you—and more—if I don’t let you know and send you away to safety.
May the Eternal One be with you, as He has been with my father. 14 If I live, then show to me the faithful love of the Eternal that I may not die. 15 Do not ever take your faithful love away from my descendants, not even if the Eternal were to remove all the enemies of the house of David from the face of the earth.
16 With these words, Jonathan made a covenant with David and his descendants.
Jonathan: May the Eternal One guarantee this promise by the hands of David’s enemies.
17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for Jonathan loved him more than life itself.
Jonathan: 18 Tomorrow is the festival of the new moon. People will notice you are gone because your place will be empty. 19 On the day after tomorrow, you will be greatly missed. On that day, quickly go down to that place where you hid yourself the first time and wait by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of the stone, as if I’m shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy after them, saying, “Go find the arrows.” If I tell him, “Look, the arrows are on this side of you,” then come back, for as the Eternal One lives, you are not in any danger. 22 But if I tell the boy, “No, the arrows are beyond you,” then flee, because the Eternal has shown you that you must leave. 23 But as for the agreement that we have spoken together, the Eternal One is witness to it forever.
24 So David hid himself in the field.
When the new moon festival began and the king sat down to eat, 25 he took his usual seat in a place of safety with his back to the wall. Abner, his general, sat at the king’s side; Jonathan stood, but David’s seat was empty. 26 That first night, Saul said nothing. He thought that perhaps David had somehow become ritually unclean, and he could not attend a sacred feast. 27 But on the next day, the second day of the feast of the new moon, when David’s seat remained empty, Saul spoke to Jonathan.
Saul: Why hasn’t the son of Jesse joined us at the feast these past two days?
Jonathan: 28 David asked me if he could go to Bethlehem. 29 “Please allow me to go,” he said. “Our family is sacrificing in the city, and my brother has insisted that I come. So if you think highly of me, I ask that you let me go there and see my brothers.” That is why he is not at the king’s table.
30 Saul, not fooled for a moment, became very angry with Jonathan.
Saul: You son of a degenerate and rebellious woman! Do you think I don’t know that you have befriended the son of Jesse? This is just as shameful for you as your mother’s nakedness was. 31 As long as David walks the earth, you will never rule this kingdom. Now send for him. Bring him here to me, because he will most certainly die.
Jonathan: 32 Why should David be put to death? What offense has he committed?
33 At that, Saul threw his spear at him, fully intending to hit him, so Jonathan knew that it was truly his father’s intention to have David killed. 34 Jonathan left the table in a rage, without eating a bite on the second day of the festival. He was grieved because of David and because his father had disgraced him.
35 In the morning, Jonathan took his bow and went out into the field, as he had arranged with David, and he brought a small boy with him.
Jonathan (to the boy): 36 Run and find the arrows that I shoot.
The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out.
Jonathan: Isn’t the arrow beyond you? 38 Hurry! Be quick about it. Don’t hang around out there!
So Jonathan’s young servant gathered the arrows and returned to his master. 39 He knew nothing, of course; only Jonathan and David knew what had just transpired. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to the city.
41 As soon as the boy left, David rose from his hiding place south of the stone and prostrated himself before Jonathan. He bowed to Jonathan three times, and then David and Jonathan kissed each other. Both of them wept, but David wept more.
Jonathan (to David): 42 Go in peace and safety, since we have both sworn in the name of the Eternal One, “He will mediate between me and you, and between our descendants, forever.”
David got up from the ground and left, and Jonathan returned to the city.
2 My brothers and sisters, I did not pose as an expert with all the answers. I did not pretend to explain the mystery of God with eloquent speech and human wisdom. 2 I claimed to know nothing with certainty other than the reality that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who was crucified on our behalf. 3 I was moved to utter despair during my time with you. I would find myself trembling in dread and fear. 4 The sermons I preached were not delivered with the kind of persuasive elegance some have come to expect, but they were effective because I relied on God’s Spirit to demonstrate God’s power. 5 If this were not so, your faith would be based on human wisdom and not the power of God.
Christianity is not merely a set of ideas and propositions. One can agree with all the truths in the Bible and still miss the power of God. Paul knows the brothers and sisters in Corinth might attempt to reduce Christianity to a new philosophy based on human understanding, but the power of God cannot be fully grasped by our eight-pound brains. We must approach God humbly as creations, not as those aspiring to fully explain the Creator of the universe.
6 However, in the presence of mature believers, we do impart true wisdom—not the phony wisdom typical of this rebellious age or of the hostile powers who rule this age. Despite what you may think, these ruling spirits are losing their grip on this world. 7 But we do impart God’s mysterious and hidden wisdom. Before the ages began, God graciously decided to use His wisdom for our glory. 8 This wisdom has not been grasped by the ruling powers of this age; if they had understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 9 But as the Scriptures say,
No eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard
and it has never occurred to the human heart
All the things God prepared for those who love Him.[a]
10 God has shown us these profound and startling realities through His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep mysteries of God. 11 Who can see into a man’s heart and know his thoughts? Only the spirit that dwells within the man. In the same way, the thoughts of God are known only by His Spirit. 12 You must know that we have not received the spirit of this rebellious and broken world but the Spirit that comes from God, so that we may experience and comprehend the gifts that come from God. 13 We do not speak of these gifts of God in words shaped by human wisdom; we speak in words crafted by the Spirit because our collective judgment on spiritual matters is accessible to those who have the Spirit. 14 But a person who denies spiritual realities will not accept the things that come through the Spirit of God; they all sound like foolishness to him. He is incapable of grasping them because they are disseminated, discerned, and valued by the Spirit. 15 A person who walks by the Spirit examines everything, sizing it up and seeking out truth. But no one is able to examine or size up that kind of spiritual person, 16 for the Scripture asks, “Does anyone know the mind of the Lord well enough to become His advisor?”[b] But we do possess the mind of the Anointed One.
A pun encourages daughter Zion that she will no longer be exiled or “uncovered,” but the same idiom condemns daughter Edom, for she will be “uncovered.”
5 Remember, Eternal One; don’t forget what happened.
Just look at how we are demeaned, disgraced.
2 All that You gave to us has been handed over to strangers.
Even our houses foreigners have taken for their own.
3 Abandoned too early and on our own, we are like fatherless children;
and our mothers, now widows, have nothing either.
4 The most basic necessities, food and water,
shelter and warmth, we must pay dearly for.
5 Those pursuing us breathe down the backs of our heavily-yoked necks,
driving us relentlessly.
Like overworked oxen, we are exhausted and without rest.
6 So what else could we do? We succumbed to agreements with Egypt and Assyria
just so we could get enough to eat and survive.
7 Our fathers sinned and got us into this.
Now they’ve passed on, and we suffer for it and bear their deeds.
8 Those less capable and less deserving slaves rule;
they are actually in charge of us—
Your chosen ones—and nobody sets it right.
Nobody comes to rescue us from their cruel hand.
9 At risk of life and limb, we seek our daily food
despite threats of sword and danger in the wild places.
10 We are feverish with hunger.
Famine’s scorching heat burns our flesh like an oven.
11 In the place where God should be—
Zion and the surrounding towns of Judah—
Women, young and old alike,
are brutally raped and violated.
12 Our leaders are made an example, hung by their hands,
and our elders are treated with contempt.
13 Our best youths are forced to grind grain relentlessly;
and boys stagger, bent under burdens of wood too heavy.
14 Gone from the gates are debate, trade, and the wisdom of sages.
The streets, too, are silent—the young neglect their music.
15 The joy from our hearts is gone, utterly gone.
Our once-dancing feet now plod along mournfully.
16 The wreath that crowned our head has slipped and fallen; now it’s crushed.
O how we’ve sinned! Pity us for the punishment we brought on ourselves.
17 We’re sick at heart about it all,
blind with the sorrow and grief we caused.
18 God’s heaven on earth, our Mount Zion, is desolate
except for the jackals who haunt only ruins.
19 But You, Eternal One, despite all this,
You will abide and rule forever, from generation to generation.
20 Why, then, have You completely forgotten about us?
Why have You turned Your back on us through so many dark days?
21 We are so sorry and have suffered for it.
Eternal One, take us back again,
That we may be restored to You and You to us,
just as it used to be.
22 Or are You so very angry that You’ve rejected us,
that You’ve given up on us completely?
Psalm 36
For the worship leader. A song of David, the Eternal’s servant.
1 Sin speaks in the depths of the soul
of those who oppose God; they listen closely to its urgings.
You’ll never see the fear of God
in their eyes,
2 For they flatter themselves—
convinced their sin will remain secret, undiscovered, and so unhated.
3 They speak words of evil and deceit.
Wisdom and goodness, they deserted long ago.
4 Even as they sleep, they are plotting mischief.
They journey along a path far from anything good,
gravitating to trouble, welcoming evil.
5 Your love, O Eternal One, towers high into the heavens.
Even the skies are lower than Your faithfulness.
6 Your justice is like the majestic mountains.
Your judgments are as deep as the oceans, and yet in Your greatness,
You, O Eternal, offer life for every person and animal.
7 Your strong love, O True God, is precious.
All people run for shelter under the shadow of Your wings.
8 In Your house, they eat and are full at Your table.
They drink from the river of Your overflowing kindness.
9 You have the fountain of life that quenches our thirst.
Your light has opened our eyes and awakened our souls.
10 May Your love continue to grow deeply in the lives of all who know You.
May Your salvation reach every heart committed to do right.
11 Give me shelter from prideful feet that hunt me down
and wicked hands that push me from Your path.
12 It is there, far away from You, that the wicked will be forced down,
face to the earth, never again returning to their feet.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.