M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
13 Prince Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Prince Amnon (her half brother) fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so tormented by his love for her that he became ill. He had no way of talking to her, for the girls and young men were kept strictly apart.[a] 3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab (the son of David’s brother Shimeah).
4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so haggard morning after morning?”
So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my half sister.”
5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are sick; when your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she feeds you.”
6 So Amnon did. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him for this favor—that his sister Tamar be permitted to come and cook a little something for him to eat. 7 David agreed and sent word to Tamar to go to Amnon’s quarters and prepare some food for him. 8 So she did and went into his bedroom so that he could watch her mix some dough; then she baked some special bread for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat!
“Everyone get out of here,” he told his servants; so they all left the apartment.
10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring me the food again here in my bedroom and feed it to me.” So Tamar took it to him. 11 But as she was standing there before him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling.”
12 “Oh, Amnon,” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! You know what a serious crime it is in Israel.[b] 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, for he will let you marry me.”
14 But he wouldn’t listen to her; and since he was stronger than she, he forced her. 15 Then suddenly his love turned to hate, and now he hated her more than he had loved her.
“Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” she cried. “To reject me now is a greater crime than the other you did to me.”
But he wouldn’t listen to her. 17-18 He shouted for his valet and demanded, “Throw this woman out and lock the door behind her.”
So he put her out. She was wearing a long robe with sleeves, as was the custom in those days for virgin daughters of the king. 19 Now she tore the robe and put ashes on her head and with her head in her hands went away crying.
20 Her brother Absalom asked her, “Is it true that Amnon raped you? Don’t be so upset, since it’s all in the family anyway. It’s not anything to worry about!”
So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s quarters.
21-24 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry, but Absalom said nothing one way or the other about this to Amnon. However, he hated him with a deep hatred because of what he had done to his sister. Then, two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor in Ephraim, Absalom invited his father and all his brothers to come to a feast to celebrate the occasion.
25 The king replied, “No, my boy; if we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you.”
Absalom pressed him, but he wouldn’t come, though he sent his thanks.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my brother Amnon instead?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked.
27 Absalom kept on urging the matter until finally the king agreed and let all of his sons attend, including Amnon.
28 Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk, then, at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who gives the orders around here, and this is a command. Take courage and do it!”
29-30 So they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled. As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, the report reached David: “Absalom has killed all of your sons, and not one is left alive!”
31 The king jumped up, ripped off his robe, and fell prostrate to the ground. His aides also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
32-33 But just then Jonadab (the son of David’s brother Shimeah) arrived and said, “No, not all have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped Tamar. No, no! Your sons aren’t all dead! It was only Amnon.”
34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped. Now the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming toward the city along the road at the side of the hill.
35 “See!” Jonadab told the king. “There they are now! Your sons are coming, just as I said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and his officials wept with them. 37-39 Absalom fled to King Talmai of Geshur[c] (the son of Ammihud) and stayed there three years. Meanwhile David, now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed day after day for fellowship with his son Absalom.
6 As God’s partners, we beg you not to toss aside this marvelous message of God’s great kindness. 2 For God says, “Your cry came to me at a favorable time, when the doors of welcome were wide open. I helped you on a day when salvation was being offered.” Right now God is ready to welcome you. Today he is ready to save you.
3 We try to live in such a way that no one will ever be offended or kept back from finding the Lord by the way we act, so that no one can find fault with us and blame it on the Lord. 4 In fact, in everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God.
We patiently endure suffering and hardship and trouble of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, put in jail, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, stayed awake through sleepless nights of watching, and gone without food. 6 We have proved ourselves to be what we claim by our wholesome lives and by our understanding of the Gospel and by our patience. We have been kind and truly loving and filled with the Holy Spirit. 7 We have been truthful, with God’s power helping us in all we do. All of the godly man’s arsenal—weapons of defense, and weapons of attack—have been ours.
8 We stand true to the Lord whether others honor us or despise us, whether they criticize us or commend us. We are honest, but they call us liars.
9 The world ignores us, but we are known to God; we live close to death, but here we are, still very much alive. We have been injured but kept from death. 10 Our hearts ache, but at the same time we have the joy of the Lord. We are poor, but we give rich spiritual gifts to others. We own nothing, and yet we enjoy everything.
11 Oh, my dear Corinthian friends! I have told you all my feelings; I love you with all my heart. 12 Any coldness still between us is not because of any lack of love on my part but because your love is too small and does not reach out to me and draw me in. 13 I am talking to you now as if you truly were my very own children. Open your hearts to us! Return our love!
14 Don’t be teamed with those who do not love the Lord, for what do the people of God have in common with the people of sin? How can light live with darkness? 15 And what harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a Christian be a partner with one who doesn’t believe? 16 And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” 17 That is why the Lord has said, “Leave them; separate yourselves from them; don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you 18 and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”
20 Late in July, six years after King Jeconiah was captured,[a] some of the elders of Israel came to ask instructions from the Lord and sat before me awaiting his reply.
2 Then the Lord gave me this message: 3 “Son of dust, say to the elders of Israel, ‘The Lord God says: How dare you come to ask my help? I swear that I will tell you nothing.’ 4 Judge them, son of dust; condemn them; tell them of all the sins of this nation from the times of their fathers until now. 5-6 Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: When I chose Israel and revealed myself to her in Egypt, I swore to her and her descendants that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, flowing as it were with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.’
7 “Then I said to them: ‘Get rid of every idol; do not defile yourselves with the Egyptian gods, for I am the Lord your God.’ 8 But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They didn’t get rid of their idols nor forsake the gods of Egypt. Then I thought, I will pour out my fury upon them and fulfill my anger against them while they are still in Egypt.
9-10 “But I didn’t do it, for I acted to protect the honor of my name, lest the Egyptians laugh at Israel’s God who couldn’t keep them from harm. So I brought my people out of Egypt right before the Egyptians’ eyes and led them into the wilderness. 11 There I gave them my laws so they could live by keeping them. If anyone keeps them, he will live. 12 And I gave them the Sabbath—a day of rest every seventh day—as a symbol between them and me, to remind them that it is I, the Lord, who sanctifies them—that they are truly my people.
13 “But Israel rebelled against me. There in the wilderness they refused my laws. They would not obey my rules even though obeying them means life. And they misused my Sabbaths. Then I thought, I will pour out my fury upon them and utterly consume them in the desert.
14 “But again I refrained in order to protect the honor of my name, lest the nations who saw me bring them out of Egypt would say that it was because I couldn’t care for them that I destroyed them. 15 But I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, a land full of milk and honey, the choicest spot on earth, 16 because they laughed at my laws, ignored my wishes, and violated my Sabbaths—their hearts were with their idols! 17 Nevertheless, I spared them. I didn’t finish them off in the wilderness.
18 “Then I spoke to their children and said: ‘Don’t follow your fathers’ footsteps. Don’t defile yourselves with their idols, 19 for I am the Lord your God. Follow my laws; keep my ordinances; 20 hallow my Sabbaths; for they are a symbol of the contract between us to help you remember that I am the Lord your God.’
21 “But their children, too, rebelled against me. They refused my laws—the laws that if a person keeps them, he will live. And they defiled my Sabbaths. So then I said: ‘Now at last I will pour out my fury upon you in the wilderness.’
22 “Nevertheless, again I withdrew my judgment against them to protect my name among the nations who had seen my power in bringing them out of Egypt. 23-24 But I took a solemn oath against them while they were in the wilderness that I would scatter them, dispersing them to the ends of the earth because they did not obey my laws but scorned them and violated my Sabbaths and longed for their fathers’ idols. 25 I let them adopt[b] customs and laws which were worthless. Through the keeping of them they could not attain life. 26 In the hope that they would draw back in horror and know that I alone am God, I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I gave them. They burnt their firstborn children as offerings to their gods!
27-28 “Son of dust, tell them that the Lord God says: Your fathers continued to blaspheme and betray me when I brought them into the land I promised them, for they offered sacrifices and incense on every high hill and under every tree! They roused my fury as they offered up their sacrifices to those ‘gods.’ They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their drink offerings to them! 29 I said to them: ‘What is this place of sacrifice[c] where you go?’ And so it is still called ‘The Place of Sacrifice’—that is how it got its name.
30 “The Lord God wants to know whether you are going to pollute yourselves just as your fathers did and keep on worshiping idols. 31 For when you offer gifts to them and give your little sons to be burned to ashes as you do even today, shall I listen to you or help you, Israel? As I live,” the Lord God says, “I will not give you any message, though you have come to me to ask.
32 “What you have in mind will not be done—to be like the nations all around you, serving gods of wood and stone. 33 I will rule you with an iron fist and in great anger and with power. 34 With might and fury I will bring you out from the lands where you are scattered, 35-36 and will bring you into my desert judgment hall.[d] I will judge you there and get rid of the rebels, just as I did in the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt. 37 I will count you carefully and let only a small quota return. 38 And the others—the rebels and all those who sin against me—I will purge from among you. They shall not enter Israel, but I will bring them out of the countries where they are in exile. And when that happens, you will know I am the Lord.
39 “O Israel,” the Lord God says: “If you insist on worshiping your idols, go right ahead, but then don’t bring your gifts to me as well! Such desecration of my holy name must stop!
40 “For at Jerusalem in my holy mountain,” says the Lord, “all Israel shall worship me. There I will accept you and require you to bring me your offerings and the finest of your gifts. 41 You will be to me as an offering of perfumed incense when I bring you back from exile, and the nations will see the great change in your hearts. 42 Then, when I have brought you home to the land I promised your fathers, you will know I am the Lord. 43 Then you will look back at all your sins and loathe yourselves because of the evil you have done. 44 And when I have honored my name by blessing you despite your wickedness, then, O Israel, you will know I am the Lord.”
45 Then this message came to me from the Lord:
46 “Son of dust, look toward Jerusalem and speak out against it and the forest lands of the Negeb. 47 Prophesy to it and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. I will set you on fire, O forest, and every tree will die, green and dry alike. The terrible flames will not be quenched, and they will scorch the world. 48 And all the world will see that I, the Lord, have set the fire. It shall not be put out.’”
49 Then I said, “O Lord God, they say of me, ‘He only talks in riddles!’”
66 Sing to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Sing of his glorious name! Tell the world how wonderful he is.
3 How awe-inspiring are your deeds, O God! How great your power! No wonder your enemies surrender! 4 All the earth shall worship you and sing of your glories. 5 Come, see the glorious things God has done. What marvelous miracles happen to his people! 6 He made a dry road through the sea for them. They went across on foot. What excitement and joy there was that day!
7 Because of his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations. O rebel lands, he will deflate your pride.
8 Let everyone bless God and sing his praises; 9 for he holds our lives in his hands, and he holds our feet to the path. 10 You have purified us with fire,[a] O Lord, like silver in a crucible. 11 You captured us in your net and laid great burdens on our backs. 12 You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies.[b] We went through fire and flood. But in the end, you brought us into wealth and great abundance.
13 Now I have come to your Temple with burnt offerings to pay my vows. 14 For when I was in trouble, I promised you many offerings. 15 That is why I am bringing you these fat male goats, rams, and calves. The smoke of their sacrifice shall rise before you.
16 Come and hear, all of you who reverence the Lord, and I will tell you what he did for me: 17 For I cried to him for help with praises ready on my tongue. 18 He would not have listened if I had not confessed my sins. 19 But he listened! He heard my prayer! He paid attention to it!
20 Blessed be God, who didn’t turn away when I was praying and didn’t refuse me his kindness and love.
67 O God, in mercy bless us; let your face beam with joy as you look down at us.
2 Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind. 3 How everyone throughout the earth will praise the Lord! 4 How glad the nations will be, singing for joy because you are their King[c] and will give true justice to their people! 5 Praise God, O world! May all the peoples of the earth give thanks to you. 6-7 For the earth has yielded abundant harvests. God, even our own God, will bless us. And peoples from remotest lands will worship him.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.