M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
14 And Joab the son of Sarvia, understanding that the king's heart was turned to Absalom,
2 Sent to Thecua, and fetched from thence a wise woman: and said to her: Feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, and be not anointed with oil, that thou mayest be as a woman that had a long time been mourning for one dead.
3 And thou shalt go in to the king, and shalt speak to him in this manner. And Joab put the words in her mouth.
4 And when the woman of Thecua was come in to the king, she fell before him upon the ground, and worshipped, and said: Save me, O king.
5 And the king said to her: What is the matter with thee? She answered: Alas, I am a widow woman: for my husband is dead.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons: and they quarrelled with each other in the field, and there was none to part them: and the one struck the other, and slew him.
7 And behold the whole kindred rising against thy handmaid, saith: Deliver him that hath slain his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother, whom he slew, and that we may destroy the heir: and they seek to quench my spark which is left, and will leave my husband no name, nor remainder upon the earth.
8 And the king said to the woman: Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
9 And the woman of Thecua said to the king: Upon me, my lord, be the iniquity, and upon the house of my father: but may the king and his throne be guiltless.
10 And the king said: If any one shall say ought against thee, bring him to me, and be shall not touch thee any more.
11 And she said: Let the king remember the Lord his God, that the next of kin be not multiplied to take revenge, and that they may not kill my son. And he said: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
12 Then the woman said: Let thy handmaid speak one word to my lord the king. And he said: Speak.
13 And the woman said: Why hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, and why hath the king spoken this word, to sin, and not bring home again his own exile?
14 We all die, and like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth: neither will God have a soul to perish, but recalleth, meaning that he that is cast off should not altogether perish.
15 Now therefore I am come, to speak this word to my lord the king before the people. And thy handmaid said: I will speak to the king, it maybe the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
16 And the king hath hearkened to me to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of all that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then let thy handmaid say, that the word of the Lord the king be made as a sacrifice. For even as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, that he is neither moved with blessing nor cursing: wherefore the Lord thy God is also with thee.
18 And the king answering, said to the woman: Hide not from me the thing that I ask thee. And the woman said to him: Speak, my lord the king.
19 And the king said: Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? The woman answered, and said: By the health of thy soul, my lord, O king, it is neither on the left hand, nor on the right, in all these things which my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he commanded me, and he put all these words into the mouth of thy handmaid.
20 That I should come about with this form of speech, thy servant Joab, commanded this: but thou, my lord, O king, art wise, according to the wisdom of ail angel of God, to understand all things upon earth.
21 And the king said to Joab: Behold I am appeased and have granted thy request: Go therefore and fetch back the boy Absalom.
22 And Joab falling down to the ground upon his face, adored, and blessed the king: and Joab said: This day thy servant hath understood, that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king: for thou hast fulfilled the request of thy servant.
23 Then Joab arose and went to Gessur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
24 But the king said: Let him return into his house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned into his house, and saw not the king's face.
25 But in all Israel there was not a man so comely, and so exceedingly beautiful as Absalom: from the sole of the foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26 And when he polled his hair (now he was polled once a year, because his hair was burdensome to him) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred sicles, according to the common weight.
27 And there were born to Absalom three sons: and one daughter, whose, name was Thamar, and she was very beautiful.
28 And Absalom dwelt two years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face.
29 He sent therefore to Joab, to send him to the king: but he would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and he would not come to him,
30 He said to his servants: You know the field of Joab near my field, that hath a crop of barley: go now and set it on fire. So the servants of Absalom set the corn on fire. And Joab's servants coming with their garments rent, said: The servants of Absalom have set part of the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said: Why have thy servants set my corn on fire?
32 And Absalom answered Joab: I sent to thee beseeching thee to come to me, that I might send thee to the king, to say to him: Wherefore am I come from Gessur? it had been better for me to be there: I beseech thee therefore that I may see the face of the king: and if he be mindful of my iniquity, let him kill me.
33 So Joab going in to the king, told him all: and Absalom was called for, and he went in to the king: and prostrated himself on the ground before him: and the king kissed Absalom.
7 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God.
2 Receive us. We have injured no man, we have corrupted no man, we have overreached no man.
3 I speak not this to your condemnation. For we have said before, that you are in our hearts, to die together, and to live together.
4 Great is my confidence for you, great is my glorying for you. I am filled with comfort: I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation.
5 For also when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we suffered all tribulation; combats without, fears within.
6 But God, who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus.
7 And not by his coming only, but also by the consolation, wherewith he was comforted in you, relating to us your desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced the more.
8 For although I made you sorrowful by my epistle, I do not repent; and if I did repent, seeing that the same epistle (although but for a time) did make you sorrowful;
9 Now I am glad: not because you were made sorrowful; but because you were made sorrowful unto penance. For you were made sorrowful according to God, that you might suffer damage by us in nothing.
10 For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that you were made sorrowful according to God, how great carefulness it worketh in you; yea defence, yea indignation, yea fear, yea desire, yea zeal, yea revenge: in all things you have shewed yourselves to be undefiled in the matter.
12 Wherefore although I wrote to you, it was not for his sake that I did the wrong, nor for him that suffered it; but to manifest our carefulness that we have for you
13 Before God: therefore we were comforted. But in our consolation, we did the more abundantly rejoice for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
14 And if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I have not been put to shame; but as we have spoken all things to you in truth, so also our boasting that was made to Titus is found a truth.
15 And his bowels are more abundantly towards you; remembering the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you have received him.
16 I rejoice that in all things I have confidence in you.
21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:
3 And say to the land of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.
4 And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just, and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.
5 That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back.
6 And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before them.
7 And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.
8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.
10 It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every tree.
11 And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people, it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,
13 Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.
14 Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them stand amazed,
15 And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.
16 Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.
17 And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my indignation: I the Lord have spoken.
18 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
19 And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the way of the city.
20 Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.
21 For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails.
22 On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build forts.
23 And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, you have remembered, you shall be taken with the hand.
25 But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:
26 Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown: is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that was high?
27 I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it him.
28 And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be furbished to destroy, and to glitter,
29 Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies: to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.
30 Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
31 And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.
32 Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.
68 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David.
2 SAVE me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.
3 I stick fast in the mire of the deep: and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea: and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.
4 I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse: my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God.
5 They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.
6 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee:
7 Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O God of Israel.
8 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
9 I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother.
10 For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
11 And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to me.
12 And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.
13 They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank wine made me their song.
14 But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
15 Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
16 Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
17 Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
18 And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in trouble, hear me speedily.
19 Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my enemies.
20 Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.
21 In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.
22 And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
23 Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumblingblock.
24 Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back bend thou down always.
25 Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
26 Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles.
27 Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.
28 Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come into thy justice.
29 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written.
30 But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me up.
31 I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise.
32 And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth forth horns and hoofs.
33 Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall live.
34 For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his prisoners.
35 Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein.
36 For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.
37 And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
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