M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
18 And David having reviewed his people, appointed over them captains of thousands and of hundreds,
2 And sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abisai the son of Sarvia Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ethai, who was of Geth: and the king said to the people: I also will go forth with you.
3 And the people answered: Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not much mind us: or if half of us should fall, they will not greatly care: for thou alone art accounted for ten thousand: it is better therefore that thou shouldst be in the city to succour us.
4 And the king said to them: What seemeth good to you, that will I do. And the king stood by the gate: and all the people went forth by their troops, by hundreds and by thousands.
5 And the king commanded Joab, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. And all the people heard the king giving charge to all the princes concerning Absalom.
6 So the people went out into the field against Israel and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.
7 And the people of Israel were defeated there by David's army, and a great slaughter was made that day of twenty thousand men.
8 And the battle there was scattered over the face of all the country, and there were many more of the people whom the forest consumed, than whom the sword devoured that day.
9 And it happened that Absalom met the servants of David, riding on a mule: and as the mule went under a thick and large oak, his head stuck in the oak: and while he hung between the heaven and the earth, the mule on which he rode passed on.
10 And one saw this and told Joab, saying: I saw Absalom hanging upon an oak.
11 And Joab said to the man that told him: If thou sawest him, why didst thou not stab him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten sicles of silver, and belt?
12 And he said to Joab: If thou wouldst have paid down in my hands a thousand pieces of silver, I would not lay my hands upon the king's son: for in our hearing he king charged thee, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom.
13 Yea and if I should have acted boldly against my own life, this could not have been hid from the king, and wouldst thou have stood by me?
14 And Joab said: Not as thou wilt, but will set upon him in thy sight. So he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom: and whilst he yet panted for life, sticking on the oak,
15 Ten young men, armourbearers of Joab, ran up, and striking him slew him.
16 And Joab sounded the trumpet, and kept back the people from pursuing after Israel in their flight, being willing to spare he multitude.
17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and they laid an exceeding great heap of stories upon him: but all Israel fled to their own dwellings.
18 Now Absalom had reared up for himself, in his lifetime, a pillar, which is in the king's valley: for he said: I have no son, and this shall be the monument of my name. And he called the pillar by is own name, and it is called the hand of Absalom, to this day.
19 And Achimaas the son of Sadoc said: I will run and tell the king, that the Lord hath done judgment for him from the hand of his enemies.
20 And Joab said to him: Thou shalt not be the messenger this day, but shalt bear tidings another day: this day I will not have thee bear tidings, because the king's son is dead.
21 And Joab said to Chusai: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusai bowed down to Joab, and ran.
22 Then Achimaas the son of Sadoc said to Joab again: Why might not I also run after Chusai? And Joab said to him: Why wilt thou run, my son? thou wilt not be the bearer of good tidings.
23 He answered: But what if I run? And he said to him: Run. Then Achimaas running by a nearer way passed Chusai.
24 And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman that was on the top of the gate upon the wall, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running alone.
25 And crying out he told the king: and the king said: If he be alone, there are good tidings in his mouth. And as he was coming apace, and drawing nearer,
26 The watchman saw another man running, and crying aloud from above, he said: I see another man running alone. And the king said: He also is a good messenger.
27 And the watchman said: The running of the foremost seemeth to me like the running of Achimaas the son of Sadoc. And the king said: He is a good man: and cometh with good news.
28 And Achimaas crying out, said to the king: God save thee, O king. And falling down before the king with his face to the ground, he said: Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath shut up the men that have lifted up their hands against the lord my king.
29 And the king said: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Achimaas said: I saw a great tumult, O king, when thy servant Joab sent me thy servant: I know nothing else.
30 And the king said to him: Pass, and stand here.
31 And when he bad passed, and stood still, Chusai appeared: and coming up he said: I bring good tidings, my lord, the king, for the Lord hath judged for thee this day from the hand of all that have risen up against thee.
32 And the king said to Chusai: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Chusai answering him, said: Let the enemies of my lord, the king, and all that rise against him unto evil, be as the young man is.
33 The king therefore being much moved, went up to the high chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went he spoke in this manner: My son Absalom, Absalom my son: would to God that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom.
11 Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me.
2 For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Christ, whom we have not preached; or if you receive another Spirit, whom you have not received; or another gospel which you have not received; you might well bear with him.
5 For I suppose that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.
6 For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all things we have been made manifest to you.
7 Or did I commit a fault, humbling myself, that you might be exalted? Because I preached unto you the gospel of God freely?
8 I have taken from other churches, receiving wages of them for your ministry.
9 And, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was wanting to me, the brethren supplied who came from Macedonia; and in all things I have kept myself from being burthensome to you, and so I will keep myself.
10 The truth of Christ is in me, that this glorying shall not be broken off in me in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knoweth it.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them that desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works.
16 I say again, (let no man think me to be foolish, otherwise take me as one foolish, that I also may glory a little.)
17 That which I speak, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.
18 Seeing that many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.
19 For you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise.
20 For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face.
21 I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also.
22 They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I.
23 They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise): I am more; in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
24 Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.
26 In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.
27 In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not.
32 At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me.
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.
25 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and thou shalt prophesy of them.
3 And thou shalt say to the children of Ammon: Hear ye the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast said: Ha, ha, upon my sanctuary, because it was profaned: and upon the land of Israel, because it was laid waste: and upon the house of Juda, because they are led into captivity:
4 Therefore will I deliver thee to the men of the east for an inheritance, and they shall place their sheepcotes in thee, and shall set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall drink thy milk.
5 And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a couching place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
6 For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced with all thy heart against the land of Israel:
7 Therefore behold I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
8 Thus saith the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said: Behold the house of Juda is like all other nations:
9 Therefore behold I will open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from his cities, I say, and his borders, the noble cities of the land of Bethiesimoth, and Beelmeon, and Cariathaim,
10 To the people of the east with the children of Ammon, and I will give it them for an inheritance: that there may be no more any remembrance of the children of Ammon among the nations.
11 And I will execute judgments in Moab: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
12 Thus saith the Lord God: Because Edom hath taken vengeance to revenge herself of the children of Juda, and hath greatly offended, and hath sought revenge of them:
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand upon Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it desolate from the south: and they that are in Dedan shall fall by the sword.
14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to my wrath, and my fury: and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.
15 Thus saith the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their mind, destroying and satisfying old enmities:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will stretch forth my hand upon the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
73 Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,
5 And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,
6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.
9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?
11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.
19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.
20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
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