M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David should never be counted out. Hours before, Absalom has everything going his way, and David is run out of his kingdom. Smart and fierce, he doesn’t spend all those years hiding from Saul and fighting with little or no resources for nothing. Although he orders his generals to be merciful to his son Absalom, his forces win a great victory against the rebel forces, and David’s general Joab kills Absalom and removes a threat to the security of the kingdom.
But David’s reaction again is tender; although his son might have killed him if he’d been given the chance, David laments his death. As king, as father, and as follower of the Lord, he knows he could have done better; but now it is too late, and all he can do is mourn the consequences of his past actions.
19 Joab heard the news that David was weeping and mourning for Absalom, 2 and the mood shifted from celebration to sorrow, for all the soldiers heard that the king was grieving for his son. 3 They crept back to the city as though they had lost the battle rather than saved the kingdom.
4 The king covered his face, and he continued to cry loudly.
David: O my son Absalom. O Absalom, my son, my son!
5 Then Joab came into the king’s presence.
Joab: Today you have shamed the men who saved your life, who have saved the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and concubines, 6 all because of your love for those who hated you and your hatred of those who love you! You’ve made it perfectly clear where your affections are—that your officers and men mean nothing to you, and that you’d gladly trade our lives for Absalom’s.
7 Go out now, and speak with kindness and respect to those who have served you. You can still save the day; but I swear by the Eternal One, if you do not alter this mood now, not a single man will be with you tonight, and this will be the greatest disaster ever to wash over you.
8 Then the king got up, went outside, and sat down inside the gate where Absalom had acquired his allies. When the people heard that the king had come out to them, they gathered around him.
The men of Israel who had gone against the king, meanwhile, had fled to their homes. 9 Throughout Israel, from tribe to tribe, people were debating: “David saved us from our enemies and took us out of the hands of the Philistines, but he fled from Absalom. 10 Now Absalom, whom we appointed to lead us, has fallen in battle. Why, then, haven’t we moved to bring the king back to power?”
11 David knew about this groundswell of support, and he sent a message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar.
David: Tell the leaders of Judah, “Why should you be the last to agree to bring the king back? Everyone in Israel is talking about it, even in the king’s own house. 12 And you—you are my flesh and my bones. Why should you be the last to join this movement?” 13 And tell Amasa, who joined the rebellion against me, “Aren’t you my flesh and my bone? May God bring disaster on me if I don’t allow you to serve as commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.”
14 Amasa persuaded all of Judah to stand united supporting David, and they sent word that he and his servants should come back. 15 So the king came back to the Jordan River. The people of Judah turned out to meet him at Gilgal, and they celebrated as he crossed back over the Jordan into his kingdom.
16 Shimei (son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim), who had abused David on his way into exile, was one of those in the throngs hurrying to meet David. 17 He joined 1,000 people from Benjamin. Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul who had spoken with David on his way into exile, and his 15 sons and 20 servants who also hurried down to the Jordan before the king, 18 kept crossing the ford to assist in moving the king’s household and was anxious to help in any other way. Then Shimei, the son of Gera, fell in front of the king before he crossed the Jordan.
Shimei: 19 Please, my lord, don’t hold me guilty or hold a grudge for what I did against you on the day you left Jerusalem, cursing you and throwing stones at you. May the king forget it ever happened! 20 I, your servant, know that what I did was wrong. That’s why I’ve come today, to be the first of all the house of Joseph to greet my king.
21 Abishai, Zeruiah’s son, remembered Shimei well.
Abishai: My lord, shouldn’t Shimei be executed for cursing the Eternal’s anointed king with such contempt?
David: 22 What business is that of yours, sons of Zeruiah? Why should you make yourself my opponent? Will I execute anyone in Israel on a day like this? Don’t I know that today I am the king of Israel? 23 (to Shimei) You will not die. I swear it.
24 Mephibosheth, the lame grandson of Saul and son of David’s dear friend Jonathan, also made his way to meet the king. His feet had not been cared for—no, and his beard had grown long, and he had not had his clothes washed—since the king went into exile and returned in peace. 25 When he met the king in Jerusalem, the king received him.
David: Why didn’t you go into exile with me, Mephibosheth?
Mephibosheth: 26 My lord, my servant Ziba tricked me. I asked him to saddle a donkey so that I could go with you—for you know I cannot walk. 27 He has told you lies about me, but my lord is like a heavenly messenger of God. So do what seems right to you, and I will accept it. 28 You had the right to kill everyone in my family when you became king, yet you took me to sit at your table. So it would be wrong for me to bicker over anything with you.
David: 29 Let’s not talk any more about this. I have decided that you and Ziba will share the land.
Mephibosheth: 30 My king, let him take it all. I’m just grateful you are back safely in your own palace and kingdom.
31 Barzillai from Gilead, who had fed the king’s forces, had come down from Rogelim to escort the king across the Jordan. 32 He was 80 years old and very wealthy, which is how he had been able to provide for the king while he was at Mahanaim.
David (to Barzillai): 33 Cross over with me, and come to Jerusalem. I’ll take care of you and give you a place of honor at my side.
Barzillai: 34 My king, how many years do I have left, that I should leave my home and relocate with the king to Jerusalem? I am too old for court life. 35 I am 80 years old today. My judgment is not as good as it used to be. I can’t taste my food, enjoy my drink, or even hear the pleasant singing of men and women. So why should you burden yourself with me, my lord and king? 36 I will travel a little farther with you across the Jordan, but you don’t owe me anything more for my hospitality. Why should you, my king, offer me such a handsome reward? 37 Please grant me your favor to return home, to die among my own people near the resting places of my parents. But do consider your servant Chimham. Let him come with you, and may you honor Chimham as you see fit.
David: 38 Chimham will cross the river with me, and I will treat him as seems good to you. Anything you want from me, I will do for you.
39 Then the king and all the people crossed over the Jordan. David kissed Barzillai and wished him well, and Barzillai returned home. 40 The king, along with Chimham, went on to Gilgal, accompanied by all the people of Judah and half the people of Israel.
41 Then the people of Israel came in front of the king, indignant.
People of Israel: Why have our kinsmen of Judah stolen you away from us and helped you across the Jordan? Why have they brought across your family and your subjects and all your men?
People of Judah: 42 Because we are more closely related to the king than you are. Why are you upset about this? Has the king fed us at his expense? Has he given to us anything he has not given to you?
People of Israel: 43 We have 10 shares in the office of the king because there are 10 of our tribes in Israel and only 2 of yours—Judah and Benjamin. And we have more shares in David as the king than you do for the same reason. Why were you angry with us? Weren’t we the first to talk about bringing David home?
But the people of Judah were harsher than the people of Israel.
Sincerity is a difficult thing to judge. The commitment that people have to a cause can only be determined over time. One test might be: do they persevere through hardships and challenges? In this regard, Paul is without equal. If the cause of Jesus were a fleeting interest or a halfhearted pursuit, then he would have given up after his first beating. But Paul’s compassion for those who did not know the beauty of the gospel was stubborn and unyielding. This persecutor-turned-emissary always had his critics. But who could call him insincere?
Paul is speaking of himself in verses 2-5 in an odd, third-person way. He writes cryptically for a purpose: to distract from the fact that, at least for the moment, he is boasting of something other than weakness. In heavenly journeys, Paul has seen amazing sights and heard amazing sounds—sights and sounds no human can or should ever speak of.
But God adds something to keep Paul from being carried away by such ecstasies: He gives His emissary “a thorn in the flesh.” Perhaps it is a chronic physical or emotional illness he suffers. Perhaps it is the steady stream of opponents who follow Paul wherever he goes. In God’s wisdom, Paul doesn’t say because his listeners would likely fixate on whatever problem he has in unhealthy ways. That’s what humans do. Still Paul believes that God sent this unwelcome messenger, so he pleads with God three times to remove it. Why just three times? Why doesn’t he bombard heaven daily with his pleas? Well, it may be because he knows Jesus prayed three times in the garden for the cup of suffering to be removed. Ultimately Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father, and Paul does too: “Grace is enough, Paul. Grace is enough.”
12 Boasting like this is necessary, but it’s unbecoming and probably unavailing. Since you won’t hear me any other way, let me tell you about visions and revelations I received of the Lord.
2 Fourteen years ago, there was this man I knew—a believer in the Anointed who was caught up to the third heaven. (Whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows.) 3-4 This man was caught up into paradise (let me say it again, whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows), and he heard inexpressible words—words a mortal man is forbidden to utter. 5 I could brag about such a man; but as for me, I have nothing to brag about outside my own shortcomings. 6 So if I want to boast, I won’t do so as a fool because I will be speaking the truth. But I will stop there, since I don’t want to be credited with anything except exactly what people see and hear from me. 7 To keep me grounded and stop me from becoming too high and mighty due to the extraordinary character of these revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh—a nagging nuisance of Satan, a messenger to plague me! 8 I begged the Lord three times to liberate me from its anguish; 9 and finally He said to me, “My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” So ask me about my thorn, inquire about my weaknesses, and I will gladly go on and on—I would rather stake my claim in these and have the power of the Anointed One at home within me. 10 I am at peace and even take pleasure in any weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and afflictions for the sake of the Anointed because when I am at my weakest, He makes me strong.
11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. Why didn’t you stick up for me? I may not be much, but you could have shown me the same respect as you did the other so-called great emissaries.[a] I am not inferior to them in the least. 12 Miracles, wonders, and signs were all performed right before your eyes, proving I am who I say, a true emissary of Jesus. 13 With the exception of not asking you to shoulder the burden of my care, I have treated you no differently from any other churches. Forgive me for wronging you by not charging for my services!
14 Now listen, for the third time I am ready to travel to you, and once again I will not burden you because there’s nothing of yours that I want: the only thing I want is you. You see, it’s not right for children to have to save up for their parents because it’s the parents’ job to care for their children. 15 I would happily spend until I had nothing left if it was for you. But just because I love you more, should you love me less? 16 Because even though you didn’t have to lift a finger for me, lies abound that I deceived you by some clever act. 17 Did I cheat you somehow through one of the coworkers I sent your way? If any of them defrauded you, I’d like to see it. 18 I was the one who insisted Titus come to you with the brother I sent along. Did Titus take advantage of you in some way? Didn’t we work in the same spirit and follow the same direction?
19 I hope you don’t think that all this time we’ve been defending ourselves to you. We come as the voice of the Anointed; God will judge whether all our work has been useful in building you up, beloved. 20 And quite honestly, I am afraid that when I come, we may both be disappointed with what we find; in my fear, my thoughts go from bad to worse—into a drama of friction, rivalry, fevered tempers and fists, selfishness, slander, defamation, pride, and complete chaos. 21 I am worried that when I come to visit that my God will humble me somehow before you, that I will have to grieve over all those who have sinned before and then refused to turn away[b] from their addictions to impure practices, immoral sex, and reckless perversions.
Israel and Judah are not the only nations infuriating God with their conduct. The surrounding countries—Ammon in the northeast, Moab in the east, Edom in the southeast, Philistia in the west, and Tyre in the northwest—have often been at odds with Israel and Judah. So when Judah falls, they celebrate in the streets and begin to figure how they might maneuver around these political and economic changes. Judah’s fall might be a windfall for them. As the Judean exiles are forcibly marched out of their land, their neighbors mercilessly mock them for their crushing defeat. But God takes all of this very personally. He will not tolerate their disrespect of His people, which amounts to disrespect of Him too. So God takes His own revenge and punishes those who delight in Israel’s and Judah’s tragedies.
26 During the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Eternal came to me regarding Tyre.
Eternal One: 2 Son of man, Tyre has delighted in the news of Jerusalem, saying,
Hurray! The gateway to the nations is broken,
And now it is open for me to receive all of her commerce.
My markets will be full now that she is in ruins.
3 Therefore I, the Eternal Lord, am telling you that I am your enemy, Tyre, and I will gather many nations and march them against you, just as the sea marches its waves against the unsuspecting shore. 4 The waves of the nations will demolish the city walls of Tyre and crumble her towers. After the city is pummeled, I will sweep away all of her rubble and leave nothing but a bare rock. 5 In the loneliness of the ocean, she will become a desolate island, used only for drying out fishnets. She will become prisoner and slave to all the nations, 6 and her villages on the mainland will be massacred in battle. Then they will know that I am the Eternal One.
7 I am going to bring the great Babylonian king, the king of kings named Nebuchadnezzar, against Tyre. He will charge down from the north with strapping horses and indestructible chariots, master horsemen, and an enormous army. 8 He will dispatch his soldiers to destroy your villages on the mainland and then lay siege against you with ramps against your walls and shields raised to deflect your opposition. 9 He will demolish your walls with his siege machines and dismantle your towers with axes. 10 You will be covered with dust from the galloping of his war horses. Your walls will shake from the tumult of the horses, wagons, and chariots when he breaches your walls and comes storming into the city. 11 His rampaging horses will trample all your streets. He will slaughter everyone in the battle and topple every strong pillar to the ground. 12 They will loot your wealth and claim your goods! They will tear down your walls and fine houses, and they’ll toss the wood and stone and rubble into the sea. 13 I will use My avenger to silence your lutes and harps and put an end to your songs. 14 I will leave you a bare rock in the lonely ocean, a desolate island used only for drying out fishnets. I promise you will never be rebuilt. Never. I, the Eternal Lord, declare this.
15 (continuing to Tyre) Don’t you think the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, at the groans of the injured, at the great massacre that takes place inside your walls? 16 Then the princes from the other coastal cities will step down from their thrones, give up their royal robes, and remove their embroidered garments. They will clothe their nakedness with sheer terror and sit on the ground, constantly shaking with horror at what happened to you. 17 Then they will sing a dirge over you:
How you are destroyed, O famous city!
City of sea people!
You and your kind were a great force on the seas;
you terrorized all who lived around you.
18 Now, the coastlands will quake on the day when you fall,
and the cities along the shore will be terrified by your passing.
19 When I destroy you and empty your streets, when I drown you and bury you within the ocean depths, 20 I will sink you down into the pit where those people from long ago sleep in death. I will make you stay there, in the lower parts of the earth among the ancient ruins with those who dwell in the pit of the dead, and you will never be inhabited again. You will never resurface in the land of the living where I rest My glory. 21 I will terrify you, and you will meet your end. You will be sought, but you will never be found again.
This is what the Eternal Lord declares.
Psalm 74
A contemplative song[a] of Asaph.
This lament was written shortly after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 b.c. Now in exile and separated from God, His city, and His land, the people of God experience pain that is palpable.
1 O True God, why have You turned Your back on us and abandoned us forever?
Why is Your anger seething and Your wrath smoldering against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember the congregation of people You acquired long ago,
the tribe which You redeemed to be Your very own.
Remember Mount Zion, where You have chosen to live!
3 Come, direct Your attention to Your sanctuary;
our enemy has demolished everything and left it in complete ruin.
4 Your enemies roared like lions in Your sacred chamber;
they have claimed it with their own standards as signs.
5 They acted like lumberjacks swinging their axes
to cut down a stand of trees.
6 They hacked up all the beautifully carved items,
smashed them to splinters with their axes and hammers.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
they have desecrated the place where Your holy name lived in honor;
8 They have plotted in their hearts, “We will crush them and bring them to their knees!”
Then they scorched all of the places in the land where the True God met His people.
9 We no longer receive signs,
there are no more prophets who remain,
and not one of us knows how long this situation will last.
10 O True God, how much longer will the enemy mock us?
Will this insult continue against You forever?
11 Why do You stand by and do nothing?
Unleash Your power and finish them off!
12 Even so, the True God is my King from long ago,
bringing salvation to His people throughout the land.
13 You have divided the sea with Your power;
You shattered the skulls of the creatures of the sea;
14 You smashed the heads of Leviathan
and fed his remains to the people of the desert.
15 You broke open the earth and springs burst forth and streams filled the crevices;
You dried up the great rivers.
16 The day and the night are both Yours—
You fashioned the sun, moon, and all the lights that pierce the darkness.
17 You have arranged the earth, set all its boundaries;
You are the Architect of the seasons: summer and winter.
18 Eternal One, do not forget that the enemy has taunted You
and a company of fools has rejected Your name.
19 We are Your precious turtledoves;
don’t surrender our souls to the wild beasts.
Do not forget the lives of Your poor, afflicted, and brokenhearted ones forever.
20 Be mindful of Your covenant with us,
for the dark corners of the land are filled with pockets of violence.
21 Do not allow the persecuted to return without honor;
may the poor, wounded, and needy sing praises to You;
may they bring glory to Your name!
22 O True God, rise up and defend Your cause;
remember how the foolish man insults You every hour of the day.
23 Do not forget the voices of Your enemies,
the commotion and chaos of Your foes, which continually grow.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.