M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Decides to Count His Army
24 The Lord was angry with Israel again. He caused David to turn against the Israelites. He told David, “Go count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2 King David said to Joab, the captain of the army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba,[a] and count the people. Then I will know how many people there are.”
3 But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God give you 100 times as many people, no matter how many there are! And may your eyes see this thing happen. But why do you want to do this?”
4 King David strongly commanded Joab and the other captains of the army to count the people. So they went out from the king to count the people of Israel. 5 After they crossed over the Jordan River, they made their camp in Aroer on the right side of the city. (The city is in the middle of the valley of Gad, on the way to Jazer.)
6 Then they went east to Gilead, all the way to Tahtim Hodshi. Then they went north to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon. 7 They went to the fort of Tyre. They went to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites. Then they went south to Beersheba in the southern part of Judah. 8 It took them nine months and 20 days for them to go through the country. After nine months and 20 days they came back to Jerusalem.
9 Joab gave the list of the people to the king. There were 800,000 men in Israel who could use the sword. And there were 500,000 men in Judah.
The Lord Punishes David
10 David felt ashamed after he had counted the people and said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my sin. I have been very foolish.”
11 When David got up in the morning, the Lord gave this message to Gad, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: There are three ways you can be punished. Choose the one you want.’”
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Choose one of these three: seven[b] years of famine for you and your country, being chased by your enemies for three months, or three days of disease in your country. Think about it, and decide which one you want. I must give your answer to the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “This is a terrible situation to be in. But it would be better to be punished by the Lord than by anyone else, because he is very merciful.”
15 So the Lord sent a disease against Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba 70,000 people died. 16 The angel raised his arm over Jerusalem and was ready to destroy it, but the Lord felt very sorry about the bad things that had happened. He said to the angel who destroyed the people, “That’s enough! Put down your arm.” The Lord’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah[c] the Jebusite.[d]
David Buys Araunah’s Threshing Floor
17 When he saw the angel who killed the people, David spoke to the Lord. David said, “I sinned! I did wrong! And these people only did what I told them—they only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please let your punishment be against me and my father’s family.”
18 That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David did what Gad told him to. David did what the Lord wanted and went to see Araunah. 20 Araunah looked and saw King David and his officers coming to him. Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground. 21 He said, “Why has my lord and king come to me?”
David answered, “I came to buy the threshing floor from you. Then I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the disease will stop.”
22 Araunah said to David, “My lord and king, you can take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood. 23 O King, I give everything to you!” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you.”
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No! I must pay you for everything. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. 25 Then David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The Lord answered his prayer for the country. He stopped the disease in Israel.
4 This is what I am saying: When young children inherit all that their father owned, they are still no different from his slaves. It doesn’t matter that they own everything. 2 While they are children, they must obey those who are chosen to care for them. But when they reach the age the father set, they are free. 3 It is the same for us. We were once like children, slaves to the useless rules[a] of this world. 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, who was born from a woman and lived under the law. 5 God did this so that he could buy the freedom of those who were under the law. God’s purpose was to make us his children.
6 Since you are now God’s children, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit cries out, “ Abba,[b] Father.” 7 Now you are not slaves like before. You are God’s children, and you will receive everything he promised his children.
Paul’s Love for the Galatian Believers
8 In the past you did not know God. You were slaves to gods that were not real. 9 But now you know the true God. Really, though, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to the same kind of weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again? 10-11 It worries me that you follow teachings about special days, months, seasons, and years. I fear that my work for you has been wasted.
12 Brothers and sisters, I became like you. So please become like me. You were very good to me before. 13 You know that I came to you the first time because I was sick. That was when I told the Good News to you. 14 My sickness was a burden to you, but you did not stop showing me respect or make me leave. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God. You accepted me as if I were Jesus Christ himself! 15 You were very happy then. Where is that joy now? I can say without a doubt that you would have done anything to help me. If it had been possible, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Am I now your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 Those people[c] are working hard to persuade you, but this is not good for you. They want to persuade you to turn against us and work hard for them. 18 It is good for you to work hard, of course, if it is for something good. That’s something you should do whether I am there or not. 19 My little children, I am in pain again over you, like a mother giving birth. I will feel this pain until people can look at you and see Christ. 20 I wish I could be with you now. Then maybe I could change the way I am talking to you. Now I don’t know what to do about you.
The Example of Hagar and Sarah
21 Some of you people want to be under the law. Tell me, do you know what the law says? 22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one son was a slave woman, and the mother of the other son was a free woman. 23 Abraham’s son from the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But the son from the free woman was born because of the promise God made to Abraham.
24 This true story makes a picture for us. The two women are like the two agreements between God and his people. One agreement is the law that God made on Mount Sinai. The people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement. 25 So Hagar is like Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is a picture of the earthly Jewish city of Jerusalem. This city is a slave, and all its people are slaves to the law. 26 But the heavenly Jerusalem that is above is like the free woman, who is our mother. 27 The Scriptures say,
“Be happy, woman—you who cannot have children.
Be glad you never gave birth.
Shout and cry with joy!
You never felt those labor pains.
The woman who is alone[d] will have more children
than the woman who has a husband.” (A)
28 My brothers and sisters, you are children who were born because of God’s promise, just as Isaac was. 29 But the other son of Abraham, who was born in the normal way, caused trouble for the one who was born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same today. 30 But what do the Scriptures say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son! The son of the free woman will receive everything his father has, but the son of the slave woman will receive nothing.”[e] 31 So, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.
Assyria Is Like a Cedar Tree
31 On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year of exile, the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 2 “Son of man,[a] say this to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his people:
“‘You are so great!
Who can I compare you to?
3 Assyria was a cedar tree in Lebanon with beautiful branches,
with forest shade, and very tall.
Its top was among the clouds!
4 The water made the tree grow.
The deep river made the tree tall.
Rivers flowed around the place
where the tree was planted.
Only small streams flowed from that tree
to all the other trees of the field.
5 So that tree was taller than all the other trees of the field,
and it grew many branches.
There was plenty of water,
so the tree branches spread out.
6 All the birds of the sky made their nests
in the branches of that tree,
and all the animals of the field gave birth
under the branches of that tree.
All the great nations lived
under the shade of that tree.
7 The tree was very beautiful.
It was so large!
It had such long branches.
Its roots had plenty of water.
8 Even the cedar trees in God’s garden
were not as big as this tree.
Cypress trees did not have as many branches.
Plane trees did not have such branches.
No tree in God’s garden
was as beautiful as this tree.
9 I gave it many branches
and made it beautiful.
And all the trees in Eden, God’s garden,
were jealous!’”
10 So this is what the Lord God says: “That tree grew tall. Its top reached up to the clouds. It grew so big that it became proud! 11 So I let a powerful king have that tree. That ruler punished the tree for the bad things it did. I took that tree out of my garden. 12 Strangers—the most terrible people in the world—cut it down and scattered its branches on the mountains and in the valleys. Its broken limbs drifted down the rivers flowing through that land. There was no more shadow under that tree, so all the people left. 13 Now birds live in that fallen tree. Wild animals walk over its fallen branches.
14 “Now, none of the trees by that water will be proud. They will not try to reach the clouds. None of the strong trees that drink that water will brag about being tall, because all of them must die. They will all go down into the world below, to Sheol, the place of death. They will join the other people who died and went down into that deep hole.”
15 This is what the Lord God says: “I made the people cry on the day that tree went down to Sheol. I covered him with the deep ocean. I stopped its rivers and all the water stopped flowing. I made Lebanon mourn for it. All the trees of the field became sick with sadness for that big tree. 16 I made the tree fall—and the nations shook with fear at the sound of the falling tree. I sent the tree down to the place of death to join the other people who had gone down into that deep hole. In the past, all the trees of Eden, the best of Lebanon, drank that water. The trees were comforted in the world below. 17 Yes, those trees also went down with the big tree to the place of death. They joined the people who were killed in battle. That big tree made the other trees strong. Those trees had lived under the big tree’s shadow among the nations.
18 “Egypt, there were many big and powerful trees in Eden. Which of those trees should I compare you to? They all went down into the world below! And you, too, will join those foreigners[b] in that place of death. You will lie there among the people killed in battle.
“Yes, that will happen to Pharaoh and to the crowds of people with him!” This is what the Lord God said.
One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
79 God, some people from other nations came to fight your people.
They ruined your holy Temple.
They left Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They left the bodies of your servants for the wild birds to eat.
They let wild animals eat the bodies of your followers.
3 Blood flowed like water all over Jerusalem.
No one is left to bury the bodies.
4 The countries around us insult us.
The people around us laugh at us and make fun of us.
5 Lord, will you be angry with us forever?
Will your strong feelings[a] continue to burn like a fire?
6 Turn your anger against the nations that do not know you,
against the people who do not honor you as God.
7 Those nations killed Jacob’s family
and destroyed their land.
8 Please don’t punish us for the sins of our ancestors.
Hurry, show us your mercy!
We need you so much!
9 Our God and Savior, help us!
That will bring glory to your name.
Save us and forgive our sins
for the good of your name.
10 Don’t give the other nations a reason to say,
“Where is their God? Can’t he help them?”
Let us see you punish those people.
Punish them for killing your servants.
11 Listen to the sad cries of the prisoners!
Use your great power to free those who are sentenced to die.
12 Punish the nations around us!
Pay them back seven times for what they did to us.
Punish them for insulting you.
13 We are your people, the sheep of your flock.
We will praise you forever.
We will praise you forever and ever!
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International