M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Mourning Lost Tribe

21 Now the men of Israel ^(A)had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin ^[a]in marriage.” ^2 (B)So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept ^[b]bitterly. ³ They said, “Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?” ⁴ It came about the next day that the people arose early and built ^(C)an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

⁵ Then the sons of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?” For ^[c]they had taken a great oath concerning him ^(D)who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” ⁶ And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today. ⁷ What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have ^(E)sworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”

Provision for Their Survival

⁸ And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. ⁹ For when the people were ^[d]numbered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. ¹⁰ And the congregation sent 12,000 of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and ^(F)strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. ¹¹ This is the thing that you shall do: you ^(G)shall utterly destroy every man and every woman who has ^[e]lain with a man.” ¹² And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with ^[f]him; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were ^(H)at the rock of Rimmon, and ^(I)proclaimed peace to them. ¹⁴ Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they ^[g]were not enough for them. ¹⁵ And the people were sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” ¹⁷ They said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸ But we cannot give them wives of our daughters.” For the sons of Israel ^(J)had sworn, saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”

¹⁹ So they said, “Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in ^(K)Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.” ²⁰ And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹ and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to ^[h](L)take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²² It shall come about, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, ‘Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin ^[i]a wife in battle, ^[j](M)nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’” ²³ The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and ^(N)rebuilt the cities and lived in them. ²⁴ The sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance.

^25 (O)In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Paul before Festus

25 Festus then, having arrived in ^(A)the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from ^(B)Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^(C)brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, ³ requesting a ^[a]concession against ^[b]Paul, that he might ^[c]have him brought to Jerusalem (at the same time, ^(D)setting an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴ Festus then ^(E)answered that Paul ^(F)was being kept in custody at ^(G)Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵ “Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you ^[d]go there with me, and if there is anything wrong ^[e]about the man, let them ^[f]prosecute him.”

⁶ After he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^(H)Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^(I)the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^(J)many and serious charges against him ^(K)which they could not prove, ⁸ while Paul said in his own defense, “^(L)I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(M)wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “^(N)Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and ^[g]stand trial before me on these charges?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^(O)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹ If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^(P)appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then when Festus had conferred with ^[h]his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

¹³ Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at ^(Q)Caesarea ^[i]and paid their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ While they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was ^(R)left as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵ and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews ^(S)brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶ I ^(T)answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before ^(U)the accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷ So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^(V)the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought before me. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, ¹⁹ but they simply had some ^(W)points of disagreement with him about their own ^[j](X)religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. ^20 (Y)Being at a loss how to investigate ^[k]such matters, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these matters. ²¹ But when Paul ^(Z)appealed to be held in custody for ^[l]the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²² Then ^(AA)Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul before Agrippa

²³ So, on the next day when ^(AB)Agrippa came ^[m]together with ^(AC)Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium ^[n]accompanied by the ^[o]commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴ Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom ^(AD)all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that ^(AE)he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that he had committed ^(AF)nothing worthy of death; and since he himself ^(AG)appealed to ^[p]the Emperor, I decided to send him. ^26 [q]Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

The Rechabites’ Obedience

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^(A)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(B)Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the ^(C)chambers, and give them wine to drink.” ³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^(D)man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(E)the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set before the ^[a]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “^(F)Drink wine!” ⁶ But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^(G)Jonadab the son of ^(H)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^(I)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in ^(J)tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live ^(K)many days in the land where you ^(L)sojourn.’ ⁸ We have ^(M)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we ^(N)do not have vineyard or field or seed. ¹⁰ We have only ^(O)dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that ^(P)Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when ^(Q)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us ^(R)go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”

Judah Rebuked

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “^(S)Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord. ¹⁴ “The ^(T)words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you ^[b](U)again and again; yet you have ^(V)not listened to Me. ¹⁵ Also I have sent to you all My ^(W)servants the prophets, sending them ^[c]again and again, saying: ‘^(X)Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and ^(Y)do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will ^(Z)dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not ^(AA)inclined your ear or listened to Me. ¹⁶ Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have ^(AB)observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ ¹⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(AC)I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I ^(AD)spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have ^(AE)obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you; ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab ^(AF)shall not lack a man to ^(AG)stand before Me ^[d]always.”’”

The Lord Implored to Defend the Psalmist against the Wicked.

A ^[a]Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord ^[b]concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity.

For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.