M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elkanah and His Wives

1 Now there was a certain man from ^(A)Ramathaim-zophim from the ^(B)hill country of Ephraim, and his name was ^(C)Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had ^(D)two wives: the name of one was ^(E)Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

³ Now this man would go up from his city ^(F)yearly ^(G)to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in ^(H)Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there. ⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he ^(I)would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, ^(J)but the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, however, ^(K)would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? ^(L)Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

⁹ Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of ^(M)the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She, ^[a]greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. ¹¹ She ^(N)made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed ^(O)look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a ^[b]son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and ^(P)a razor shall never come on his head.”

¹² Now it came about, as she ^[c]continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, ^(Q)she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “^(R)How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.” ¹⁵ But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman ^[d]oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I ^(S)have poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not ^[e]consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and ^[f]provocation.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, “^(T)Go in peace; and may the God of Israel ^(U)grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ She said, “^(V)Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and ^(W)her face was no longer sad.

Samuel Is Born to Hannah

¹⁹ Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in ^(X)Ramah. And Elkanah ^[g]had relations with Hannah his wife, and ^(Y)the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ It came about ^[h]in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “^(Z)Because I have asked him of the Lord.”

²¹ Then the man Elkanah ^(AA)went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will ^(AB)bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and ^(AC)stay there forever.” ^23 (AD)Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best ^[i]to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only ^(AE)may the Lord confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, ^(AF)she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to ^(AG)the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was young. ²⁵ Then ^(AH)they slaughtered the bull, and ^(AI)brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Oh, my lord! ^(AJ)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. ^27 (AK)For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. ^28 (AL)So I have also ^[j]dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is ^[k]dedicated to the Lord.” And ^(AM)he worshiped the Lord there.

The Gospel Exalted

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, ^[a](A)called as an apostle, ^(B)set apart for ^(C)the gospel of God, ² which He ^(D)promised beforehand through His ^(E)prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who was born ^(F)of a ^[b]descendant of David ^(G)according to the flesh, ⁴ who was declared ^(H)the Son of God with power ^[c]by the resurrection from the dead, according to the ^[d]Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and ^(I)apostleship ^[e]to bring about the ^(J)obedience of faith among ^(K)all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, ⁶ among whom you also are the ^(L)called of Jesus Christ;

⁷ to all who are ^(M)beloved of God in Rome, called as ^[f](N)saints: ^(O)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First, ^(P)I thank my God through Jesus Christ ^[g]for you all, because ^(Q)your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. ⁹ For ^(R)God, whom I ^(S)serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly ^(T)I make mention of you, ¹⁰ always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by ^(U)the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For ^(V)I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be ^[h]established; ¹² that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. ^13 (W)I do not want you to be unaware, ^(X)brethren, that often I ^(Y)have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some ^(Z)fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. ^14 (AA)I am ^[i]under obligation both to Greeks and to ^(AB)barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So, for my part, I am eager to ^(AC)preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶ For I am not ^(AD)ashamed of the gospel, for ^(AE)it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the ^(AF)Jew first and also to ^(AG)the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it ^(AH)the righteousness of God is revealed ^[j]from faith to faith; as it is written, “^[k](AI)But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Unbelief and Its Consequences

¹⁸ For ^(AJ)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ^(AK)suppress the truth ^[l]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because ^(AL)that which is known about God is evident ^[m]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For ^(AM)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^(AN)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not ^[n]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^(AO)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ^22 (AP)Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(AQ)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and ^[o]crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore ^(AR)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be ^(AS)dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for ^[p]a ^(AT)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(AU)who is blessed ^[q]forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(AV)God gave them over to ^(AW)degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is ^[r]unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(AX)men with men committing ^[s]indecent acts and receiving in ^[t]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit ^[u]to acknowledge God any longer, ^(AY)God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are ^(AZ)gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, ^[v](BA)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^(BB)disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, ^(BC)unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^(BD)death, they not only do the same, but also ^(BE)give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Jerusalem Captured

39 ^[a]Now when Jerusalem was captured ^[b](A)in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; ² in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was ^(B)breached. ³ Then all the ^(C)officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^(D)Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ^[c]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[d]Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^(E)fled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^(F)between the two walls; and he went out toward the ^[e]Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the ^(G)Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^(H)plains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^(I)Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the ^(J)king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah ^(K)before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the ^(L)nobles of Judah. ⁷ He then ^(M)blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^(N)fetters of bronze to bring him to ^(O)Babylon. ⁸ The Chaldeans also ^(P)burned with fire the king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they ^(Q)broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the ^[f](R)deserters who had gone over to him and ^(S)the rest of the people who remained, ^(T)Nebuzaradan the ^(U)captain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon. ¹⁰ But some of the ^(V)poorest people who had nothing, ^(W)Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[g]at that time.

Jeremiah Spared

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about ^(X)Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹² “Take him and ^[h]look after him, and ^(Y)do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ^[i]Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[j]Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; ¹⁴ they even sent and ^(Z)took Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to ^(AA)Gedaliah, the son of ^(AB)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was ^(AC)confined in the court of the guardhouse, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(AD)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city ^(AE)for disaster and not for ^[k]prosperity; and they will ^(AF)take place before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will ^(AG)deliver you on that day,” declares the Lord, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. ¹⁸ For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own ^(AH)life as booty, because you have ^(AI)trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’”

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

Folly and Wickedness of Men.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.