M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David brings the Covenant Box to Jerusalem
6 David chose 30,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. 2 He took them with him to Baalah, a town in Judah. He wanted to bring God's Covenant Box from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord Almighty. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box. 3 They put the Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house which was on the hill. Abinadab's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, were leading the new cart 4 which had the Covenant Box on it. Ahio walked in front of the Covenant Box. 5 David and all Israel's people were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise the Lord. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, shakers and cymbals.[a]
6 They reached the place of Nacon's threshing floor. There the oxen that were pulling the cart almost fell. So Uzzah reached out to hold God's Covenant Box to stop it falling. 7 The Lord was very angry with Uzzah because he did not respect God's rules.[b] He immediately knocked Uzzah down to the ground. Uzzah died there, beside the Covenant Box.
8 David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah. So he called that place ‘Perez Uzzah’. That is still its name today.[c]
9 So David now became afraid of the Lord. He said, ‘The Lord's Covenant Box is too holy to come with me!’ 10 He no longer wanted to take the Lord's Covenant Box to the City of David to be with him there. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who came from Gath. 11 The Lord's Covenant Box stayed in Obed-Edom's house for three months. During that time, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all the people in his house.
12 People told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belongs to him, because of the Covenant Box.’
So David went back to Obed-Edom's house. He was now happy to bring the Covenant Box from there to the City of David. 13 The men who were carrying it walked six steps and they stopped. Then David offered a bull and a fat calf as sacrifices to God. 14 David was wearing a linen ephod.[d] He danced with all his strength to worship the Lord. 15 He and all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They shouted and they made a loud noise with trumpets.
16 While they were bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw what King David was doing. He was jumping and dancing to worship the Lord. Michal felt ashamed of him.
17 David had put up a special tent for the Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then David offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.
18 After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord Almighty would bless the people. 19 Then he gave a gift to every man and woman in the crowd of Israelite people. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins. Then all the people went to their homes.
20 David returned to his home to bless his own family. As he arrived, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, ‘The king of Israel has brought honour to himself today, has he? No, he has brought shame on himself! Even your officers' slave girls have seen how stupid you are. You have made your body bare like a useless fool!’
21 David said to Michal, ‘I was worshipping the Lord with joy! It was the Lord who chose me to be the ruler of his people, Israel. He chose me instead of your father or any of his family. 22 I am ready to bring even more shame on myself. Even I will be ashamed of myself! But the slave girls that you spoke about will still give me honour!’
23 Saul's daughter Michal gave birth to no children all her life.
Help for God's people
16 You asked me about the money that you want to give to God's people at Jerusalem. You should do it in the same way that I told the churches in Galatia.[a] 2 On the first day of every week, each of you should put some of your money in a safe place. Think about how much God has given you. Then decide how much you can give each week. If you do that, the gift will be ready when I come to you. We will not need to start doing it after I come. 3 When I arrive there, you should choose people from your group who will take your gift to Jerusalem. I will write some letters that they will take with them. The letters will explain about your gift. 4 I may also go myself, if that seems the right thing for me to do. Then they can travel with me.
5 But I must travel through Macedonia first.[b] After I have been to Macedonia, then I will come to you. 6 I will probably remain with you for some time. I may even stay for the whole winter. Then you can help me to continue my journey to the next place. I am not sure yet where that may be. 7 If I come now, I would only have a short time with you. But I want to stay with you for a longer time, if the Lord will let me do that. 8 So I will remain here at Ephesus city until the Pentecost festival.[c] 9 God has given me the chance to do a great work here. But many people are against what I am doing.
10 If Timothy comes to you, please take care of him. Make sure that you welcome him. He is doing the Lord's work, as I am also doing. 11 So you should all respect him properly. When he is ready to leave, help him with the things that he needs. Then he can continue his journey and come to me here. I am waiting for him to come with the other believers.
12 As for our Christian friend Apollos, I wanted him to visit you. I have often told him to come to you together with the other believers. But he does not think that this is the right time. He will come to you when he has the chance.
Paul finishes his letter
13 Watch carefully for danger. Never stop trusting God. Continue to be brave and strong. 14 Whatever you do, do it with love.
15 My Christian friends, you know about Stephanas and his family. They were the first people in Achaia to become Christians.[d] They have worked hard as God's servants to help his people. So I say this to you. 16 You must respect people like them. Do what they say. And also respect everyone who works hard to serve God together with them.
17 I was very happy when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived here. You could not be here yourselves, but they have taken your place. 18 They have helped me to feel stronger, as they also did for you. You should recognize the authority of people like them.
19 The churches here in Asia region say ‘hello’ to you. Aquila and Priscilla, and the group of believers that meets in their house, also say ‘hello’ to you. They love you because you belong to the Lord, as they do. 20 All the Christians here say ‘hello’ to you.
When you meet, kiss each other as Christian brothers and sisters.
21 I, Paul, am writing these words at the end of this letter with my own hand. I say ‘hello’ to you.
22 If anyone among you does not really love the Lord, I pray that God will curse that person.
Our Lord, come now! We are waiting for you!
23 I pray that the Lord Jesus will continue to be kind to all of you.
24 I love all of you who belong to Christ Jesus, as I do.
14 Some of the leaders of Israel came to talk to me. They sat down in front of me. 2 Then the Lord gave this message to me: 3 ‘Son of man, these men like to worship idols. They allow those idols to cause them to do wicked things. So I should not allow them to ask me anything. 4 You must speak to them. Say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: One of these men who like to worships idols may want to ask me something. Those men allow their idols to cause them to do wicked things. So if one of them goes to a prophet to find out something, I will give him an answer! I will give him the answer that he deserves because of his many idols! 5 Israel's people have turned away from me because of their idols. So I will give them an answer that will bring them back to worship me.”
6 Say to Israel's people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Turn back to me and stop worshipping idols. Stop doing the disgusting things that you have been doing.”
7 An Israelite or a foreigner who lives in Israel may not want to serve me. He may choose to worship idols and do wicked things. If anyone like that goes to a prophet to find out something from me, I will answer him. Yes, I myself, the Lord, will answer him! 8 I will be that person's enemy. I will punish him to make him an example to others. Other people will see that he is not good. I will not allow him to belong to my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
9 I will also punish the prophet himself if he gives a false message. I, the Lord, have deceived him to show that he is a fool. And I will punish him. I will remove him from among my people, Israel's people. 10 I will punish both the prophet and the person who asked him for a message. They will both have the same punishment. 11 I will do that to bring back Israel's people to serve me. They will not continue to make themselves unclean because of all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’
12 The Lord gave this message to me: 13 ‘Son of man, the people of a whole nation may choose not to obey me. Then I would punish them because of their sins. I might stop the people getting any food to eat. Then there would be a famine that kills both people and animals. 14 If that happens, I would only save the righteous people who lived there. If men like Noah, Daniel and Job lived there, I would save them. But nobody else would escape. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
15 Or I might send wild animals to kill the people of that nation. Nobody would travel through that place. The wild animals would make it too dangerous to travel there. 16 I promise you this, as surely as I live: if those three righteous men lived there, they would only save themselves. They could not even save the lives of their own children. The whole land would become an empty place. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
17 Or I might bring an enemy to attack that nation. I would say, “Soldiers with swords should destroy the whole land.” I would cause them to kill both people and animals. 18 I promise you this, as surely as I live: if those three righteous men lived there, they would only save themselves. They could not even save the lives of their own children. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
19 Or I might punish that nation with a terrible disease. Because I am very angry with those people, I would cause people and animals to die in that place. 20 I promise you this, as surely as I live: if Noah, Daniel and Job lived there, they would only save themselves because they are righteous people. They could not save the lives even of their own children. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
21 This is what the Almighty Lord says: It will be terrible for Jerusalem's people when I punish them in all these four ways. I will send enemy soldiers with swords. I will send famine. I will send wild animals. And I will send disease. That will cause both people and animals to die. 22 But some people will still be alive. Some sons and daughters will come out from the city. They will come to you here in Babylon. You will see the way that those people have lived. You will see the things that they have done. Then you will not be upset that I have punished Jerusalem in all these ways. 23 Yes, when you see what they are like, you will no longer be upset. You will know that I have punished the people of Jerusalem as they deserved. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’
David wrote this special song for the music leader. Use stringed instruments when you sing it.
A prayer when a friend turns against you[a]
55 God, listen to my prayer.
Do not turn away
when I ask you to help me.
2 Listen carefully and answer me.
I am very upset because of all my troubles.
They are too many for me.
3 I am afraid because of what my enemies say.
Those wicked people give me much pain.
They are so angry that they hate me
and they give me nothing but trouble.
4 My heart beats fast inside me.
Death seems very near,
and I am very afraid.
5 I am shaking with fear!
My troubles are too much for me.
6 So I say, ‘If I had wings to fly like a dove,
I would fly away to a safe place.
7 Yes! I would go far away,
and I would live in the wilderness.
Selah.
8 I would go quickly to a safe place.
The strong winds and storms of my enemies
would not reach me there!’
9 My Lord, make my enemies confused!
Stop them from doing what they want to do.
Everywhere that I look in the city,
I see that they do cruel things to attack people.[b]
10 They walk on the city's walls
in the day and at night.
Inside the city they do evil things
that bring trouble everywhere.
11 They destroy everything!
In all the city's streets, they move freely.
They hurt people and they cheat them.
12 But it is not my enemies that have insulted me.
That would not have hurt me.
If my enemy laughs at me,
I can always hide from him!
13 But it is you, my best friend!
We did things as men together,
and I trusted you!
14 We enjoyed our time together.
We often went to God's temple,
and we joined with the crowd of people there.
15 Please let death suddenly destroy my enemies!
May they go down into their graves alive!
They are at home with evil,
and that is all that they think about.
16 But I will call to God for help.
The Lord will make me safe.
17 I will weep and cry to him,
morning, noon and night.
He will listen to what I say.
18 I have very many enemies
who attack me all the time.
But God will rescue me and keep me safe.
19 God has always ruled everything as king.
He will listen to me,
and he will punish my enemies.
Selah.
They refuse to change their thoughts,
and they do not respect God.
20 But my friend has turned against his own friends.
He has not been a true friend,
as he promised to be.
21 He speaks a message of peace,
but he is really thinking about war.
His words are easy to listen to,
but they hurt like sharp knives.
22 Take your problems to the Lord.
He will take care of you.
He will never let his own people fall.[c]
23 And as for wicked people,
you, God, will send them to their graves.
They will go down into the deep hole of death
while they are still young.
That is what will happen to those cruel people,
who kill and cheat others.
But I will trust in you, God.
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