M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David fights against the Ammonites

19 After some time, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died. His son became the new king.^{[a] 2} David thought, ‘Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son Hanun.’ So David sent some of his officers to give a message to Hanun. David wanted to tell Hanun that he was sorry that his father Nahash had died.

David's officers took his kind message to the land of the Ammonites. ³ But the leaders of the Ammonites said to Hanun, ‘David has sent his officers to you with a kind message. But do not think that he really wants to give honour to your father. No, he has sent his men to look at our land. They want to see how they can attack our country and take it for themselves.’

⁴ So Hanun took hold of David's officers. He cut off their hair. He also cut off the lower half of their clothes up to their hips.^[b] Then he sent them away.

⁵ Some people came to tell David what had happened. His officers were very ashamed. So David sent men to them with a message. King David said, ‘Stay in Jericho city until your beards have grown again. Then you can return here.’

⁶ The Ammonites realized that they had caused David to be very angry. So King Hanun and his people made an agreement with the people of Aram-Naharaim, Aram-Maacah and Zobah. The Ammonites sent them about 34,000 kilograms of silver to get their help with chariots and their drivers. ⁷ They had 32,000 chariots to use in the battle. They also received help from the king of Maakah and his army. All these men made their camp near Medeba. At the same time King Hanun had brought together the Ammonite soldiers from their towns. They were all ready to fight.

⁸ David heard news about this. So he sent Joab with all the soldiers in his army to fight against them. ⁹ The Ammonite soldiers marched out from their city. They stood at the entrance of their city and they were ready to fight. The other kings and their soldiers stayed in the fields near the city.

¹⁰ Joab saw that there were two groups of the enemy's soldiers. They were ready to attack his army from different sides. So he chose some of Israel's best soldiers. Joab himself led them to attack the Syrian soldiers in the fields. ¹¹ He told his brother Abishai to lead the rest of Israel's army to fight against the Ammonites. ¹² Joab said to Abishai, ‘If the Syrian soldiers are too strong for me, you must come to rescue me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come to rescue you. ¹³ Be strong! We must be brave as we fight on behalf of our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is good.’

¹⁴ Then Joab and his group of soldiers went to fight against the Syrians. As they marched towards the Syrian soldiers, they ran away. ¹⁵ The Ammonites saw that the Syrians were running away from Joab. So they also ran away from his brother Abishai's men. They went back into their city.

So Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ The Syrian soldiers realized that Israel had won the battle against them. So they sent men with a message to fetch more soldiers to help them. More Syrian soldiers came from the other side of the Euphrates river. Shophach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, led them.

¹⁷ David heard about what was happening. So he took all Israel's soldiers across the Jordan River. David led his army to attack the Syrian soldiers. The Syrians also prepared to fight. When the battle started, ¹⁸ the Syrians ran away from the Israelites. David and his army killed 7,000 Syrians who drove chariots. They killed 40,000 other Syrian soldiers. They also killed Shophach, the captain of the Syrian army.

¹⁹ The kings who were under King Hadadezer's authority saw that Israel had won the battle. So they made an agreement with David that they would not fight against Israel any more. They agreed to be under David's authority. After that, the Syrians would no longer agree to help the Ammonites.

Joab wins the fight for Rabbah

20 In the spring, Joab led the Israelite army out to fight. That was the time of year when kings go out to fight battles. Joab and his army attacked the land of the Ammonites and he won against them. He put his soldiers around Rabbah city so that they could attack it. But David had stayed in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and he destroyed its buildings.

² When David came, he took the crown off the Ammonite king's head. The crown was made of gold. It weighed 34 kilograms. There was a valuable jewel fixed on it. David's men then put the crown on David's head. David also took a lot of valuable things from the city. ³ He brought the people out from the city to do hard work for him. He made them cut wood with saws, and use iron tools and axes. He did the same thing to the people of all the other Ammonite cities.

Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.

The army fights the Philistines

⁴ Some time after that, the Israelites fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. In that battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai. Sippai was a descendant of Rapha.^[c] So Israel won against the Philistines.

⁵ In another battle against the Philistines, Jair's son Elhanan killed Lahmi. Lahmi was the brother of Goliath who came from Gath. He had a spear that was very thick and heavy, like a big tree.

⁶ There was another battle at Gath. Another descendant of Rapha fought against the Israelites there. He was a very large man. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. ⁷ He shouted to insult the Israelite soldiers. So Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimea, killed him.

⁸ Those Philistines were descendants of Rapha and they lived in Gath. David and his soldiers killed all of them.

God has given us a new life because of Christ

1 This letter is from me, Peter. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to you, God's own people that he has chosen. You are now living in many different places, in the regions called Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.^[a] You are living in these foreign places as strangers. ² God, the Father, already decided that you should be his people. God's Spirit has made you special people who would obey Jesus Christ. God chose you so that Jesus Christ's blood would make you really clean.^[b]

I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more.

³ We praise God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is very kind to us, so that he has given us new life. This is possible because God raised Jesus Christ to new life after his death. Now, as we live, we are sure that we will receive good things from God. ⁴ We wait to receive all the good things that he has prepared for us. Nobody can ever destroy those things. Nothing can spoil them. They will never become old or less beautiful. God is keeping those things in heaven for you. ⁵ God is using his great power to keep you safe, because you trust him. He will continue to keep you safe until the last day, when Christ will return. Then you will know that God has saved you completely from sin and from death.

⁶ All this causes you to be very happy, even when you have troubles. For a short time now, different kinds of troubles may make you sad. ⁷ The purpose of these troubles is to show whether you really trust God. When you believe in Jesus, that is more valuable even than gold. People put gold into a hot fire to see if it is really good. And even gold will come to an end one day. But if you continue to trust God in your troubles, he will be very happy. On the day when Jesus Christ returns and appears to everyone, God will praise you. He will say that you have done well. That will be great!

⁸ You have never seen Jesus, but still you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe in him. As a result, you are very happy. There are no words to describe how happy you are. ⁹ You are happy now because God is saving you from sin. You believe in Jesus, and you know that God saves you because of that.^[c]

¹⁰ A long time ago, God's prophets spoke about this. They said that God would be very kind to you, his people. They studied carefully to learn how God would save people. ¹¹ They wanted to know when God's special Messiah would come and who he would be. Christ's Spirit showed those prophets that the Messiah would receive much trouble and pain. After that, God would show how great the Messiah is. ¹² God showed his prophets that his messages about these things were not really to help them. Instead, God sent his message to the prophets to help you. That message is the good news about Jesus Christ which you have now heard. God sent his Holy Spirit from heaven to help people to tell the good news to you. Even the angels would like to understand more about these things.

Christians should do what is good

¹³ So now, prepare your minds, so that you are ready to live in a good way. Think clearly about how God helps you. Always remember that God will be very kind to you when Jesus Christ comes again. ¹⁴ Obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew the true message about Christ, you very much wanted to do bad things. But now you should not agree to live in that bad way. ¹⁵ God has chosen you to be his own people. He is completely good. So you must be completely good too, in the way that you live. ¹⁶ In the Bible God says this: ‘You must be completely good, because I am completely good.’^[d]

¹⁷ God knows what each person has done, and he judges each one for those things. He is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. When you pray to God, you call him ‘Father’. So then, always respect him, while you live as strangers here in the world. ¹⁸ Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold. ¹⁹ Instead, he bought you with the very valuable blood of Christ, who died as a sacrifice for our sins.^[e] He died like a lamb that is completely good and has nothing wrong with it.^[f]

²⁰ Before the world began, God had already chosen Christ. But now, during these last days of the world, God has shown Christ to people. God did that so that he could help you. ²¹ Yes, it is because of Christ that you now believe in God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. He did that to show everyone that Christ is great. That is why you believe in God. You trust him that he will do good things for you.

²² You have obeyed God's true message. As a result, you have become clean inside, and now you can really love other believers. So continue to love each other very well, with honest thoughts. ²³ You now have a new life! It is not like a human life that quickly comes to an end. It is a new life that will never spoil. You received it because you believed God's message. That message continues for ever and it does not change. ²⁴ The Bible says:

²⁵ But the Lord God's message will continue for ever.’

That message is the good news about Jesus Christ, which people have taught you.

Jonah goes to Nineveh

3 The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time. ² He said, ‘Now go to that great city, Nineveh. Tell the people there the message that I will give to you.’

³ Jonah obeyed the Lord and he went to Nineveh.

Nineveh was a very large city. Somebody would need three days to walk all through it.

⁴ When Jonah arrived in Nineveh, he walked for one day into the city. Then he shouted out to the people, ‘After 40 more days, God will destroy Nineveh.’^[a]

⁵ The people who lived in Nineveh believed God's message. They told everyone that they must not eat any food for several days. Everyone had to wear sackcloth to show that they were sorry. The most important people and the ordinary people all did that.

⁶ The king of Nineveh heard about God's message. He got up from his throne and he removed his royal clothes. He dressed himself in sackcloth and he sat in ashes on the ground.

⁷ Then the king sent this message to all the people in Nineveh. He said, ‘This command comes from the king and his officers. No person or any of your animals may eat any food or drink any water. ⁸ Everyone must wear sackcloth. You must cover all your animals with sackcloth too. Everyone must pray to God with all their strength. You must all stop doing bad and cruel things. ⁹ Then perhaps God may agree to forgive us. He may decide that he will not be angry with us. Then perhaps we will not all die.’

¹⁰ God saw what the people in Nineveh did. He saw that they stopped doing evil things. He had said that he would punish them for their sins. But now he decided that he would not destroy them.

The women that helped Jesus

8 After this, Jesus went to visit many towns and villages. He told people the good news about the kingdom of God. The 12 disciples were travelling with him. ² Some women also went with them. These women had been ill, but Jesus had made them well again. One of the women was Mary from Magdala. Jesus had sent seven bad spirits away from her. ³ Another of the women was Joanna, the wife of Chuza. Chuza had authority over all the people that worked in the house of King Herod. Another of the women was Susanna. There were also many others. These women were using their own money to help Jesus and his disciples.

A story about a farmer that planted seeds

⁴ Lots of people were coming to Jesus from many towns. A large crowd had already come together when Jesus told this story:

⁵ ‘A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. Then people walked on them. Birds came down and they ate those seeds. ⁶ Some seeds fell on ground which had rocks. The seeds started to grow. But the young plants died because the ground was not wet enough in that place. ⁷ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. ⁸ But some seeds fell on good soil. Strong plants grew from those seeds. Each of these plants made 100 seeds.’

When Jesus finished the story, he said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

Jesus explains why he tells stories

⁹ Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant. ¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’

Jesus explains the story about the seeds

¹¹ Jesus then said, ‘This is what the story means: The seeds are like the message from God. ¹² Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who hear the message, but they do not think about it. The Devil comes and he takes the message away from their minds. He takes it away so that they cannot believe it. Because they do not believe the message, God does not save them.

¹³ Some seeds fell on ground with rocks in it. This is like people who hear the message from God and they are very happy for a time. But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. They believe in God for a short time. But when they have problems, they stop believing.

¹⁴ Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear the message from God. But they start to have many troubles in their minds about how they will live. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow into strong plants.

¹⁵ But some seed fell on good soil. This is like other people that hear the message from God. They understand the message and they keep it in their minds. They are good and honest. They continue to believe. These people are like a good plant that grows well and makes lots of new seeds.’

¹⁶ Jesus then said, ‘People do not light a lamp and then cover it. They do not put the lamp under a pot or under a bed. Instead, they put it in a high place. Then other people that come into the room can see the light from the lamp.

¹⁷ God hides some things now. But there will be a time when people will see them. God keeps some things secret now. But there will be a time when people will understand those things clearly.

¹⁸ So you should think carefully about what you hear. The person who has received some things will receive more. But some other people have nothing. They think that they have a little bit. But they will lose even that.’^[a]

The mother and brothers of Jesus come to see him

¹⁹ Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came to see him. But they could not reach him because of the large crowd of people who were there. ²⁰ Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to see you.’

²¹ Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and brothers really are. My mother and my brothers are those people who hear God's message and do what he wants.’^[b]

Jesus stops a storm

²² One day, Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, ‘We should go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they started to cross the lake. ²³ While they sailed in the boat, Jesus began to sleep. Then a strong wind started to blow across the lake. Water began to fill the boat and they were in danger. ²⁴ So the disciples went to Jesus and they woke him. ‘Master, master, we will die here in the water!’ they said.

Then Jesus got up and he spoke strongly to the wind and to the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. The wind stopped immediately and the water became flat. ²⁵ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Why do you not believe in me?’

All this frightened the disciples and they were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘Who is this man? He even tells the wind and the water what to do. He speaks and they obey him!’

Jesus makes a man well

²⁶ Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ ²⁹ He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’

The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.

³⁰ Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.^{[c] 31} These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.^[d]

³² There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ ³³ So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.

³⁴ The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. ³⁵ So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. ³⁶ Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. ³⁷ Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. ³⁸ Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. ³⁹ You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’

So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’

Jesus makes a young girl well

⁴⁰ When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the crowd was very happy to see him. They were all waiting for him to come back. ⁴¹ Then a man called Jairus came to see him. He was a leader at the Jewish meeting place. He went down on his knees at the feet of Jesus and said, ‘Please come to my house. ⁴² I have one daughter. She is 12 years old and she is very ill. She will die very soon.’

So Jesus went along. A crowd of people went with him. They were pushing against him. ⁴³ There was a sick woman in the crowd who had lost blood for 12 years. She had paid all her money to doctors and now she had no money. But nobody could help her to become well again. ⁴⁴ She came in the crowd behind Jesus and she touched the edge of his coat. Immediately she stopped bleeding. ⁴⁵ Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’

Everyone round him said, ‘It was not me. I did not touch you.’ Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, there is a big crowd round you. Many people are pushing against you.’

⁴⁶ Jesus said, ‘Someone did touch me. I know that something powerful went out from me.’ ⁴⁷ The woman knew that she could not hide herself. So she was very afraid. She came to Jesus and she went down on the ground in front of him. She spoke so that all the people could hear her. She said, ‘I wanted to be well again, so I touched him. When I did that, I became well immediately.’ ⁴⁸ Jesus said to her, ‘Young woman, you are well again because you believed in me. Go now and have peace in your mind.’^[e]

⁴⁹ While Jesus was still speaking, someone arrived from Jairus' house. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he told Jairus. ‘Do not ask the teacher to come now.’

⁵⁰ Jesus heard what the man said. So he said to Jairus, ‘Do not be afraid. Just believe in me. Then she will become well again.’

⁵¹ When they arrived at the house, Jesus would not let everyone go in with him. He took only Peter, John and James. He also let the mother and father of the girl go into the house. ⁵² All the people there were crying loudly because they were very sad. ‘Do not weep,’ Jesus told them. ‘The child is not dead. She is only asleep.’

⁵³ But the people knew that she had died. So they laughed at him. ⁵⁴ But Jesus went and held the child's hand. He said to her, ‘My child, get up.’ ⁵⁵ Then she became alive again. Immediately she stood up. Jesus said to her parents, ‘Give her something to eat.’ ⁵⁶ They were very surprised. Jesus said to them very strongly, ‘You must not tell anyone about what has happened.’