M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

29 Now the Philistines gathered together all their hosts to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel. ² And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish. ³ Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who hath been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away unto me unto this day? ⁴ But the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for wherewith should this fellow reconcile himself unto his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men? ⁵ Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying,

⁶ Then Achish called David, and said unto him, As Jehovah liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favor thee not. ⁷ Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. ⁸ And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee unto this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ⁹ And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. ¹⁰ Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of thy lord that are come with thee; and as soon as ye are up early in the morning, and have light, depart. ¹¹ So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

30 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid upon the South, and upon Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, ² and had taken captive the women and all that were therein, both small and great: they slew not any, but carried them off, and went their way. ³ And when David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵ And David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God.

⁷ And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. ⁸ And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, ^[a]If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake them, and shalt without fail recover all. ⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they gave him water to drink; ¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. ¹³ And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made a raid upon the South of the Cherethites, and upon that which belongeth to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. ¹⁵ And David said to him, Wilt thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.

¹⁶ And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, ^[b]because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode upon camels and fled. ¹⁸ And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all. ²⁰ And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said, This is David’s spoil.

²¹ And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near ^[c]to the people, he ^[d]saluted them. ²² Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart. ²³ Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which Jehovah hath given unto us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. ²⁴ And who will hearken unto you in this matter? for as his share is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his share be that tarrieth by the baggage: they shall share alike. ²⁵ And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

²⁶ And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a ^[e]present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah: ²⁷ to them that were in Beth-el, and to them that were in Ramoth of the South, and to them that were in Jattir, ²⁸ and to them that were in Aroer, and to them that were in Siphmoth, and to them that were in Eshtemoa, ²⁹ and to them that were in Racal, and to them that were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to them that were in the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰ and to them that were in Hormah, and to them that were in Bor-ashan, and to them that were in Athach, ³¹ and to them that were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

10 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; ² and were all baptized ^[a]unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³ and did all eat the same spiritual food; ⁴ and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was ^[b]Christ. ⁵ Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. ⁶ Now ^[c]these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. ⁷ Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ^[d]The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. ⁸ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. ⁹ Neither let us make trial of the ^[e]Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. ¹⁰ Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened unto them ^[f]by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. ¹² Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ¹³ There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a ^[g]communion of the blood of Christ? The ^[h]bread which we break, is it not a ^[i]communion of the body of Christ? ^17 [j]seeing that we, who are many, are one ^[k]bread, one body: for we all partake ^[l]of the one ^[m]bread. ¹⁸ Behold Israel after the flesh: have not they that eat the sacrifices communion with the altar? ¹⁹ What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons. ²¹ Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

²³ All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things ^[n]edify. ²⁴ Let no man seek his own, but each ^[o]his neighbor’s good. ²⁵ Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake; ²⁶ for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. ²⁷ If one of them that believe not biddeth you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake. ²⁸ But if any man say unto you, This hath been offered in sacrifice, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience’ sake: ²⁹ conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other’s; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience? ^30 [p]If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? ³¹ Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God: ³³ even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me. ² Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, ^[a]as it were glowing metal. ³ And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. ⁴ And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the ^[b]appearance that I saw in the plain.

⁵ Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. ⁶ And he said unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, ^[c]that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But ^[d]thou shalt again see yet other great abominations.

⁷ And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. ⁹ And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. ¹⁰ So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. ¹¹ And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? for they say, Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land. ¹³ He said also unto me, Thou shalt again see yet other great abominations which they do.

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these.

¹⁶ And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah’s house; and behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore will I also deal in wrath; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

God the refuge of his people.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah; set to Alamoth. A Song.

God the King of the Earth.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.