M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

17 Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: ² and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only; ³ and I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. ⁴ And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. ⁶ And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not, speak thou. ⁷ And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given this time is not good. ⁸ Hushai said moreover, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are ^[a]chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field; and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹ Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, ^[b]when some of them are fallen at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. ¹⁰ And even he that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men. ¹¹ But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and ^[c]that thou go to battle in thine own person. ¹² So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground; and of him and of all the men that are with him we will not leave so much as one. ¹³ Moreover, if he ^[d]be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. ¹⁴ And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom.

¹⁵ Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night ^[e]at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. ^17 [f]Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸ But a lad saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither. ¹⁹ And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and strewed bruised grain thereon; and nothing was known. ²⁰ And Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They are gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said unto David, Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water; for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you. ²² Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan. ²³ And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

²⁴ Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵ And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was ^[g]Ithra the Israelite, that went in to ^[h]Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ²⁶ And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

²⁷ And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ²⁸ brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched grain, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, ²⁹ and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

10 Now I Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am of good courage toward you: ² yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh ⁴ (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds); ⁵ casting down ^[a]imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; ⁶ and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full. ^7 [b]Ye look at the things that are before your face. If any man trusteth in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ’s, so also are we. ⁸ For though I should glory somewhat abundantly concerning our authority (which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down), I shall not be put to shame: ⁹ that I may not seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. ¹⁰ For, His letters, they say, are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account. ¹¹ Let such a one reckon this, that, what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present. ¹² For we are not bold ^[c]to number or compare ourselves with certain of them that commend themselves: but they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. ¹³ But we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the ^[d]province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even unto you. ¹⁴ For we stretch not ourselves overmuch, as though we reached not unto you: for we ^[e]came even as far as unto you in the ^[f]gospel of Christ: ¹⁵ not glorying beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors; but having hope that, as your faith groweth, we shall be magnified in you according to our ^[g]province unto further abundance, ¹⁶ so as to ^[h]preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond you, and not to glory in another’s ^[i]province in regard of things ready to our hand. ^17 [j]But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. ¹⁸ For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

24 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day: the king of Babylon ^[a]drew close unto Jerusalem this selfsame day. ³ And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: ⁴ gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. ⁵ Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under ^[b]the caldron; make it boil well; yea, let the bones thereof be boiled in the midst of it.

⁶ Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose ^[c]rust is therein, and whose ^[d]rust is not gone out of it! take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen upon it. ⁷ For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the bare rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust. ⁸ That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered. ⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰ Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned. ¹¹ Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the rust of it may be consumed. ¹² She hath wearied ^[e]herself with toil; yet her great rust goeth not forth out of her; her rust ^[f]goeth not forth by fire. ^13 [g]In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed thee and thou wast not cleansed, thou shalt not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest. ¹⁴ I, Jehovah, have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁵ Also the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹⁶ Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet thou shalt neither mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh, ^[h]but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind thy headtire upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. ¹⁸ So I spake unto the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

¹⁹ And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so? ²⁰ Then I said unto them, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²¹ Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and ^[i]that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword. ²² And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. ²³ And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. ²⁴ Thus shall Ezekiel be unto you a sign; according to all that he hath done shall ye do: when this cometh, then shall ye know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

²⁵ And thou, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their ^[j]strength, the joy of their ^[k]glory, the desire of their eyes, and ^[l]that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, ²⁶ that in that day he that escapeth shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? ²⁷ In that day shall thy mouth be opened ^[m]to him that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: so shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

The reign of the righteous king.

A Psalm of Solomon.