M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Bringing Back the Ark
13 David talked with all the officers of his army, the commanders of a hundred men and the commanders of a thousand men. 2 Then David called the people of Israel together and said, “If you think it is a good idea, and if it is what the Lord our God wants, let’s send a message. Let’s tell our fellow Israelites in all the areas of Israel and the priests and Levites living with them in their towns and pastures to come and join us. 3 Let’s bring the Ark of our God back to us. We did not use it to ask God for help while Saul was king.” 4 All the people agreed with David, because they all thought it was the right thing to do.
5 So David gathered all the Israelites, from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the Ark of God back from the town of Kiriath Jearim. 6 David and all the Israelites with him went to Baalah of Judah, which is Kiriath Jearim, to get the Ark of God the Lord. God’s throne is between the golden, winged creatures on the Ark, and the Ark is called by his name.
7 The people carried the Ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, and Uzzah and Ahio guided it. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating in the presence of God. With all their strength they were singing and playing lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
9 When David’s men came to the threshing floor of Kidon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark. 10 The Lord was angry with Uzzah and killed him, because he had touched the Ark. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God.
11 David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah in his anger. Now that place is called The Punishment of Uzzah.
12 David was afraid of God that day and asked, “How can I bring the Ark of God home to me?” 13 So David did not take the Ark with him to Jerusalem. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom who was from Gath. 14 The Ark of God stayed with Obed-Edom’s family in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything he owned.
David’s Kingdom Grows
14 Hiram king of the city of Tyre sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar logs, bricklayers, and carpenters to build a palace for David. 2 Then David knew that the Lord really had made him king of Israel and that he had made his kingdom great. The Lord did this because he loved his people Israel.
3 David married more women in Jerusalem and had more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of David’s children born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines
8 When the Philistines heard that David had been made king of all Israel, they went to look for him. But David heard about it and went out to fight them. 9 The Philistines had attacked and robbed the people in the Valley of Rephaim. 10 David asked God, “Should I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, I will hand them over to you.”
11 So David and his men went up to the town of Baal Perazim and defeated the Philistines. David said, “Like a flood of water, God has broken through my enemies by using me.” So that place was named Baal Perazim.[a] 12 The Philistines had left their idols there, so David ordered his men to burn them.
13 Soon the Philistines attacked the people in the valley again. 14 David prayed to God again, and God answered him, saying, “Don’t attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. 15 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then attack. I, God, will have gone out before you to defeat the Philistine army.” 16 David did as God commanded, and he and his men defeated the Philistine army all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 So David became famous in all the countries, and the Lord made all nations afraid of him.
1 From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To all of God’s people who are scattered everywhere in the world:
Greetings.
Faith and Wisdom
2 My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, 3 because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. 4 Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need. 5 But if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. He is generous to everyone and will give you wisdom without criticizing you. 6 But when you ask God, you must believe and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown up and down by the wind. 7-8 Such doubters are thinking two different things at the same time, and they cannot decide about anything they do. They should not think they will receive anything from the Lord.
True Riches
9 Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. 10 Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor. The rich will die like a wild flower in the grass. 11 The sun rises with burning heat and dries up the plants. The flower falls off, and its beauty is gone. In the same way the rich will die while they are still taking care of business.
Temptation Is Not from God
12 When people are tempted and still continue strong, they should be happy. After they have proved their faith, God will reward them with life forever. God promised this to all those who love him. 13 When people are tempted, they should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But people are tempted when their own evil desire leads them away and traps them. 15 This desire leads to sin, and then the sin grows and brings death.
16 My dear brothers and sisters, do not be fooled about this. 17 Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows. 18 God decided to give us life through the word of truth so we might be the most important of all the things he made.
Listening and Obeying
19 My dear brothers and sisters, always be willing to listen and slow to speak. Do not become angry easily, 20 because anger will not help you live the right kind of life God wants. 21 So put out of your life every evil thing and every kind of wrong. Then in gentleness accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts, which can save you.
22 Do what God’s teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves. 23 Those who hear God’s teaching and do nothing are like people who look at themselves in a mirror. 24 They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they looked like. 25 But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God’s perfect law that makes people free, and they continue to study it. They do not forget what they heard, but they obey what God’s teaching says. Those who do this will be made happy.
The True Way to Worship God
26 People who think they are religious but say things they should not say are just fooling themselves. Their “religion” is worth nothing. 27 Religion that God accepts as pure and without fault is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence.
The Vision of Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “An end[a] has come for my people Israel, because I will not overlook their sins anymore.
3 “On that day the palace songs will become funeral songs,” says the Lord God. “There will be dead bodies thrown everywhere! Silence!”
4 Listen to me, you who walk on helpless people,
you who are trying to destroy the poor people of this country, saying,
5 “When will the New Moon festival be over
so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so we can bring out wheat to sell?
We can charge them more
and give them less,
and we can change the scales to cheat the people.
6 We will buy poor people for silver,
and needy people for the price of a pair of sandals.
We will even sell the wheat that was swept up from the floor.”
7 The Lord has sworn by his name, the Pride of Jacob, “I will never forget everything that these people did.
8 The whole land will shake because of it,
and everyone who lives in the land will cry for those who died.
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be shaken, and then it will fall
like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God says:
“At that time I will cause the sun to go down at noon
and make the earth dark on a bright day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead,
and all your songs will become songs of sadness.
I will make all of you wear rough cloth to show your sadness;
I will make you shave your heads as well.
I will make it like a time of crying for the death of an only son,
and its end like the end of an awful day.”
11 The Lord God says: “The days are coming
when I will cause a time of hunger in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread or thirsty for water,
but they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 They will wander from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea,
from the north to the east.
They will search for the word of the Lord,
but they won’t find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young women and the young men
will become weak from thirst.
14 They make promises by the idol in Samaria
and say, ‘As surely as the god of Dan lives . . . ’
and, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[b] lives, we promise . . . ’
So they will fall
and never get up again.”
The Preaching of John
3 It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar. These men were under Caesar: Pontius Pilate, the ruler of Judea; Herod, the ruler of Galilee; Philip, Herod’s brother, the ruler of Iturea and Traconitis; and Lysanias, the ruler of Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went all over the area around the Jordan River preaching a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet:
“This is a voice of one
who calls out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make the road straight for him.
5 Every valley should be filled in,
and every mountain and hill should be made flat.
Roads with turns should be made straight,
and rough roads should be made smooth.
6 And all people will know about the salvation of God!’” Isaiah 40:3–5
7 To the crowds of people who came to be baptized by John, he said, “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s coming punishment? 8 Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives. Don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. 9 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”[a]
10 The people asked John, “Then what should we do?”
11 John answered, “If you have two shirts, share with the person who does not have one. If you have food, share that also.”
12 Even tax collectors came to John to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 John said to them, “Don’t take more taxes from people than you have been ordered to take.”
14 The soldiers asked John, “What about us? What should we do?”
John said to them, “Don’t force people to give you money, and don’t lie about them. Be satisfied with the pay you get.”
15 Since the people were hoping for the Christ to come, they wondered if John might be the one.
16 John answered everyone, “I baptize you with water, but there is one coming who is greater than I am. I am not good enough to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 He will come ready to clean the grain, separating the good grain from the chaff. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn, but he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.”[b] 18 And John continued to preach the Good News, saying many other things to encourage the people.
19 But John spoke against Herod, the governor, because of his sin with Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother, and because of the many other evil things Herod did. 20 So Herod did something even worse: He put John in prison.
Jesus Is Baptized by John
21 When all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus also was baptized. While Jesus was praying, heaven opened 22 and the Holy Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with you.”
The Family History of Jesus
23 When Jesus began his ministry, he was about thirty years old. People thought that Jesus was Joseph’s son.
Joseph was the son[c] of Heli.
24 Heli was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
Levi was the son of Melki.
Melki was the son of Jannai.
Jannai was the son of Joseph.
25 Joseph was the son of Mattathias.
Mattathias was the son of Amos.
Amos was the son of Nahum.
Nahum was the son of Esli.
Esli was the son of Naggai.
26 Naggai was the son of Maath.
Maath was the son of Mattathias.
Mattathias was the son of Semein.
Semein was the son of Josech.
Josech was the son of Joda.
27 Joda was the son of Joanan.
Joanan was the son of Rhesa.
Rhesa was the son of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the grandson of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the son of Neri.
28 Neri was the son of Melki.
Melki was the son of Addi.
Addi was the son of Cosam.
Cosam was the son of Elmadam.
Elmadam was the son of Er.
29 Er was the son of Joshua.
Joshua was the son of Eliezer.
Eliezer was the son of Jorim.
Jorim was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
30 Levi was the son of Simeon.
Simeon was the son of Judah.
Judah was the son of Joseph.
Joseph was the son of Jonam.
Jonam was the son of Eliakim.
31 Eliakim was the son of Melea.
Melea was the son of Menna.
Menna was the son of Mattatha.
Mattatha was the son of Nathan.
Nathan was the son of David.
32 David was the son of Jesse.
Jesse was the son of Obed.
Obed was the son of Boaz.
Boaz was the son of Salmon.[d]
Salmon was the son of Nahshon.
33 Nahshon was the son of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the son of Admin.
Admin was the son of Arni.
Arni was the son of Hezron.
Hezron was the son of Perez.
Perez was the son of Judah.
34 Judah was the son of Jacob.
Jacob was the son of Isaac.
Isaac was the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the son of Terah.
Terah was the son of Nahor.
35 Nahor was the son of Serug.
Serug was the son of Reu.
Reu was the son of Peleg.
Peleg was the son of Eber.
Eber was the son of Shelah.
36 Shelah was the son of Cainan.
Cainan was the son of Arphaxad.
Arphaxad was the son of Shem.
Shem was the son of Noah.
Noah was the son of Lamech.
37 Lamech was the son of Methuselah.
Methuselah was the son of Enoch.
Enoch was the son of Jared.
Jared was the son of Mahalalel.
Mahalalel was the son of Kenan.
38 Kenan was the son of Enosh.
Enosh was the son of Seth.
Seth was the son of Adam.
Adam was the son of God.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.