M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
War with the Ammonites and Arameans
19 When Nahash king of the Ammonites died, his son became king after him. 2 David said, “Nahash was loyal to me, so I will be loyal to his son Hanun.” So David sent messengers to comfort Hanun about his father’s death.
David’s officers went to the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun. 3 But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you think David wants to honor your father by sending men to comfort you? No! David sent them to study the land and capture it and spy it out.” 4 So Hanun arrested David’s officers. To shame them he shaved their beards and cut off their clothes at the hips. Then he sent them away.
5 When the people told David what had happened to his officers, he sent messengers to meet them, because they were very ashamed. King David said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back. Then come home.”
6 The Ammonites knew that they had insulted David. So Hanun and the Ammonites sent about seventy-four thousand pounds of silver to hire chariots and chariot drivers from Northwest Mesopotamia, Aram Maacah, and Zobah. 7 The Ammonites hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah and his army. So they came and set up camp near the town of Medeba. The Ammonites themselves came out of their towns and got ready for battle.
8 When David heard about this, he sent Joab with the whole army. 9 The Ammonites came out and prepared for battle at the city gate. The kings who had come to help were out in the field by themselves.
10 Joab saw that there were enemies both in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of the best soldiers of Israel and sent them out to fight the Arameans. 11 Joab put the rest of the army under the command of Abishai, his brother. Then they went out to fight the Ammonites. 12 Joab said to Abishai, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you must help me. Or, if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you. 13 Be strong. We must fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he thinks is right.”
14 Then Joab and the army with him went to attack the Arameans, and the Arameans ran away. 15 When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, they also ran away from Joab’s brother Abishai and went back to their city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.
16 When the Arameans saw that Israel had defeated them, they sent messengers to bring other Arameans from east of the Euphrates River. Their leader was Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army.
17 When David heard about this, he gathered all the Israelites, and they crossed over the Jordan River. He prepared them for battle, facing the Arameans. The Arameans fought with him, 18 but they ran away from the Israelites. David killed seven thousand Aramean chariot drivers and forty thousand Aramean foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach, the commander of the Aramean army.
19 When those who served Hadadezer saw that the Israelites had defeated them, they made peace with David and served him. So the Arameans refused to help the Ammonites again.
Joab Destroys the Ammonites
20 In the spring, the time of year when kings normally went out to battle, Joab led out the army of Israel. But David stayed in Jerusalem. The army of Israel destroyed the land of Ammon and went to the city of Rabbah and attacked it. 2 David took the crown off the head of their king,[a] and had it placed on his own head. That gold crown weighed about seventy-five pounds, and it had valuable gems in it. And David took many valuable things from the city. 3 He also brought out the people of the city and forced them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. David did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.
Philistine Giants Are Killed
4 Later, at Gezer, war broke out with the Philistines. Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the Rephaites. So those Philistines were defeated.
5 Later, there was another battle with the Philistines. Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath, who was from the town of Gath. His spear was as large as a weaver’s rod.
6 At Gath another battle took place. A huge man was there; he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four fingers and toes in all. This man also was one of the sons of Rapha. 7 When he spoke against Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
8 These descendants of Rapha from Gath were killed by David and his men.
1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God’s chosen people who are away from their homes and are scattered all around Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God planned long ago to choose you by making you his holy people, which is the Spirit’s work. God wanted you to obey him and to be made clean by the blood of the death of Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace be yours more and more.
We Have a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s great mercy he has caused us to be born again into a living hope, because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. 4 Now we hope for the blessings God has for his children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you. 5 God’s power protects you through your faith until salvation is shown to you at the end of time. 6 This makes you very happy, even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. 7 These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire but will ruin. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is shown to you. 8 You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You cannot see him now, but you believe in him. So you are filled with a joy that cannot be explained, a joy full of glory. 9 And you are receiving the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
10 The prophets searched carefully and tried to learn about this salvation. They prophesied about the grace that was coming to you. 11 The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, telling in advance about the sufferings of Christ and about the glory that would follow those sufferings. The prophets tried to learn about what the Spirit was showing them, when those things would happen, and what the world would be like at that time. 12 It was shown them that their service was not for themselves but for you, when they told about the truths you have now heard. Those who preached the Good News to you told you those things with the help of the Holy Spirit who was sent from heaven—things into which angels desire to look.
A Call to Holy Living
13 So prepare your minds for service and have self-control. All your hope should be for the gift of grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ is shown to you. 14 Now that you are obedient children of God do not live as you did in the past. You did not understand, so you did the evil things you wanted. 15 But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy. 16 It is written in the Scriptures: “You must be holy, because I am holy.”[a]
17 You pray to God and call him Father, and he judges each person’s work equally. So while you are here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way, a way passed down from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for your sake. 21 Through Christ you believe in God, who raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are in God.
22 Now that your obedience to the truth has purified your souls, you can have true love for your Christian brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply with all your heart.[b] 23 You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever. 24 The Scripture says,
“All people are like the grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass dies and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord will live forever.” Isaiah 40:6–8
And this is the word that was preached to you.
God Calls and Jonah Obeys
3 The Lord spoke his word to Jonah again and said, 2 “Get up, go to the great city Nineveh, and preach to it what I tell you to say.”
3 So Jonah obeyed the Lord and got up and went to Nineveh. It was a very large city; just to walk across it took a person three days. 4 After Jonah had entered the city and walked for one day, he preached to the people, saying, “After forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 The people of Nineveh believed God. They announced that they would fast for a while, and they put on rough cloth to show their sadness. All the people in the city did this, from the most important to the least important.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard this news, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, and covered himself with rough cloth and sat in ashes to show how upset he was.
7 He sent this announcement through Nineveh:
By command of the king and his important men: No person or animal, herd or flock, will be allowed to taste anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water. 8 But every person and animal should be covered with rough cloth, and people should cry loudly to God. Everyone must turn away from evil living and stop doing harm all the time. 9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind. Maybe he will stop being angry, and then we will not die.
10 When God saw what the people did, that they stopped doing evil, he changed his mind and did not do what he had warned. He did not punish them.
The Group with Jesus
8 After this, while Jesus was traveling through some cities and small towns, he preached and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. The twelve apostles were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of sicknesses and evil spirits: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; 3 Joanna, the wife of Cuza (the manager of Herod’s house); Susanna; and many others. These women used their own money to help Jesus and his apostles.
A Story About Planting Seed
4 When a great crowd was gathered, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he told them this story:
5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. While he was planting, some seed fell by the road. People walked on the seed, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some seed fell on rock, and when it began to grow, it died because it had no water. 7 Some seed fell among thorny weeds, but the weeds grew up with it and choked the good plants. 8 And some seed fell on good ground and grew and made a hundred times more.”
As Jesus finished the story, he called out, “Let those with ears use them and listen!”
9 Jesus’ followers asked him what this story meant.
10 Jesus said, “You have been chosen to know the secrets about the kingdom of God. But I use stories to speak to other people so that:
‘They will look, but they may not see.
They will listen, but they may not understand.’ Isaiah 6:9
11 “This is what the story means: The seed is God’s message. 12 The seed that fell beside the road is like the people who hear God’s teaching, but the devil comes and takes it away from them so they cannot believe it and be saved. 13 The seed that fell on rock is like those who hear God’s teaching and accept it gladly, but they don’t allow the teaching to go deep into their lives. They believe for a while, but when trouble comes, they give up. 14 The seed that fell among the thorny weeds is like those who hear God’s teaching, but they let the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life keep them from growing and producing good fruit. 15 And the seed that fell on the good ground is like those who hear God’s teaching with good, honest hearts and obey it and patiently produce good fruit.
Use What You Have
16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. Instead, the person puts it on a lampstand so those who come in will see the light. 17 Everything that is hidden will become clear, and every secret thing will be made known. 18 So be careful how you listen. Those who have understanding will be given more. But those who do not have understanding, even what they think they have will be taken away from them.”
Jesus’ True Family
19 Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but there was such a crowd they could not get to him. 20 Someone said to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”
21 Jesus answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God’s teaching and obey it!”
Jesus Calms a Storm
22 One day Jesus and his followers got into a boat, and he said to them, “Let’s go across the lake.” And so they started across. 23 While they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. A very strong wind blew up on the lake, causing the boat to fill with water, and they were in danger.
24 The followers went to Jesus and woke him, saying, “Master! Master! We will drown!”
Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves. They stopped, and it became calm. 25 Jesus said to his followers, “Where is your faith?”
The followers were afraid and amazed and said to each other, “Who is this that commands even the wind and the water, and they obey him?”
A Man with Demons Inside Him
26 Jesus and his followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area of the Gerasene[a] people. 27 When Jesus got out on the land, a man from the town who had demons inside him came to Jesus. For a long time he had worn no clothes and had lived in the burial caves, not in a house. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. He said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 He said this because Jesus was commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken hold of him. Though he had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot, he had broken his chains and had been forced by the demon out into a lonely place.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Legion,”[b] because many demons were in him. 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.[c] 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd ran down the hill into the lake and was drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and told about this in the town and the countryside. 35 And people went to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. 36 The people who saw this happen told the others how Jesus had made the man well. 37 All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to leave, because they were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back to Galilee.
38 The man whom Jesus had healed begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.
Jesus Gives Life to a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
40 When Jesus got back to Galilee, a crowd welcomed him, because everyone was waiting for him. 41 A man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, came to Jesus and fell at his feet, begging him to come to his house. 42 Jairus’ only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying.
While Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ house, the people were crowding all around him. 43 A woman was in the crowd who had been bleeding for twelve years,[d] but no one was able to heal her. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and instantly her bleeding stopped. 45 Then Jesus said, “Who touched me?”
When all the people said they had not touched him, Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out from me.” 47 When the woman saw she could not hide, she came forward, shaking, and fell down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace.”
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue leader and said to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
50 When Jesus heard this, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well.”
51 When Jesus went to the house, he let only Peter, John, James, and the girl’s father and mother go inside with him. 52 All the people were crying and feeling sad because the girl was dead, but Jesus said, “Stop crying. She is not dead, only asleep.”
53 The people laughed at Jesus because they knew the girl was dead. 54 But Jesus took hold of her hand and called to her, “My child, stand up!” 55 Her spirit came back into her, and she stood up at once. Then Jesus ordered that she be given something to eat. 56 The girl’s parents were amazed, but Jesus told them not to tell anyone what had happened.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.