M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Sexual Immorality

19 In those days when Israel didn’t have a king, there was a Levite who lived in a remote area in the mountains of Ephraim. He took a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine.^{[a] 2} But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went to her father’s home, to Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months, ³ her husband went to persuade her to come back home. He took along his servant and two donkeys.

She took her husband into her father’s house. Her father was thrilled to see him. ⁴ He made the Levite stay there with him, celebrating for three days.

⁵ On the fourth day they got up early in the morning to leave, but the woman’s father told his son-in-law, “Eat something to keep up your strength and then you can go.” ⁶ So they both sat down and ate and drank together. The woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Why don’t you spend the night and enjoy yourself?” ⁷ When the Levite started to leave, his father-in-law urged him to stay another night, so he did.

⁸ On the morning of the fifth day, the Levite got up early to leave. The woman’s father said, “Eat something to keep up your strength!” So they spent the time eating until late afternoon. ⁹ The Levite started to leave with his concubine and his servant. But his father-in-law said to him, “It’s already evening. Please stay another night. It’s too late to leave now. Stay here, and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can start out early to go home.” ¹⁰ But the Levite refused to spend another night.

He left and traveled as far as Jebus (now called Jerusalem). He had with him two saddled donkeys and his concubine. ¹¹ By the time they were near Jebus, it was very late in the day. The Levite’s servant said to him, “Let’s go spend the night in Jebus.”

¹² The Levite told him, “We’ll never go into a city of foreigners. They’re not Israelites. We’ll go on to Gibeah.” ¹³ He told his servant, “Let’s go someplace else. We’ll spend the night either at Gibeah or Ramah.”

¹⁴ So they went on. It was sunset by the time they arrived at Gibeah. (Gibeah belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.) ¹⁵ They went to spend the night there. The Levite entered Gibeah and sat down in the city square, because no one offered to take them home for the night.

¹⁶ That evening an old man came into the city from his work in the fields. He was from the mountain region of Ephraim but lived in Gibeah. The other people who lived there were from the tribe of Benjamin. ¹⁷ He saw the traveler in the city square. So the old man asked, “Where do you come from? And where are you going?”

¹⁸ The Levite replied, “We’re on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the mountains of Ephraim. That’s where I’m from. I had gone to Bethlehem in Judah. Now I’m going to Yahweh’s house, but no one has offered to take me into his home. ¹⁹ We have straw and fodder for our donkeys. I even have bread and wine for myself, the woman, and my servant. We have everything we need.”

²⁰ Then the old man said, “Welcome! Let me take care of your needs. Just don’t spend the night in the city square.” ²¹ So he took the Levite to his house and fed the donkeys. After they washed, they ate and drank.

²² While they were enjoying themselves, some worthless men from the city surrounded the house and pounded on the door. They told the old man, the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so that we can have sex with him.”

²³ The owner went out to them. He told them, “No, my friends! Please don’t do anything so evil! This man is a guest in my home. Don’t do such a godless thing! ²⁴ Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. Rape them, and do with them whatever you want. Just don’t do such a godless thing to this man.”

²⁵ But the men refused to listen to him. So the Levite grabbed his concubine and forced her outside. They had sex with her and abused her all night until morning. They let her go when the sun was coming up. ²⁶ At daybreak, the woman came to the door of the house where her husband was and collapsed. She was still there when it became light.

²⁷ Her husband got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and was about to leave. His wife (that is, his concubine) was lying at the door of the house with her hands on the doorstep. ²⁸ The Levite said to her, “Get up! Let’s go!” But she did not answer. So he put her on the donkey and left for home.

²⁹ When he arrived home, he got a knife. He took his concubine and cut her limb from limb into 12 pieces. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territories of Israel.

³⁰ Everyone who saw it said, “Never has such a thing happened or been seen from the time the people of Israel came out of Egypt until today. Think about it! Form a plan, and speak out!”

23 Paul stared at the Jewish council and said, “Brothers, my relationship with God has always given me a perfectly clear conscience.”

² The chief priest Ananias ordered the men standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you hypocrite! You sit there and judge me by Moses’ Teachings and yet you break those teachings by ordering these men to strike me!”

⁴ The men standing near Paul said to him, “You’re insulting God’s chief priest!”

⁵ Paul answered, “Brothers, I didn’t know that he is the chief priest. After all, Scripture says, ‘Don’t speak evil about a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the council, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I’m on trial because I expect that the dead will come back to life.”

⁷ After Paul said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees began to quarrel, and the men in the meeting were divided. ⁸ (The Sadducees say that the dead won’t come back to life and that angels and spirits don’t exist. The Pharisees believe in all these things.) ⁹ The shouting became very loud. Some of the experts in Moses’ Teachings were Pharisees who argued their position forcefully. They said, “We don’t find anything wrong with this man. Maybe a spirit or an angel actually spoke to him!”

¹⁰ The quarrel was becoming violent, and the officer was afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces. So the officer ordered his soldiers to drag Paul back to the barracks.

¹¹ The Lord stood near Paul the next night and said to him, “Don’t lose your courage! You’ve told the truth about me in Jerusalem. Now you must tell the truth about me in Rome.”

Some Jews Plot to Kill Paul

¹² In the morning the Jews formed a conspiracy. They asked God to curse them if they ate or drank anything before they had killed Paul. ¹³ More than forty men took part in this plot.

¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and leaders of the people and said, “We’ve asked God to curse us if we taste any food before we’ve killed Paul. ¹⁵ Here’s our plan: You and the council must go to the Roman officer on the pretext that you need more information from Paul. You have to make it look as though you want to get more accurate information about him. We’ll be ready to kill him before he gets to you.”

¹⁶ But Paul’s nephew heard about the ambush. He entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the sergeants and told him, “Take this young man to the officer. He has something to tell him.”

¹⁸ The sergeant took the young man to the officer and said, “The prisoner Paul called me. He asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹ The officer took the young man by the arm, went where they could be alone, and asked him, “What do you have to tell me?”

²⁰ The young man answered, “The Jews have planned to ask you to bring Paul to the Jewish council tomorrow. They’re going to make it look as though they want more accurate information about him. ²¹ Don’t let them persuade you to do this. More than forty of them are planning to ambush him. They have asked God to curse them if they eat or drink anything before they have murdered him. They are ready now and are expecting you to promise that you will bring Paul.”

²² The officer dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell this information to anyone else.

²³ Then the officer summoned two of his sergeants and told them, “I want 200 infantrymen, 70 soldiers on horseback, and 200 soldiers with spears. Have them ready to go to Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴ Provide an animal for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix.” ²⁵ The officer wrote a letter to the governor with the following message:

³¹ So the infantrymen did as they had been ordered. They took Paul to the city of Antipatris during the night. ³² They returned to their barracks the next day and let the soldiers on horseback travel with Paul. ³³ When the soldiers arrived in the city of Caesarea with Paul, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.

³⁴ After the governor had read the letter, he asked Paul which province he was from. When he found out that Paul was from the province of Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I’ll hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then the governor gave orders to keep Paul under guard in Herod’s palace.

The Lord Will Restore and Heal Judah

33 While Jeremiah was still being held in the courtyard of the prison, Yahweh spoke his word to him a second time. Yahweh said, ² “I made the earth, formed it, and set it in place. My name is Yahweh. This is what Yahweh says: ³ Call to me, and I will answer you. I will tell you great and mysterious things that you do not know. ⁴ The houses in this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah have been torn down to be used against the dirt ramps and weapons of the Babylonians. This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says about this: ⁵ The people of Israel fought the Babylonians. Now their houses are filled with the bodies of their own people I killed in my anger and my fury. I will hide my face from this city because of its wickedness.

⁶ “But I will heal this city and restore it to health. I will heal its people, and I will give them peace and security. ⁷ I will restore Judah and Israel and rebuild them as they were before. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all the sins that they have committed against me. I will forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against me and for rebelling against me. ⁹ Then Jerusalem will be my source of joy, praise, and honor. All the nations on earth will hear about all the blessings that I will give to Jerusalem. They will be afraid and tremble because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.

¹⁰ “This is what Yahweh says: You have said that this place is ruined and that no people or animals live in it. It’s true! The cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are deserted. No people or animals live there. But once again you will hear ¹¹ the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms. You will hear those who bring thank offerings to Yahweh’s temple say,

I will restore the fortunes of the land to what they were before,” says Yahweh.

¹² “This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: In this deserted place, where no people or animals live, and in all its cities, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can rest their flocks. ¹³ In the cities on the mountains, in the foothills, in the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the area around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep,” says Yahweh.

¹⁴ “The days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will keep the promise that I made to Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous Tsemach to spring up for David. He will do what is fair and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live securely. Jerusalem will be called Yahweh Tsidqenu.

¹⁷ “This what Yahweh says: David will never fail to have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel. ¹⁸ The Levitical priests will never fail to have a descendant in my presence to sacrifice burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to prepare daily sacrifices.”

¹⁹ Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁰ “This is what Yahweh says: Suppose you could break my arrangement^[a] with day and night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time. ²¹ Then my arrangement with my servant David could be broken, and he would not have a descendant to rule on his throne. The arrangement with my servants the Levitical priests could also be broken. ²² I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who serve me like the stars of heaven that cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore that cannot be measured.”

²³ Then Yahweh spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have said? They have said that Yahweh has rejected the two families he has chosen. They despise my people, and they no longer consider them a nation.

²⁵ “This is what Yahweh says: Suppose I hadn’t made an arrangement with day and night or made laws for heaven and earth. ²⁶ Then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. I would not let any of David’s descendants rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, I will restore their fortunes and love them.”

Psalm 3

A psalm by David when he fled from his son Absalom.

Psalm 4

For the choir director; with stringed instruments; a psalm by David.