M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Spares Agag of Amalek
15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Adonai sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, listen to the voice of the words of Adonai! 2 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3 Now go and strike down Amalek and put all he has under the ban of destruction—so have no pity on him; but kill both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
4 So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them in Telaim: 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. 5 Saul advanced to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, or else I may destroy you with them—for you showed kindness to all Bnei-Yisrael when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.
7 Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, which is close to Egypt. 8 He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag as well as the best of the sheep, the cattle, even the fatlings and the lambs, and all that was good, since they were not willing to utterly destroy them; everything that was worthless and feeble, they destroyed completely.
10 Then the word of Adonai came to Samuel saying: 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” So Samuel was troubled and cried out to Adonai all night long. 12 Then Samuel rose early in the morning to confront Saul. But it was reported to Samuel saying, “Saul went to Carmel—for some reason, he erected a monument for himself. Then he turned and went down to Gilgal.”
13 Now when Samuel reached Saul, Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of Adonai! I have carried out Adonai’s command.”
14 But Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”
15 “They brought them from the Amalekites,” Saul replied, “for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Adonai your God—but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16 “Stop!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what Adonai said to me last night.”
“Say on,” he said.
17 Then Samuel said, “Isn’t it true, though you were insignificant in your own eyes, that you were made head of the tribes of Israel? Adonai anointed you king over Israel! 18 Then Adonai sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and utterly destroy the Amalekites, the sinners, and wage war against them until you annihilate them.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of Adonai, but rushed greedily onto the spoil—doing what was evil in Adonai’s eyes?”
20 “But I did obey the voice of Adonai,” Saul said to Samuel. “I went on the mission on which Adonai sent me, and brought back Agag the king of Amalek—and utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen—the best of what was under the ban of destruction—to sacrifice to Adonai your God in Gilgal.”
22 Samuel said:
“Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices
as in obeying the voice of Adonai?[a]
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
to pay heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination
and stubbornness is like iniquity
and idolatry.
Since you have rejected Adonai’s word,
He has also rejected you as king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned! For I have transgressed against the word of Adonai and your words—because I feared the people and listened to their voice. [b] 25 So now, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship Adonai.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Adonai, and Adonai has rejected you as king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned about to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 Then Samuel said to him, “Adonai has torn the kingship over Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 29 Moreover, the Eternal Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind.[c] For He is not human that He should change His mind.”
30 Then Saul said, “I have sinned! But please, honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me until I bow in worship to Adonai your God.” 31 So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul bowed in worship to Adonai.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag the king of Amalek.” Agag approached him in chains, thinking, “Surely bitter death has turned back.” 33 Then Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.” Then Samuel cut Agag into pieces before Adonai in Gilgal.
34 Samuel then went to Ramah, while Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Samuel never did see Saul again until the day of his death. Yet Samuel mourned over Saul, while Adonai regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
Respecting Authority
13 Let every person submit himself to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are put in place by God. [a] 2 So whoever opposes the authority has resisted God’s direction, and those who have resisted will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For leaders cause no fear for good behavior, but for bad. Now if you do not want to fear the authority, do what is good and you will get his approval— 4 for he is God’s servant to you for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid—for he does not carry the sword for no reason; for he is God’s servant, an avenger who inflicts punishment on the evildoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in submission—not only because of punishment but also because of conscience. 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, attending diligently to this very thing. 7 Pay to everyone what is due them—tribute to whom tribute is due; tax to whom tax is due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due.
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the Torah. 9 For the commandments—“You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,”[b] and any other commandment—are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [c] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fullness of the Torah.
11 Besides this, you know the time—that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first came to trust. 12 The night is almost gone and the day is near, so let us put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the day—not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and envy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Messiah Yeshua, and stop making provision for the flesh—for its cravings.
Babylon Destroys Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, just like all Jehoiakim had done. 3 Because of Adonai’s anger it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He had them cast out of His presence.
So Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came—he and all his army—against Jerusalem, and besieged it. They built a siege wall all around it. 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled, going out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was near the king’s garden—even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They were heading along the way of the Arabah.
8 But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the desert plains of Jericho. Then all his army was scattered from him. 9 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. He passed judgment on him.
10 At Riblah, the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and also all the Judean leaders. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes. Then the king of Babylon bound him in bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon, where he put him in prison until the day of his death.
12 Now in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard came into Jerusalem to represent the king of Babylon. 13 Then he burned the House of Adonai, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every large house with fire. 14 Then all the Chaldean army, which was with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and what remained of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
17 The Chaldeans smashed the bronze pillars of the House of Adonai, the stands and the bronze sea that were in the House of Adonai, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 The pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the basins, the pans, and all the bronze articles for Temple service, they also took away. 19 The cups, the fire-pans, the basins, the pots, the menorot, the pans, and the drink offering bowls—whatever was gold or silver—the captain of the guard took away.
20 As for the two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands that King Solomon had made for the House of Adonai—all these articles had bronze beyond weighing. 21 The height of one pillar was 18 cubits and it was twelve cubits in circumference and four fingers in its thickness—it was hollow. 22 There was a bronze capital on it—the height of one capital was five cubits, with latticework and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. 23 There were 96 pomegranates on the outside; including all the pomegranates around the lattice, there were 100.
24 Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the kohen gadol, and Zephaniah the second kohen, and the three doorkeepers. 25 From the city he took an officer who had been appointed over the men of war as well as seven men who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city, the scribe of the commander of the army, who enlisted people of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were found within the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
27 The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Then Judah was led away into exile from its land.
28 These are the people whom Nebucha-dnez-zar carried away captive: in the seventh year 3,023 Jews; 29 in Nebuchadnez-zar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in the Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard exiled 745 of the Jews—all together 4,600 people.
Release of King Jehoiachin
31 Now it came to pass on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, that King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, and released him out of prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Then he changed out of his prison garments, dined regularly before him all the days of his life. 34 As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
Refuge, Sukkah, Shelter
Psalm 31
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 In You, Adonai, have I taken refuge:
Let me never be put to shame.
In Your righteousness, deliver me.
3 Turn Your ear to me, rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a stronghold for my deliverance.
4 Since You are my rock and my fortress,
You lead me and guide me for Your Name’s sake.
5 Free me from the net they hid for me,
for You are my refuge.
6 Into Your hand I commit my spirit.[a]
You have redeemed me, Adonai, God of truth.
7 I detest those who continue to watch worthless idols,
but I trust in Adonai.
8 I will be glad and rejoice in Your lovingkindness,
for You saw my affliction.
You knew the troubles of my soul.
9 You did not hand me over to the enemy.
You set my feet in a wide-open place.
10 Be gracious to me, Adonai,
for I am in distress.
My eyes waste away with grief,
my soul and my body as well.
11 For my life is consumed in sorrow
and my years in sighing.
My strength fails because of my anguish
and my bones waste away.
12 Because of all my adversaries
I am the contempt of my neighbors
and a dread to my acquaintances.
Seeing me on the street, they flee from me.
13 I am as forgotten as a dead man.
I have become like a broken vessel.
14 For I have heard the whispering of many.
There is terror on every side
as they conspire against me
and plot to take my life.
15 But I have trusted in You, Adonai.
I said: “You are my God.”
16 My times are in Your hands.
Deliver me from the hands of my foes and from those who pursue me.
17 Make Your face shine on Your servant.
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
18 Adonai, let me not be ashamed,
for I have called upon You.
Let the wicked be ashamed—
let them be silent in Sheol.
19 Let the lying lips be mute.
For they speak arrogantly against the righteous,
with pride and contempt.
20 How great is Your goodness,
which You have stored up for those who fear You,
which You have given to those who take refuge in You,
before the children of men.
21 In the shelter of Your presence
You hide them from people’s plots.
You conceal them in a sukkah
from the strife of tongues.
22 Blessed be Adonai,
for He has shown me His wonderful love
in a besieged city.
23 I said in my alarm,
“I have been cut off from Your sight!”
But You heard the sound of my pleas
when I cried out to You.
24 Love Adonai, all His kedoshim!
Adonai preserves all the faithful,
but the proud He pays back in full.
25 Chazak! Let your heart take courage,[b]
all you who wait for Adonai.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.