M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Tries to Kill David
19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan liked David very much. 2 So he warned David, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Watch out in the morning. Hide in a secret place. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are hiding, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll let you know what I find out.”
4 When Jonathan talked to Saul his father, he said good things about David. Jonathan said, “The king should do no wrong to your servant David since he has done nothing wrong to you. What he has done has helped you greatly. 5 David risked his life when he killed Goliath the Philistine, and the Lord won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and were happy. Why would you do wrong against David? He’s innocent. There’s no reason to kill him!”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and then made this promise: “As surely as the Lord lives, David won’t be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called to David and told him everything that had been said. He brought David to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
8 When war broke out again, David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them, and they ran away from him.
9 But once again an evil spirit from the Lord rushed upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the harp. 10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David jumped out of the way. So Saul’s spear went into the wall, and David ran away that night.
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, saying, “Tonight you must run for your life. If you don’t, you will be dead in the morning.” 12 So she let David down out of a window, and he ran away and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol, laid it on the bed, covered it with clothes, and put goats’ hair at its head.
14 Saul sent messengers to take David prisoner, but Michal said, “He is sick.”
15 Saul sent them back to see David, saying, “Bring him to me on his bed so I can kill him.”
16 When the messengers entered David’s house, they found just an idol on the bed with goats’ hair on its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you trick me this way? You let my enemy go so he could run away!”
Michal answered Saul, “David told me if I did not help him escape, he would kill me.”
18 After David had escaped from Saul, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then David and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19 Saul heard that David was in Naioth at Ramah. 20 So he sent messengers to capture him. But they met a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there leading them. So the Spirit of God entered Saul’s men, and they also prophesied.
21 When Saul heard the news, he sent more messengers, but they also prophesied. Then he sent messengers a third time, but they also prophesied. 22 Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah, to the well at Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
The people answered, “In Naioth at Ramah.”
23 When Saul went to Naioth at Ramah, the Spirit of God also rushed upon him. And he walked on, prophesying until he came to Naioth at Ramah. 24 He took off his robes and prophesied in front of Samuel. He lay that way all day and all night. That is why people ask, “Is even Saul one of the prophets?”
1 From Paul. God called me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus because that is what God wanted. Also from Sosthenes, our brother in Christ.
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to you who have been made holy in Christ Jesus. You were called to be God’s holy people with all people everywhere who pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul Gives Thanks to God
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace God has given you in Christ Jesus. 5 I thank God because in Christ you have been made rich in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge. 6 Just as our witness about Christ has been guaranteed to you, 7 so you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8 Jesus will keep you strong until the end so that there will be no wrong in you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Problems in the Church
10 I beg you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with each other and not be split into groups. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose. 11 My brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s family have told me quite plainly that there are quarrels among you. 12 This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another says, “I follow Peter”; and another says, “I follow Christ.” 13 Christ has been divided up into different groups! Did Paul die on the cross for you? No! Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No! 14 I thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius 15 so that now no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 (I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I do not remember that I baptized anyone else.) 17 Christ did not send me to baptize people but to preach the Good News. And he sent me to preach the Good News without using words of human wisdom so that the cross[a] of Christ would not lose its power.
Christ Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18 The teaching about the cross is foolishness to those who are being lost, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 It is written in the Scriptures:
“I will cause the wise to lose their wisdom;
I will make the wise unable to understand.” Isaiah 29:14
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the skilled talker of this world? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. 21 In the wisdom of God the world did not know God through its own wisdom. So God chose to use the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe. 22 The Jews ask for miracles, and the Greeks want wisdom. 23 But we preach a crucified Christ. This causes the Jews to stumble and is foolishness to non-Jews. 24 But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called—Jews and Greeks. 25 Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, look at what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence. Not many of you came from important families. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and he chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose what the world thinks is unimportant and what the world looks down on and thinks is nothing in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. 29 God did this so that no one can brag in his presence. 30 Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. In Christ we are put right with God, and have been made holy, and have been set free from sin. 31 So, as the Scripture says, “If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord.”[b]
The Attack on Jerusalem
4 See how the gold has lost its shine,
how the pure gold has dulled!
The stones of the Temple are scattered
at every street corner.
2 The precious people of Jerusalem
were more valuable than gold,
but now they are thought of as clay jars
made by the hands of a potter.
3 Even wild dogs give their milk
to feed their young,
but my people are cruel
like ostriches in the desert.
4 The babies are so thirsty
their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.
Children beg for bread,
but no one gives them any.
5 Those who once ate fine foods
are now starving in the streets.
People who grew up wearing nice clothes
now pick through trash piles.
6 My people have been punished
more than Sodom was.
Sodom was destroyed suddenly,
and no hands reached out to help her.
7 Our princes were purer than snow,
and whiter than milk.
Their bodies were redder than rubies;
they looked like sapphires.
8 But now they are blacker than coal,
and no one recognizes them in the streets.
Their skin hangs on their bones;
it is as dry as wood.
9 Those who were killed in the war were better off
than those killed by hunger.
They starve in pain and die,
because there is no food from the field.
10 With their own hands kind women
cook their own children.
They became food
when my people were destroyed.
11 The Lord turned loose all of his anger;
he poured out his strong anger.
He set fire to Jerusalem,
burning it down to the foundations.
12 Kings of the earth and people of the world
could not believe
that enemies and foes
could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
13 It happened because her prophets sinned
and her priests did evil.
They killed in the city
those who did what was right.
14 They wandered in the streets
as if they were blind.
They were dirty with blood,
so no one would touch their clothes.
15 “Go away! You are unclean,” people shouted at them.
“Get away! Get away! Don’t touch us!”
So they ran away and wandered.
Even the other nations said, “Don’t stay here.”
16 The Lord himself scattered them
and did not look after them anymore.
No one respects the priests
or honors the elders.
17 Also, our eyes grew tired,
looking for help that never came.
We kept watch from our towers
for a nation to save us.
18 Our enemies hunted us,
so we could not even walk in the streets.
Our end is near. Our time is up.
Our end has come.
19 Those who chased us
were faster than eagles in the sky.
They ran us into the mountains
and ambushed us in the desert.
20 The Lord’s appointed king, who was our very breath,
was caught in their traps.
We had said about him, “We will be protected by him
among the nations.”
21 Be happy and glad, people of Edom,
you who live in the land of Uz.
The cup of God’s anger will come to you;
then you will get drunk and go naked.
22 Your punishment is complete, Jerusalem.
He will not send you into captivity again.
But the Lord will punish the sins of Edom;
he will uncover your evil.
A Prayer for Help
Of David.
35 Lord, battle with those who battle with me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Pick up the shield and armor.
Rise up and help me.
3 Lift up your spears, both large and small,
against those who chase me.
Tell me, “I will save you.”
4 Make those who want to kill me
be ashamed and disgraced.
Make those who plan to harm me
turn back and run away.
5 Make them like chaff blown by the wind
as the angel of the Lord forces them away.
6 Let their road be dark and slippery
as the angel of the Lord chases them.
7 For no reason they spread out their net to trap me;
for no reason they dug a pit for me.
8 So let ruin strike them suddenly.
Let them be caught in their own nets;
let them fall into the pit and die.
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will be happy when he saves me.
10 Even my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like you?
You save the weak from the strong,
the weak and poor from robbers.”
11 Men without mercy stand up to testify.
They ask me things I do not know.
12 They repay me with evil for the good I have done,
and they make me very sad.
13 Yet when they were sick, I put on clothes of sadness
and showed my sorrow by fasting.
But my prayers were not answered.
14 I acted as if they were my friends or brothers.
I bowed in sadness as if I were crying for my mother.
15 But when I was in trouble, they gathered and laughed;
they gathered to attack before I knew it.
They insulted me without stopping.
16 They made fun of me and were cruel to me
and ground their teeth at me in anger.
17 Lord, how long will you watch this happen?
Save my life from their attacks;
save me from these people who are like lions.
18 I will praise you in the great meeting.
I will praise you among crowds of people.
19 Do not let my enemies laugh at me;
they hate me for no reason.
Do not let them make fun of me;
they have no cause to hate me.
20 Their words are not friendly
but are lies about peace-loving people.
21 They speak against me
and say, “Aha! We saw what you did!”
22 Lord, you have been watching. Do not keep quiet.
Lord, do not leave me alone.
23 Wake up! Come and defend me!
My God and Lord, fight for me!
24 Lord my God, defend me with your justice.
Don’t let them laugh at me.
25 Don’t let them think, “Aha! We got what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say, “We destroyed him.”
26 Let them be ashamed and embarrassed,
because they were happy when I hurt.
Cover them with shame and disgrace,
because they thought they were better than I was.
27 May my friends sing and shout for joy.
May they always say, “Praise the greatness of the Lord,
who loves to see his servants do well.”
28 I will tell of your goodness
and will praise you every day.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.