M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul’s Plan to Kill David
19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David, 2 so he reported to David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. Please be careful tomorrow morning. Go into hiding, and stay out of sight. 3 I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you’ll be. I’ll speak with my father about you. If I find out anything, I’ll tell you.”
4 So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. “You should not commit a sin against your servant David,” he said. “He hasn’t sinned against you. Instead, he has done some very fine things for you: 5 He risked his life and killed the Philistine Goliath, and Yahweh gave all Israel a great victory. When you saw it, you rejoiced. Why then should you sin by shedding David’s innocent blood for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan, and he promised, “I solemnly swear, as Yahweh lives, he will not be killed.” 7 Jonathan told David all of this. Then Jonathan took David to Saul. So David was returned to his former status in Saul’s court.
Saul Tries to Kill David
8 When war broke out again, David went to fight the Philistines. He defeated them so decisively that they fled from him. 9 Then an evil spirit from Yahweh came over Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. David was strumming a tune. 10 Saul tried to nail David to the wall with his spear. But David dodged it, and Saul’s spear struck the wall. David fled, escaping from Saul that night.
11 Saul sent messengers to watch David’s house and kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, advised him, “If you don’t save yourself tonight, you’ll be dead tomorrow!” 12 So Michal lowered David through a window, and he ran away to escape. 13 Then Michal took some idols, laid them in the bed, put a goat-hair blanket at its head, and covered the idols with a garment.
14 When Saul sent messengers to get David, Michal said, “He’s sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David themselves. Saul told them, “Bring him here to me in his bed so that I can kill him.” 16 The messengers came, and there in the bed were the idols with the goat-hair blanket at its head.
17 Saul asked Michal, “Why did you betray me by sending my enemy away so that he could escape?”
Michal answered, “He told me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”
18 David escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah. He told Samuel everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to the pastures and lived there.
19 When it was reported to Saul that David was in the pastures at Ramah, 20 Saul sent messengers to get David. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying with Samuel serving as their leader, the Ruach Elohim came over Saul’s messengers so that they also prophesied. 21 When they told Saul about this, he sent other messengers, but they also prophesied. Saul even sent a third group of messengers, but they also prophesied. 22 Then he went to Ramah himself. He went as far as the big cistern in Secu and asked the people, “Where are Samuel and David?”
He was told, “Over there in the pastures at Ramah.” 23 As he went toward the pastures at Ramah, the Ruach Elohim came over him too. He continued his journey, prophesying until he came to the pastures at Ramah. 24 He even took off his clothes as he prophesied in front of Samuel and lay there naked all day and all night. This is where the saying, “Is Saul one of the prophets?” came from.
Greeting
1 From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Yeshua by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother in the Christian faith.
2 To God’s church that was made holy by Christ Yeshua and called to be God’s holy people in the city of Corinth and to people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Yeshua Christ.
3 Good will[a] and peace from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua Christ are yours!
4 I always thank God for you because Christ Yeshua has shown you God’s good will. 5 Through Christ Yeshua you have become rich in every way—in speech and knowledge of every kind. 6 Our message about Christ has been verified among you. 7 Therefore, you don’t lack any gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord Yeshua Christ to be revealed. 8 He will continue to give you strength until the end so that no one can accuse you of anything on the day of our Lord Yeshua Christ. 9 God faithfully keeps his promises. He called you to be partners with his Son Yeshua Christ our Lord.
God’s Wisdom Is Better Than the World’s Wisdom
10 Brothers and sisters, I encourage all of you in the name of our Lord Yeshua Christ to agree with each other and not to split into opposing groups. I want you to be united in your understanding and opinions. 11 Brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s family have made it clear to me that you are quarreling among yourselves. 12 This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,”[b] or “I follow Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God that[c] I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 I also baptized Stephanas and his family. Beyond that, I’m not sure whether I baptized anyone else. 17 Christ didn’t send me to baptize. Instead, he sent me to spread the Good News. I didn’t use intellectual arguments. That would have made the cross of Christ lose its meaning.
18 The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 Scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? 21 The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. 22 Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. 24 But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. 28 God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises—what it considers to be nothing—in order to destroy what it considers to be something. 29 As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence. 30 You are partners with Christ Yeshua because of God. Yeshua has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. 31 As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”
The Prophet Speaks Out: Zion’s Suffering Was Worse Than Sodom’s
4 [a]“Look how the gold has become tarnished!
The fine gold has changed!
The sacred stones are scattered at every street corner.
2 “Zion’s precious children, who are worth their weight in fine gold,
are now treated like clay pots,
like those made by a potter’s hands.
3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young,
but the women of my people are as cruel as wild ostriches.
4 The tongues of nursing infants stick to the roofs of their mouths
because of their thirst.
Little children beg for bread,
but no one will break off a piece for them.
5 Those who used to eat delicacies are now destitute in the streets.
Those who used to wear expensive clothes now pick through piles of garbage.
6 The punishment for my people’s wickedness has been more severe
than the punishment for the sins of Sodom.
Sodom was destroyed instantly, without one human hand touching it.
7 Zion’s princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk.
Their bodies were more pink than coral.
Their hair was like sapphires.
8 Their faces are now blacker than soot.
No one recognizes them on the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones.
It has become as dry as bark.
9 Those who were killed with swords are better off
than those who are dying from starvation.
Those who were stabbed bled to death.
The others are dying because there is nothing in the fields to eat.
10 The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children.
The children were used for food by my people
when they were being destroyed by a blockade.
11 Yahweh’s fury has accomplished his purpose.
He unleashed his burning anger.
He started a fire in Zion that even burned its foundations.
12 Neither the kings of the earth nor anyone living on earth could believe
that enemies or invaders would ever get through the gates of Jerusalem.
13 They got through because of the sins of Jerusalem’s prophets
and the crimes of its priests,
who spilled the blood of righteous people within it.
14 My people staggered blindly through the streets.
They were so contaminated with bloodstains
that no one would touch their clothes.
15 ‘Get away! You’re unclean,’[b] people yelled at them.
‘Get away! Get away! Don’t touch anyone.’
When they fled and wandered around,
the people of the nations said, ‘They can’t stay here any longer.’
16 Yahweh himself has scattered them.
He will no longer look favorably on them.
They no longer respected the priests,
nor did they honor their older leaders.”
The People of Zion Speak Out
17 “We are still straining our eyes, trying in vain to find help.
We waited and waited for a nation that didn’t save us.
18 The enemy kept tracking us down,
so we couldn’t even go out into the streets.
Our end was near.
Our time was up.
Our end had come.
19 Those who were hunting us were faster than eagles in the sky.
They chased us in the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
20 The person Yahweh anointed as king, who is the breath of our life,
was caught in their pits.
We had thought that we would live
in our king’s shadow among the nations.”
The Prophet Speaks Out: Be Warned about Edom’s Impending Doom
21 “Rejoice and be glad, people of Edom, inhabitants of the country of Uz.
The cup of the Lord’s fury will be passed to you next.
You’ll get drunk and take off all your clothes.
22 People of Zion, the punishment for your wickedness will end.
Yahweh will not let you remain in exile.
People of Edom, he will punish you for your wickedness.
He will expose your sins.”
Psalm 35
By David.
1 O Yahweh, attack those who attack me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Use your shields, both small and large.
Arise to help me.
3 Hold your spear to block the way of those who pursue me.
Say to my soul, “I am your savior.”
4 Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgraced.
Let those who plan my downfall be turned back in confusion.
5 Let them be like husks blown by the wind
as the Messenger of Yahweh chases them.
6 Let their path be dark and slippery
as the Messenger of Yahweh pursues them.
7 For no reason they hid their net in a pit.
For no reason they dug the pit to trap me.
8 Let destruction surprise them.
Let the net that they hid catch them.
Let them fall into their own pit and be destroyed.
9 My soul will find joy in Yahweh
and be joyful about his salvation.
10 All my bones will say, “O Yahweh, who can compare with you?
You rescue the weak person from the one who is too strong for him
and weak and needy people from the one who robs them.”
11 Malicious people bring charges against me.
They ask me things I know nothing about.
12 I am devastated
because they pay me back with evil instead of good.
13 But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth.
I humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayer returned unanswered,
14 I walked around as if I were mourning for my friend or my brother.
I was bent over as if I were mourning for my mother.
15 Yet, when I stumbled,
they rejoiced and gathered together.
They gathered together against me.
Unknown attackers tore me apart without stopping.
16 With crude and abusive mockers,
they grit their teeth at me.
17 O Adonay, how long will you look on?
Rescue me from their attacks.
Rescue my precious life from the lions.
18 I will give you thanks in a large gathering.
I will praise you in a crowd of worshipers.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies gloat over me.
Do not let those who hate me for no reason wink at me.
20 They do not talk about peace.
Instead, they scheme against the peaceful people in the land.
21 They open their big mouths and say about me,
“Aha! Aha! Our own eyes have seen it.”
22 You have seen it, O Yahweh.
Do not remain silent.
O Adonay, do not be so far away from me.
23 Wake up, and rise to my defense.
Plead my case, O my Elohim and my Adonay.
24 Judge me by your righteousness, O Yahweh my Elohim.
Do not let them gloat over me
25 or think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let those who gloat over my downfall
be thoroughly put to shame and confused.
Let those who promote themselves at my expense
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 Let those who are happy when I am declared innocent
joyfully sing and rejoice.
Let them continually say, “Yahweh is great.
He is happy when his servant has peace.”
28 Then my tongue will tell about your righteousness,
about your praise all day long.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.