M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Makes a Promise to Jonathan
20 David fled from the pastures at Ramah, came to Jonathan, and asked, “What have I done? What crime am I guilty of? What sin have I committed against your father that he’s trying to kill me?”
2 Jonathan answered, “That’s unthinkable! You’re not going to die! My father does nothing without telling me, whether it’s important or not. Why should my father hide this from me? It’s just not that way.”
3 But David took an oath, saying, “Your father certainly knows that you support me, so he said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know about this. It will bring him distress.’ But I solemnly swear, as Yahweh and you live, I’m only one step away from death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “I’ll do whatever you say.”
5 David replied, “Tomorrow is the New Moon Festival, when I should sit and eat at the king’s table. But let me go and hide in the countryside for two more nights. 6 If your father really misses me, tell him, ‘David repeatedly begged me to let him run to Bethlehem, his hometown, because his relatives are offering the annual sacrifice there.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good!’ then I will be safe. But if he gets really angry, then you’ll know for sure that he has decided to harm me. 8 Now, be kind to me. After all, you forced me into an agreement with Yahweh. If I have committed any crime, kill me yourself. Why bother taking me to your father?”
9 Jonathan answered, “That’s unthinkable! If I knew for sure that my father had decided to harm you, I would have told you about it.”
10 Then David asked, “Who will tell me whether or not your father gives you a harsh answer?”
11 Jonathan said, “Let’s go out into the country.” So they went out into the country.
12 “As Yahweh Elohim of Israel is my witness,” Jonathan continued, “I’ll find out in the next two or three days how my father feels about you. If he does feel kindly toward you, then I will send someone to tell you. 13 If my father plans to harm you and I fail to tell you and send you away safely, may Yahweh harm me even more. May Yahweh be with you as he used to be with my father. 14 But as long as I live, promise me that you will show me kindness because of Yahweh. And even when I die, 15 never stop being kind to my family. Yahweh will wipe each of David’s enemies off the face of the earth. 16 At that time, if Jonathan’s name[a] is cut off from David’s family, then may Yahweh punish David’s house.”[b]
17 Once again Jonathan swore an oath to David because of his love for David. He loved David as much as he loved himself. 18 “Tomorrow is the New Moon Festival,” Jonathan told him, “and you will be missed when your seat is empty. 19 The day after tomorrow you will be missed even more.[c] So go to the place where you hid on that other occasion, and stay by the rock. 20 I will shoot three arrows from beside it toward a target. 21 Then I will send out a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ Now, if I tell the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are next to you; get them,’ then come back with me. You will be safe, and there will be no trouble. I swear it, as Yahweh lives. 22 But if I tell the boy, ‘The arrows are next to you,’ then go, because Yahweh has sent you away. 23 We have made a promise to each other, and Yahweh is a witness between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid in the countryside. When the New Moon Festival came, King Saul sat down to eat the festival meal. 25 He sat in his usual seat by the wall, while Jonathan stood. Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul didn’t say anything that day, thinking, “Something has happened to him so that he’s unclean.[d] He must be unclean.” 27 But on the second day of the month, David’s place was still empty.
Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David repeatedly begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. 29 David said to me ‘Please let me go. Our relatives will offer a sacrifice in the city, and my brother ordered me to be there. If you will permit it, please let me go to see my brothers.’ This is why he hasn’t come to your banquet.”
30 Then Saul got angry with Jonathan. “Son of a crooked and rebellious woman!” he called Jonathan. “I know you’ve sided with Jesse’s son. You have no shame. You act as if you are your mother’s son but not mine.[e] 31 As long as Jesse’s son lives on earth, neither you nor your right to be king is secure. Now, send some men to bring him to me. He’s a dead man!”
32 Jonathan asked his father, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”
33 Saul raised his spear to strike him. Then Jonathan knew his father was determined to kill David. 34 Jonathan got up from the table very angry and ate nothing that second day of the month. He was worried sick about David because Jonathan had been humiliated by his own father.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the country to the place he and David had agreed on. Jonathan had a young boy with him. 36 “Run,” he told the boy, “please find the arrows I shoot.”
The boy ran, and Jonathan shot the arrow over him. 37 When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had landed, Jonathan called after him, “The arrows are next to you!” 38 Jonathan added, “Quick! Hurry up! Don’t stand there!” Jonathan’s young servant gathered the arrows and came to his master. 39 The boy had no idea what was going on, but Jonathan and David understood. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. He told the boy, “Take them back into town.”
41 When the boy had left, David came out from the south side of the rock and quickly bowed down three times with his face touching the ground. Then they kissed each other and cried together, but David cried the loudest.[f]
42 “Go in peace!” Jonathan told David. “We have both taken an oath in Yahweh’s name, saying, ‘Yahweh will be a witness between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”[g]
So David left, and Jonathan went into the city.
2 Brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I didn’t speak about God’s mystery[a] as if it were some kind of brilliant message or wisdom. 2 While I was with you, I decided to deal with only one subject—Yeshua Christ, who was crucified. 3 When I came to you, I was weak. I was afraid and very nervous. 4 I didn’t speak my message with persuasive intellectual arguments. I spoke my message with a show of spiritual power 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.
6 However, we do use wisdom to speak to those who are mature. It is a wisdom that doesn’t belong to this world or to the rulers of this world who are in power today and gone tomorrow. 7 We speak about the mystery of God’s wisdom. It is a wisdom that has been hidden, which God had planned for our glory before the world began. 8 Not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as Scripture says:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”
10 God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God. 11 After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit. 12 Now, we didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us. 13 We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit.[b]
14 A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them. 15 Spiritual people evaluate everything but are subject to no one’s evaluation.
16 “Who has known the mind of the Lord
so that he can teach him?”
However, we have the mind of Christ.
A Prayer of the Prophet
5 “Remember, O Yahweh, what has happened to us.
Take a look at our disgrace!
2 “The land we inherited has been turned over to strangers.
Our homes have been turned over to foreigners.
3 We are orphans without a father.
Our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water.
We have to pay to chop our own wood.
5 Our enemies are breathing down our necks.
We are worn out and not permitted to rest.
6 We had to beg Egypt and Assyria for food.[a]
7 Our ancestors sinned.
Now they are gone,
but we have to take the punishment for their wickedness.
8 Slaves rule us.
There is no one to rescue us from them.
9 To get our food, we have to risk our lives
in the heat[b] of the desert.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven from the burning heat of starvation.
11 Women in Zion are raped, so are the girls in the cities of Judah.
12 Our leaders are hung by their hands.
Our older leaders are shown no respect.
13 Our young men work at the mill,
and our boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 Our older leaders have stopped meeting at the city gate,
and our young men no longer play their music.
15 There is no joy left in our hearts.
Our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Because we have sinned, it has been disastrous for us.
17 This is why we feel sick.
This is why our eyes see less and less.
18 Foxes roam around on Mount Zion, which lies in ruins.
19 “But you, O Yahweh, sit enthroned forever,
and your reign continues throughout every generation.
20 Why have you completely forgotten us?
Why have you abandoned us for such a long time?
21 O Yahweh, bring us back to you, and we’ll come back.
Give us back the life we had long ago,
22 unless you have completely rejected us
and are very angry with us.”
Psalm 36
For the choir director; by David, Yahweh’s servant.
1 There is an inspired truth about the wicked person
who has rebellion in the depths of his heart:
He is not terrified of Elohim.
2 He flatters himself and does not hate or even recognize his guilt.
3 The words from his mouth are nothing but trouble and deception.
He has stopped doing what is wise and good.
4 He invents trouble while lying on his bed
and chooses to go the wrong direction.
He does not reject evil.
5 O Yahweh, your mercy reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of Elohim,
your judgments like the deep ocean.
You save people and animals, O Yahweh.
7 Your mercy is so precious, O Elohim,
that Adam’s descendants take refuge
in the shadow of your wings.
8 They are refreshed with the rich foods in your house,
and you make them drink from the river of your pleasure.
9 Indeed, the fountain of life is with you.
In your light we see light.
10 Continue to show your mercy to those who know you
and your righteousness to those whose motives are decent.
11 Do not let the feet of arrogant people step on me
or the hands of wicked people push me away.
12 Look at the troublemakers who have fallen.
They have been pushed down and are unable to stand up again.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.