M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Samuel Dies

25 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went to the desert of Paran.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

² Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very rich man. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³ This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was sensible and beautiful, but he was harsh and mean. He was a descendant of Caleb.

⁴ While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Carmel, visit Nabal, and greet him for me. ⁶ Say to him, ‘May you live long! May you, your home, and all you have prosper! ⁷ I hear that your sheepshearers are with you. Your shepherds have been with us, and we have not mistreated them. Nothing of theirs has been missing as long as they’ve been in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and let them tell you. Be kind to my young men, since we have come on a special occasion. Please give us and your son David anything you can spare.’”

⁹ When David’s young men came to Nabal, they repeated all of this to him for David, and then they waited.

¹⁰ “Who is David?” Nabal answered David’s servants. “Who is Jesse’s son? So many servants nowadays are leaving their masters. ¹¹ Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to men coming from who knows where?”

¹² David’s young men returned and told him all this.

¹³ “Each of you put on your swords!” David told his men. And everyone, including David, put on his sword. About four hundred men went with David, while two hundred men stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, who yelled at them. ¹⁵ Those men were very good to us. They didn’t mistreat us, and we found that nothing was missing wherever we went with them when we were in the fields. ¹⁶ They were a wall protecting us day and night as long as we were watching the sheep near them. ¹⁷ Now, consider what you should do because our master and his whole household are doomed. And he’s such a worthless man that it’s useless to talk to him.”

¹⁸ So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, 2 full wineskins, 5 butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ “Go on ahead,” she told her young men, “and I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal about it.

²⁰ She was riding on her donkey down a hidden mountain path when she met David and his men coming toward her. ²¹ David had thought, “I guarded this man’s stuff in the desert for nothing! Not one of his possessions was missing. Yet, he has paid me back with evil when I was good to him. ²² May Elohim punish me^[a] if I leave even one of his men^[b] alive in the morning.”

²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from her donkey. She immediately bowed down in front of David with her face touching the ground. ²⁴ After she bowed at his feet, she said, “Sir, let me be held responsible for this wrong. Please let me speak with you. Please listen to my words. ²⁵ You shouldn’t take this worthless person Nabal seriously. He is like his name. His name is Nabal [Godless Fool], and he’s foolish. But I didn’t see the young men you sent.

²⁶ “Yahweh has kept you from spilling innocent blood and from getting a victory by your own efforts. Now, sir, I solemnly swear, as Yahweh and you live, may your enemies and those who are trying to harm you end up like Nabal. ²⁷ Here is a gift I am bringing to you. May it be given to the young men who are in your service. ²⁸ Please forgive my offense. Yahweh will certainly give you, sir, a lasting dynasty, because you are fighting Yahweh’s battles. May evil never be found in you as long as you live. ²⁹ Even though someone pursued you and sought your life, your life is wrapped in the bundle of life which comes from Yahweh your Elohim. But he will dispose of the lives of your enemies like stones thrown from a sling. ³⁰ When Yahweh does all the good he promised and makes you ruler of Israel, ³¹ you shouldn’t have a troubled conscience because you spilled blood for no good reason and claimed your own victory. When Yahweh has given you success, remember me.”

³² David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. ³³ May your good judgment be blessed. Also, may you be blessed for keeping me from slaughtering people today and from getting a victory by my own efforts. ³⁴ But I solemnly swear—as Yahweh Elohim of Israel, who has kept me from harming you, lives—if you hadn’t come to meet me quickly, Nabal certainly wouldn’t have had one of his men left at dawn.”

³⁵ Then David accepted what she brought him and told her, “Go home in peace. I’ve listened to what you’ve said and granted your request.”

³⁶ When Abigail came to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his home. It was like a king’s banquet. He was in a good mood and very drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything until dawn. ³⁷ But in the morning, when the effects of the wine had worn off, his wife told him what had happened. Nabal’s heart failed, and he could not move.^{[c] 38} About ten days later Yahweh made him even more sick, and Nabal died.

³⁹ When David heard Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, who defended me against the insults of Nabal and kept me from doing wrong. Yahweh has turned Nabal’s own wickedness back on him.”

Then David sent men on his behalf to propose marriage to Abigail. ⁴⁰ When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they told her, “David has sent us to you so that we can take you to him to be his wife.”

⁴¹ She bowed down with her face touching the ground. “I am ready to serve,” she said. “I am ready to wash the feet of my master’s servants.” ⁴² Then Abigail quickly got up and rode on a donkey with five of her female servants following her. So she went with David’s messengers and became his wife.

⁴³ David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Both she and Abigail were his wives. ⁴⁴ Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti, Laish’s son, who was from Gallim.

Settling Disagreements between Christians

6 When one of you has a complaint against another, how dare you go to court to settle the matter in front of wicked people. Why don’t you settle it in front of God’s holy people? ² Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you’re going to judge the world, aren’t you capable of judging insignificant cases? ³ Don’t you know that we will judge angels, not to mention things in this life? ⁴ When you have cases dealing with this life, why do you allow people whom the church has a low opinion of to be your judges? ⁵ You should be ashamed of yourselves! Don’t you have at least one wise person who is able to settle disagreements between believers? ⁶ Instead, one believer goes to court against another believer, and this happens in front of unbelievers.

⁷ You are already totally defeated because you have lawsuits against each other. Why don’t you accept the fact that you have been wronged? Why don’t you accept that you have been cheated? ⁸ Instead, you do wrong and cheat, and you do this to other believers.

⁹ Don’t you know that wicked people won’t inherit the kingdom of God? Stop deceiving yourselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins, who worship false gods, those who commit adultery, homosexuals, ¹⁰ or thieves, those who are greedy or drunk, who use abusive language, or who rob people will not inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ That’s what some of you were! But you have been washed and made holy, and you have received God’s approval in the name of the Lord Yeshua Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Stay Away from Sexual Sins

¹² Someone may say, “I’m allowed to do anything,” but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but I won’t allow anything to gain control over my life. ¹³ Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will put an end to both of them. However, the body is not for sexual sin but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ God brought the Lord back to life, and by his power God will also bring us back to life.

¹⁵ Don’t you realize that your bodies are parts of Christ’s body? Should I take the parts of Christ’s body and make them parts of a prostitute’s body? That’s unthinkable! ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her? God says, “The two will be one.” ¹⁷ However, the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Stay away from sexual sins. Other sins that people commit don’t affect their bodies the same way sexual sins do. People who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. ¹⁹ Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves. ²⁰ You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.

Ezekiel Plays Out the Blockade of Jerusalem

4 The Lord said, “Son of man, take clay, put it in front of you, and draw a map of Jerusalem on it. ² Set up a blockade against it, build attack walls around it, put up dirt ramps around it, have troops ready to attack it, and place battering rams all around it. ³ Then take an iron pan, and set it up as a wall between you and the city. Turn your face toward the city as if you were going to attack it, and then attack it. This is a sign for the people of Israel.

⁴ “Then lie on your left side and take the punishment of the nation of Israel yourself. You will bear its punishment as many days as you lie on that side. ⁵ I have assigned to you one day for each year its punishment will last. So for 390 days, you will bear the punishment for the sins of the nation of Israel. ⁶ When you finish this, you will lie down again, this time on your right side. You will bear the punishment for the sins of the nation of Judah for 40 days, one day for each year I have assigned to you. ⁷ Turn your face toward the blockaded Jerusalem. Shake your fist and prophesy against it. ⁸ I will tie you up with ropes so that you will not be able to turn from one side to the other until you have finished attacking Jerusalem.

⁹ “Then take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and winter wheat. Put them in a container, and use them to make bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days that you are lying on your side. ¹⁰ The food that you eat should be weighed. Eat eight ounces of food every day at set times. ¹¹ Measure out two-thirds of a quart of water, and drink it at set times. ¹² Eat the bread as you would eat barley loaves. Bake the bread in front of people, using human excrement for fuel.”

¹³ Then Yahweh said, “In the same way, the people of Israel will eat unclean^[a] bread among the nations where I scatter them.”

¹⁴ I answered, “Adonay Yahweh, I have never dishonored myself. From the time I was young until now, I have never eaten an animal that died by itself or was killed by other wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

¹⁵ He said to me, “I will let you use cow manure in place of human excrement. Bake your bread over it.”

¹⁶ He also said to me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the bread supply in Jerusalem. People will anxiously eat rationed bread and fearfully drink rationed water. ¹⁷ They will be shocked at the sight of each other because of the lack of food and water. They will waste away because of their sin.”

Psalm 40

For the choir director; a psalm by David.

Psalm 41

For the choir director; a psalm by David.