M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

26 ¶ And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does David not hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?

² Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

³ And Saul pitched camp in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the wilderness by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he perceived that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

⁴ David, therefore, sent out spies and understood that Saul was indeed come.

⁵ And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched camp, and David beheld the place where Saul lay and Abner, the son of Ner, the captain of his host. And Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.

⁶ ¶ Then David spoke and said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.

⁷ So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench and his spear stuck in the ground at his head, but Abner and the people lay round about him.

⁸ Then Abishai said to David, God has delivered thy enemy into thy hand today; now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear and pin him to the earth at once, and I will not need a second opportunity.

⁹ And David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who has stretched forth his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and remained innocent?

¹⁰ David said furthermore, As the LORD lives, if the LORD does not smite him or his day comes to die or he descends into battle and perishes,

¹¹ the LORD forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the LORD’s anointed; but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his head and the cruse of water and let us go.

¹² So David took the spear and the cruse of water that were at Saul’s head, and they went, and no one saw it nor knew it neither awaked, for they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.

¹³ ¶ Then David went over to the other side and stood out of the way on the top of the mountain, a great space being between them;

¹⁴ and David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Dost thou not answer, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that dost cry to the king?

¹⁵ And David said to Abner, Art not thou a man? And who is there like unto thee in Israel? Why then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king thy lord.

¹⁶ This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD lives, ye are worthy to die because ye have not kept your master, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the cruse of water that was at his head.

¹⁷ And Saul knew David’s voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

¹⁸ And he said, Why does my lord thus pursue after his slave? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?

¹⁹ Now, therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his slave. If the LORD has stirred thee up against me, let him smell the fragrance of an offering, but if they were the sons of men, let them be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day from joining myself to the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

²⁰ Now therefore, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD, for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.

²¹ ¶ Then Saul said, I have sinned; return, my son David; for I will do no more harm unto thee because my life was precious in thine eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly.

²² And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! Let one of the servants come over and take it.

²³ The LORD render to each one his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the LORD’s anointed.

²⁴ And, behold, as thy life has been esteemed today in my eyes, so let my life be esteemed in the eyes of the LORD and let him deliver me out of all affliction.

²⁵ Then Saul said to David, Blessed art thou, my son David; without a doubt thou shalt do great things and prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

7 ¶ Now concerning the things of which ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

² Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

³ Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

⁴ The wife does not have authority of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband does not have authority of his own body, but the wife.

⁵ Do not defraud one another, except it be with mutual consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again, that Satan not tempt you for your incontinency.

⁶ But I speak this by permission, and not by commandment.

⁷ For I would that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one after this manner and another after that.

⁸ I say, therefore, to the unmarried men and widowers, It is good for them if they abide even as I.

⁹ But if they do not have the gift of continence, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.

¹⁰ ¶ And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife separate from her husband;

¹¹ and if she separates, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife.

¹² But to the rest I speak, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife that does not believe, and she consents to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

¹³ And the woman who has a husband that does not believe and if he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵ But if the unbelieving spouse separates, let them separate. The brother or the sister is not under slavery in such cases, but God has called us to peace.

¹⁶ For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

¹⁷ ¶ But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let them walk. And so I ordain in all the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

¹⁸ Is anyone called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is anyone called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God.

²⁰ Let each abide in the same calling in which he was called.

²¹ Art thou called being a slave? care not for it; but if thou may be made free, use it rather.

²² For he that is called in the Lord, being a slave, is the Lord’s freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s slave.

²³ Ye are bought with a price; do not make yourselves the slaves of men.

²⁴ Each one, brothers, in that state in which he was called, let him abide with God.

²⁵ ¶ Now concerning virgins I have no com­mandment of the Lord, yet I give my advice, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

²⁶ I hold, therefore, this to be good because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to be thus:

²⁷ Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.

²⁸ But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have affliction in the flesh, but I forbear you.

²⁹ But this I say, brothers, the time is short; for the rest, let those that have wives be as though they had none;

³⁰ and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not;

³¹ and those that use this world, as not using it as their own, for the fashion of this world passes away.

³² But I would have you without worry. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

³³ but he that is married cares for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

³⁴ There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

³⁵ And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is honourable and that ye may attend upon the Lord without impediment.

³⁶ ¶ But if anyone thinks it uncomely regarding his daughter, if she passes the bloom of life, and need so requires, let him do what he will, he does not sin: let them marry.

³⁷ Nevertheless, he that stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has liberty regarding his own, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his daughter, does well.

³⁸ So then he that gives her in marriage does well, but he that does not give her in marriage does better.

³⁹ ¶ The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free and may be married to whom she will, if it is in the Lord.

⁴⁰ But she shall be more blessed if she so abides, after my counsel, and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

5 ¶ And thou, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard; then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

² Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

³ Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number and bind them in the skirt of thy garment.

⁴ Then take of them again and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

⁵ ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the Gentiles and of the lands that are round about her.

⁶ And she has changed my judgments and my statutes into wickedness more than the Gentiles and more than the lands that are round about her; for they have disregarded my judgments and my commandments and have not walked in them.

⁷ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because I multiplied you more than the Gentiles that are round about you, ye have not walked in my commandments, neither have ye kept my judgments. Ye have not even acted according to the judgments of the Gentiles that are round about you.

⁸ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I, even I, am against thee and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Gentiles.

⁹ And I will do in thee that which I have not done and whereunto I will not do any more the like because of all thine abominations.

¹⁰ For the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee I will scatter into all the winds.

¹¹ Therefore, as I live, said the Lord GOD, surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy contaminations and with all thine abominations, therefore I will also destroy thee; neither shall my eye forgive, neither will I have mercy.

¹² A third part of thee shall die of pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

¹³ Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to cease in them, and I will be comforted; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in my zeal when I have accomplished my fury in them.

¹⁴ And I will make thee a desert and a reproach among the Gentiles that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

¹⁵ And thou shalt be a reproach and a dishonour, and a chastisement and a terror unto the Gentiles that are round about thee when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken.

¹⁶ When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction and which I will send to destroy you, then I will increase the famine upon you and will destroy your sustenance of bread.

¹⁷ So I will send upon you famine and evil beasts that will destroy thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the LORD, have spoken.

To the Overcomer: Maschil, for the sons of Korah.

¹ ¶ As the hart pants after the water brooks, so does my soul pant after thee, O God.

² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

⁴ I will remember these things; I will pour out my soul in me. When I shall be included in the number; I will go with them to the house of God with voice of joy and praise, dancing in the multitude.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted against me? Wait thou for God, for I shall yet praise him for the wellbeing of his presence.

⁶ ¶ O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the mountain of Mizar.

⁷ Deep calls unto deep at the voice of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

⁸ Yet the LORD will command his mercy in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

⁹ I will say unto God, My rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

¹⁰ It is as death in my bones when my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

¹¹ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Wait thou for God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the saving health of my countenance and my God.

¹ ¶ Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against those who are not merciful; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

² For thou art the God of my strength; why dost thou cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³ O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto the mountain of thy holiness and to thy tabernacles.

⁴ Then I will enter in to the altar of God, unto the God of my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Wait for God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the saving health of my countenance and my God.