M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Elkanah and his family go to Shiloh

1 There was a man whose name was Elkanah. He lived in a town called Ramah.^[a] This town was in the hill country where Ephraim's tribe lived. Elkanah was the son of Jeroham. Jeroham was the son of Elihu. Elihu was the son of Tohu. Tohu was the son of Zuph. Zuph belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. ² Elkanah had two wives. One wife was called Hannah and the other wife was called Peninnah. Peninnah had children but Hannah did not have any children.

³ Every year, Elkanah left his home in Ramah to go to the town of Shiloh.^[b] He went there to worship the Lord Almighty and to offer sacrifices to him.^[c] Hophni and Phinehas served the Lord at Shiloh as his priests. Eli was their father.

⁴ Every year, when Elkanah offered his sacrifices to God, he gave some of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to her sons and daughters. ⁵ Because Elkanah loved Hannah very much, he always gave twice as much meat to her. But the Lord had not let Hannah give birth to any children.

⁶ Peninnah was not kind to Hannah and she made Hannah very upset. She did this because the Lord had not let Hannah give birth to any children. ⁷ This happened every year when they went to the Lord's house in Shiloh. Peninnah would cause Hannah to be upset. Then Hannah would weep. She would refuse to eat anything. ⁸ Hannah's husband, Elkanah, said to her, ‘Why should you weep and refuse to eat? Do not be so sad. I love you, and that is better than ten sons.’

Hannah and Eli

⁹ One day they had offered sacrifices at Shiloh. They had finished eating and drinking. Hannah stood up to pray to God. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair beside the door of the Lord's temple.^{[d] 10} Hannah was very upset as she prayed to the Lord. She could not stop weeping. ¹¹ She made a promise to God. She prayed, ‘Lord Almighty, you can see how sad I am. Please be kind to me, your servant. Remember me and do not forget me. Please give a son to me, your servant. If you do that, I will give him to serve you for all of his life. Nobody will ever cut his hair.’^[e]

¹² Hannah continued to pray to the Lord. Eli watched her mouth while it moved. ¹³ Hannah was praying quietly inside herself. Her lips moved but Eli could not hear her voice. So he thought that she was drunk. ¹⁴ He said to her, ‘Are you always drunk like that? Throw away your wine.’

¹⁵ Hannah replied, ‘No, sir, I have not drunk any wine or strong drink. I have much trouble deep inside myself. I have told the Lord about all my problems. ¹⁶ Please sir, do not think that I am a bad woman. I am praying like this because I am very sad and upset.’

¹⁷ Eli said to Hannah, ‘Go and let your mind have peace. I pray that Israel's God will give you what you have asked him for.’

¹⁸ Hannah said to him, ‘I will try to do what pleases you, sir.’

Then Hannah went away and she ate some food. Her face was not sad now.

¹⁹ Elkanah and his family got up early the next morning and they worshipped the Lord. Then they went back to their home in Ramah. Elkanah had sex with his wife Hannah. The Lord remembered what she had asked him for. ²⁰ Hannah became pregnant. Later, she gave birth to a son. She gave him the name ‘Samuel’. She said, ‘His name is Samuel because I asked the Lord for him.’^[f]

Hannah gives Samuel to serve God

²¹ Next year, Elkanah went to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the Lord, as he had promised to do. His family went with him. ²² But Hannah did not go as well. She said to her husband, ‘I will not go until the boy is older. When he can eat proper food, I will take him to Shiloh to give him to the Lord. Then he will live there for all his life.’

²³ Elkanah said to Hannah, ‘You must do what seems right to you. Stay here at home until the boy begins to eat proper food. May the Lord help you, as he has promised.’

So Hannah stayed at home with her son while he continued to drink milk from her breasts.

²⁴ When Samuel started to eat proper food, Hannah took him to Shiloh. She took him to the Lord's house there when he was still a young boy. She took with her a bull that was three years old. She also took a big bag of flour and a leather bag full of wine. ²⁵ They killed the bull for the sacrifice. Then Hannah took Samuel to Eli. ²⁶ Hannah said to Eli, ‘Please believe me sir. I am the woman who stood here before. You saw me when I was praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed that the Lord would give me a son and he answered my prayer. ²⁸ Now I will give this child to serve the Lord. He will be the Lord's servant for his whole life.’

Then Elkanah's family worshipped the Lord there.

Paul says ‘Hello’

1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am a servant of Christ Jesus. God chose me to be his apostle. He sent me to tell his good news to people. ² God promised this good news long ago, before it became true. His prophets wrote about it in the Bible. ^3-4 This good news is about God's Son, who is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus was born as a human baby from King David's family.^[a] But after Jesus died on the cross, God's Holy Spirit raised him to make him alive again. In that way God showed clearly that Jesus was his powerful Son. ⁵ Because of Jesus Christ, God has been very kind to us. He has chosen me to serve him as an apostle. He sent me to tell his message to people from all countries. As a result they would know that Jesus Christ is great. They would trust him and obey him. ⁶ You Christians in Rome are also among those people! God has chosen you to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷ So I am writing to all you Christians who are in Rome. God loves you and he has chosen you to be his own people.

I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds.

Paul wants to visit Rome

⁸ First, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, I thank my God for all of you. Everywhere in the world, people are talking about how you trust in Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is the one that I serve with all my spirit. I tell people the message about his Son, which is good news. God himself knows that I pray for you all the time. ¹⁰ Every time that I pray for you, I ask God for a chance that I might visit you soon. I pray that he will make it possible if that is what he wants.

¹¹ I want very much to come and see you. Then I can give some gift from God's Spirit to you. That will help you to be strong as you serve God. ¹² We can help each other to be strong like that, because both you and I trust Christ. ¹³ My Christian friends, I want you to know that I have tried often to visit you. But until now, something has always stopped me. I want to help you to serve God well, in the way that I have already helped other Gentiles.

¹⁴ Because God has been kind to me, I must tell his message to all people. I must tell his good news to people who have learned many things, and to those who have never been to school. I must tell it to people who are wise as well as to those who are not very clever. ¹⁵ Because of that, I want very much to tell God's good news also to you people who live in Rome.^[b]

¹⁶ I am not ashamed to tell people the good news. God uses that good news to show his great power. He uses it to save all people who believe in Jesus Christ. First, God saves all Jews who are believers. And he also saves all Gentiles who are believers. ¹⁷ The good news explains how God accepts people as right with himself. He does this when they believe in Christ. It is only because of their faith. Nothing else. This is what was written in the Bible long ago:

People are guilty

¹⁸ God in heaven shows that he is angry with people. He is angry because they do not respect him and they do bad things. Because they continue to do those bad things, they choose not to accept God's true message. ¹⁹ They should understand what God is like, because God himself has shown it to them clearly. ²⁰ Ever since God made the world, he has been showing people clearly about himself. We cannot see God. But the things that he has made show us clearly what he is like. We can understand his great power that continues for ever. We can know that he is the true God. So there is no reason for anyone to say, ‘We could not know about God.’

²¹ Those people really knew about God. But they did not respect him as a great God, and they did not thank him. They did not even think clearly any more. Their minds became confused and they did not understand God's message. ²² They said that they were wise, but really they became fools. ²³ They refused to worship the great God who can never die. Instead, they made false gods for themselves. They worshipped idols that were like people who must die. They also made idols that looked like birds, animals and snakes, and they worshipped them.

²⁴ So God let those people do all the bad things that they wanted to do. God let those disgusting things rule their lives. As a result, they did bad things with each other's bodies. They did things that people should be ashamed to do. ²⁵ They refused to believe the true things about God. Instead, they chose to believe lies. They worshipped things that God has made and they became servants of those things. But they refused to worship God himself who made those things! Everyone should praise him for ever! Amen. This is true.

²⁶ Because those people turned against God, he let those bad things rule their lives. They strongly wanted to do things that they should be ashamed about. Even the women stopped having sex in a way which is proper. Instead, they began to have sex with other women, which is not proper. ²⁷ Also, the men stopped having sex with women. Instead, they strongly wanted to have sex with other men. Men did bad things with other men that they should be ashamed about. Because they did such wrong things, they received in their own bodies the punishment that was right.

²⁸ Those people decided that they did not need to know anything about God. So God let their minds become spoiled. As a result, they do bad things that people ought not to do. ²⁹ They only think about wrong and bad things that they want to do. They want many things for themselves. They want to hurt other people. They are always jealous of other people. They kill people. They quarrel and fight with people. They are not honest or kind. They say silly things about other people. ³⁰ They tell lies about people. They hate God. They insult other people. They are proud and they say how important they are. They think of many ways to do bad things. They do not obey their parents. ³¹ They do not understand what is right. They do not do what they have promised to do. They do not love anyone and they are not kind to anyone. ³² These people understand God's message about what is right. They know that people who do bad things like this ought to die. But they still continue to do those bad things. They are even happy when other people do those bad things too.

Babylon's army takes power over Jerusalem

39 This is how the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon got power over Jerusalem. In the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah had ruled Judah as king, Nebuchadnezzar's army marched to attack Jerusalem. The whole army made their camp around the city. ² They stayed there until the ninth day of the fourth month of the 11th year that Zedekiah had been king. On that day, Babylon's soldiers broke through the walls of the city. ³ The king of Babylon's officers came into Jerusalem. They sat at the Middle Gate of the city. The officers were Nergal-Sharezer from Samgar, an important officer called Nebo-Sarsekim, and another important officer, also called Nergal-Sharezer. All the other officers of the king of Babylon met with them there. ⁴ King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers tried to escape when they saw them. They left the city at night. They took a path through the king's garden and went through the gate between the two walls of the city. Then they ran towards the Jordan Valley.

⁵ But the soldiers of Babylon's army chased after them. They caught Zedekiah on the flat land near Jericho. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah, in the region called Hamath. King Nebuchadnezzar decided that Zedekiah was guilty. ⁶ He decided how he would punish Zedekiah. He told his soldiers to kill all Zedekiah's sons, while Zedekiah watched. Nebuchadnezzar also punished all the important men of Judah with death. ⁷ Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains to take him to Babylon as their prisoner.

⁸ Babylon's soldiers destroyed the king's palace with fire. They also destroyed the temple and the people's houses in Jerusalem. They knocked down the walls around the city. ⁹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of King Nebuchadnezzar's guards, took hold of all the people who remained in Jerusalem. He sent them away as prisoners to Babylon. He also sent away the people of Judah who had joined Babylon's army. ¹⁰ But Captain Nebuzaradan let some of the very poor people remain in Judah. He gave them some fields and vineyards to take care of.

¹¹ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had commanded Captain Nebuzaradan what to do with Jeremiah. ¹² He said, ‘Find Jeremiah and take care of him. Do not hurt him. Help him in any way that he asks you.’ ¹³ So Captain Nebuzaradan, an important officer called Nebushazban, Nergal-Sharezer, the king's advisor, and all King Nebuchadnezzar's other officers did that. ¹⁴ They sent some men to bring Jeremiah from the palace yard. They told Gedaliah to take care of Jeremiah. Gedaliah was Ahikam's son and Shaphan's grandson. He took Jeremiah to his home. So Jeremiah continued to live among his own people.

The Lord's promise to Ebed-Melech

¹⁵ The Lord had spoken to Jeremiah while he was still a prisoner in the palace yard. ¹⁶ The Lord said, ‘Tell the Ethiopian man, Ebed-Melech, this: The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “I will punish this city as I promised to do. I will send terrible trouble instead of help. You will see this when it happens. ¹⁷ But I will rescue you at that time. I promise you that. The people that you are afraid of will not take hold of you. ¹⁸ I will certainly save you. You will not die in battle. You trusted me, so I will keep your life safe. I, the Lord, say that to you.” ’

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

A prayer for help^[a]

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

God rules the world