M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Hannah praises the Lord
2 Hannah prayed and she said,
‘I am very happy when I think about what the Lord has done.
The Lord has made me very strong.
I can laugh at my enemies because you, Lord, have saved me.
That makes me very happy.
2 Nobody else is holy like the Lord.
There is no other God except you, our God.
You are the only Rock where we can be safe.[a]
3 Do not boast or speak proud words!
The Lord is a God who knows everything.
He judges everything that people do.
4 The weapons of brave soldiers may break.
But weak people who fall become strong again.
5 People who had plenty of food to eat have to work for it now.
But the people who were hungry have enough food now.
Women who could not have any children have now given birth to seven children.
But those who had many children are now alone.
6 The Lord gives both life and death.
He sends some people to their graves,
and he raises other people up.
7 The Lord makes some people poor
and he makes other people rich.
He causes some people to be important
and he puts other people low down.
8 He raises up weak people from the ground.
He lifts poor people up out of the dirt.
He makes them become friends of princes.
He puts them in places of honour.
The deep places of the earth belong to the Lord.
He built the world on a strong foundation.
9 He takes care of his faithful people.
But he puts wicked people in a dark place where they can do nothing.
It is not a person's own strength that makes him great.
10 The Lord will destroy his enemies.
He will shout against them from heaven like loud thunder.
The Lord will judge everyone on earth.
He will make his king strong.
He will give power to the king that he has chosen to rule.’
11 Then Elkanah went back to his home at Ramah with his family. But the young boy, Samuel, stayed in Shiloh. He served the Lord there, while Eli the priest took care of him.
Eli's wicked sons
12 Eli's sons were wicked men. They did not respect the Lord. 13 They did not do what the priests should do.
People brought sacrifices to offer to the Lord at Shiloh. When the meat was still boiling in a pot, a servant of the priest would come. He would bring a fork that had three points. 14 He then pushed the fork into the pot. The priest took for himself any meat that came out on the fork. The priests did that to all the Israelites when they came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices. 15 Their servant would even come before the fat was removed from the meat to be burned as a sacrifice. He would say to the person who had brought the sacrifice, ‘Give me some of the meat for the priest to bake. He will not accept meat that has already boiled. He will only accept meat that is fresh.’
16 Sometimes, the person said, ‘We must burn the fat first. Then you can take any meat that you want.’ The servant would reply, ‘No. Give the meat to me now, or I will take it from you anyway.’
17 The Lord knew what Eli's sons were doing. They did not respect the sacrifices that people were offering to the Lord. The Lord saw that their sin was very bad.
Samuel at Shiloh
18 But Samuel served the Lord faithfully, as a young boy. He wore a linen ephod. 19 Every year, Samuel's mother made a little coat for him. She took it to him when she went to Shiloh. She and her husband went there every year to offer their sacrifice to God. 20 Each year, Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife. He said, ‘I pray that the Lord will give you more children to take the place of Samuel. Hannah has given her son to serve the Lord, so may she give birth to other children too.’
Then they would return to their own home. 21 The Lord blessed Hannah. She gave birth to three more sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel continued to grow as he served at the Lord's house in Shiloh.
22 Eli was very old now. He heard about everything that his sons were doing to all the Israelites. He knew that his sons had sex with some of the women helpers. Those women worked at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 23 Eli said to his sons, ‘People have told me about all the evil things that you do. 24 No, my sons, you should not do these terrible things. The Lord's people all complain about you. 25 If you do something bad to another person, God can speak on your behalf. But if you do something bad against the Lord, nobody can speak on your behalf.’
Eli's sons did not listen to their father. The Lord had already decided to kill them.
26 The young boy Samuel continued to grow. The Lord was pleased with him, and so were the people.
God's message to Eli
27 A servant of God came and he spoke to Eli.[b] This is what he said:
‘The Lord says, “A long time ago, when your ancestors were in Egypt, I showed myself to them. At that time they were slaves of Egypt's king. 28 I chose your ancestor, Aaron, out of all the tribes of Israel. I chose him and his descendants to be my priests. I chose them to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense and to wear the special ephod.[c] I also gave them authority to eat part of the sacrifices and burnt offerings that the Israelites offered to me. 29 But you and your sons do not respect the sacrifices that I have commanded people to offer in my house. Eli, you give more honour to your sons than you give to me. Your family eat all the best parts of the offerings that the Israelites bring to me. You have all become fat!”
30 Because of what you have done, the Lord, Israel's God, says this to you: “I promised your family and your ancestors that they would serve me as priests for ever.” But now the Lord says, “That will never happen! I will give honour to people who respect me. But I will curse people who insult me. 31 So you and your family will soon come to an end. No one in your family will live to become old men. 32 You will see how trouble comes to my home here. Good things will happen to the Israelite people, but there will never be an old man in your family. 33 One of your descendants may continue to serve me as a priest. But he will be very sad and his eyes will become weak. Anyone who is born in your family will die when they are young.
34 This will show you that what I have said is true: Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day.
35 I will choose another priest to serve me. He will be faithful. He will do everything that I want him to do. I will give him a strong family and he will serve my chosen king for ever. 36 Everyone in your family who continues to live will have to bend down low to this priest. They will ask him for a few coins and a piece of bread. ‘Please let me help the priests so that I can have something to eat,’ they will say.” ’
God judges all people in a right way
2 So I say this to each one of you: Do not judge other people. If you decide that someone else has done a bad thing, remember that you also do the same bad things. You are really saying that God should punish you also! When you judge someone, God will not punish them and then forgive you. 2 When God judges people, he does it in a way that is right and fair. He punishes people who do those kind of bad things.
3 I ask each of you again: ‘Do you speak against people who do bad things, but you do those same bad things yourself?’ Then God will certainly punish you and you will not go free. 4 Remember that God is very kind and patient with us. He waits a long time before he punishes us. Do you not think that that is important? You should understand that God is giving you a chance to change. He waits patiently, so that you may turn away from wrong things.
5 But you refuse to change the way that you live. You are not sorry about the wrong things that you have done. As a result, you cause God to become even angrier with you. So he will punish you even more on the day when he will judge everyone. On that day, he will show how angry he is against people who do bad things. Everyone will know that he judges people in a right way. 6 He will give to each person what they ought to have because of the things that they have done. 7 Some people continue patiently to do good things. They want to do what is right so that God will praise them. They want to live the kind of life which death will not spoil. God will cause people like that to live with him always. 8 But other people think only about themselves. They refuse to obey God's true message. Instead, they continue to do things that are wrong. God will be very angry with people like that and he will punish them. 9 God will punish everyone who does bad things. He will do that first to the Jews, and he will do it also to the Gentiles. There will be much trouble and pain for every person who does bad things. 10 But God will praise every person who does good things. He will make them great and they will have peace in their minds. He will do that first for the Jews, and he will do it also for the Gentiles. 11 God is always fair when he judges people, whoever they are.
12 The Gentiles do not have God's Law that he gave to Moses.[a] If Gentiles do wrong things, God will punish them. But he will not use his Law when he judges the Gentiles. But the Jews do have God's Law. So, if Jews do wrong things, God will use his Law to judge them. The Law will show that they have done wrong things. 13 Who does God accept as right with himself? It is those people who obey his Law. It is not the people who only know his Law but do not obey them.
14 The Gentiles do not have God's Law. But they may still do the right things that the Law teaches. They do right things because of what they themselves think is right. In that way they are showing that they have a certain law in their minds, even though they do not know God's Law. 15 Those people show that they know what is right. It is as if God has written his Law deep inside them. Their thoughts tell them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did something that is wrong.’ And sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is right.’
16 That is the message that I tell people. God knows everything that people think secretly. One day he will judge everyone. He has given Jesus Christ the authority to do that.
The Jews and God's Law
17 Do you say that you are a Jew? Maybe you trust in the Law that God gave to Moses. You are proud that you belong to God. 18 You know what God wants people to do. His Law teaches you what is good and right. 19 You are sure that you yourself can teach other people about God. You think that you can be like a guide to blind people. You think that you can be like a light to people who are in the dark. 20 You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!
21 So you teach other people, do you? But do you teach yourself? You tell other people, ‘Do not rob anyone.’ But maybe you yourself rob other people. 22 You say, ‘People must not have sex with anyone who is not their wife or their husband.’ But maybe you yourself have sex in a wrong way. You say that you hate idols. But do you rob places where people worship idols? 23 You are proud that you know God's Law. But you do not obey that Law. As a result, you cause other people to speak against God. 24 This is written in the Bible:
‘Because of you Jews, the Gentiles say bad things against God.’
25 As a Jewish man, you are proud that someone has circumcised you.[b] That is a help to you, if you obey God's Law in your life. But if you do not obey God's Law, then it is worth nothing. You have become like a Gentile that nobody has ever circumcised. 26 But a Gentile may obey what God's Law teaches. Then he has shown that he belongs to God even though nobody has circumcised him. 27 In that way, even Gentiles will show that you who are Jews are wrong. God's Law was written to help you Jews. They circumcised you to show that you belong to God. But if you refuse to obey God's Law, then God will punish you. The Gentiles who do obey God's Law will show that God is right to punish you.
28 Not everyone who seems to be a Jew is really a Jew who belongs to God. God does not accept a man just because someone has circumcised that man's body. 29 No! A true Jew is someone who belongs to God in his spirit. He belongs to God because God's Spirit has changed his life. It is like God has circumcised him in his spirit, not in his body. The rules in God's Law cannot do that work in a person. Other people may not praise a person like that, but God will praise him.
Jeremiah becomes free
40 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah again after Captain Nebuzaradan let him go free at Ramah. Jeremiah was with all the other people of Jerusalem and Judah that Captain Nebuzaradan was taking to Babylon. He was taking them in chains, as his prisoners. But he removed the chains from Jeremiah in Ramah.[a] 2 He said this to Jeremiah when they were alone: ‘The Lord your God warned your people that he would bring trouble to this place. 3 Now he has done that. The Lord has done what he promised to do. He sent this trouble because your people did not obey the Lord. They turned against him. 4 But today I am taking the chains off your hands so that you can go free. You can come with me to Babylon, if you choose to do that. If you come, I will take care of you. But if you do not choose to come with me, you do not have to do that. You are a free man. You may go to any part of the land that you choose.’
5 But before Jeremiah turned away from him, Captain Nebuzaradan said, ‘Return to Ahikam's son Gedaliah. The king of Babylon chose him to rule over the towns of Judah. Go and live with Gedaliah, among the people of Judah. Or you may go to any other place that you choose.’
Captain Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and a gift. Then he let him go. 6 So Jeremiah went to live with Gedaliah in Mizpah. He stayed among the few people who continued to live in Judah.
Gedaliah rules Judah
7 Some officers of Judah's army were living in fields in the country, with their soldiers.[b] They heard news that the king of Babylon had chosen Ahikam's son Gedaliah to have authority over Judah. He ruled over the very poor people of Judah who continued to live there. They were the men, women and children that Babylon's soldiers had not taken away as prisoners. 8 These army officers and their soldiers came to meet with Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers were:
Nethaniah's son Ishmael,
Kareah's sons, Johanan and Jonathan,
Tanhumeth's son, Seraiah,
the sons of Ephai, who came from Netophah,
and Jaazaniah, whose father came from Maakah.
9 Gedaliah made a serious promise to them that he would not hurt them. He said, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the soldiers from Babylon. Make your homes here in our land, but agree to serve the king of Babylon. If you do that, you will be successful. 10 I myself will stay here in Mizpah. If Babylon's officers come to visit me, I will speak on your behalf. But you should go and live in the towns that you have taken for yourselves. Then you can eat the things that you grow in your fields. You can pick grapes to make wine and olives to make oil. You can pick dates and figs. You can store these things in jars.’
11 There were people of Judah who had run away to live in Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries. They heard the news that the king of Babylon had let some people continue to live in Judah. They also heard that he had chosen Ahikam's son Gedaliah to be their ruler. 12 As a result, all those people returned to their homes in Judah. On their way, they stopped in Mizpah to meet Gedaliah. When they arrived, they picked a big harvest of dates, figs and grapes to make wine.
Ishmael murders Gedaliah
13 Kareah's son Johanan came to Mizpah to see Gedaliah. He came with the other army officers who had been hiding in the country. 14 They said to Gedaliah, ‘You should know that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Nethaniah's son Ishmael to kill you.’ But Gedaliah did not believe them.
15 So while Johanan was in Mizpah, he went to speak to Gedaliah alone. He said, ‘Let me go and kill Nethaniah's son Ishmael. Nobody will know who did it. If I do not kill him, he will surely kill you. Then the people of Judah who are here with you will run away. The few people who still remain in Judah will all disappear.’
16 But Ahikam's son Gedaliah, said to Kareah's son Johanan, ‘Do not do that! I do not believe the things that you tell me about Ishmael.’
David wrote this song.
How may we worship God?
15 Lord, who may stay with you,
in your own home?
Who may live there,
on your holy hill?[a]
2 It is the person who does only things that are right.
It is the person who lives in a completely good way,
and who speaks only what he knows is true.
3 He says nothing bad against other people.
He does nothing that will hurt his friends,
nor does he insult them.
4 He does not respect wicked people,
but he does respect people who serve the Lord.
When he promises to do something,
he always does it.
5 He lends his money to help other people,
and he does not ask for more money in return.
He does not accept a bribe,
to speak against people who have done nothing wrong.
People who live in this way will always be safe.
David wrote this prayer.
God will help me
16 Please keep me safe, God,
because I come to you for help.
2 I have said to the Lord,
‘You are my Lord.
All the good things that I have in my life
are gifts from you.’
3 When I think about your own people who live in this land,
it makes me happy!
They are truly great people!
4 But many troubles will come
to people who choose to worship other gods.
I will not join with them
to offer gifts of blood to their gods.
I will never use the names of their gods
to make promises.
5 You, Lord, are all that I need.
What you give to me is enough,
for me and for my descendants.
6 Yes, you have given to me a good way of life.
Your gifts are better than good fields
or valuable land.
7 I will praise the Lord,
who is my guide through life.
In the dark nights,
you help me to learn what is right.
8 I will always trust the Lord to be with me.
He is very near to me,
so I will not be upset.
9 I am truly happy and I thank God.
I know that my life is safe with God.
10 You, Lord, will not leave me
in the deep hole of death.
As one who belongs to you,
you will not leave my body to spoil in the grave.
11 You will lead me along the path of life.
Because you are with me,
I am very happy.
I know that I will be with you for ever,
and that makes me very happy!
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