M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God chooses Samuel

3 The boy Samuel continued to serve the Lord. Eli the priest taught him what to do. In those days, the Lord did not often give his messages to people. He did not often show things to them in visions.

² Eli's eyes had become weak. He could not see very well. One night, he was sleeping in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God was still burning.^[a] Samuel was lying down to sleep near the Covenant Box in the Lord's house. ⁴ Then the Lord called out to Samuel. Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁵ Samuel ran to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

But Eli said, ‘I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’ So Samuel went and he lay down again.

⁶ Again the Lord called out, ‘Samuel’. So Samuel went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

Eli answered, ‘My son, I did not call your name. Go back and lie down again.’

⁷ Samuel did not know the Lord yet. The Lord had not spoken to him before. ⁸ Then the Lord called Samuel's name for the third time. Samuel got up again. He went to Eli and he said, ‘You called my name. Here I am.’

Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy's name. ⁹ So Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go back and lie down again. If he calls your name again, you must say, “Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening.” ’ So Samuel went back and he lay down in his place.

¹⁰ The Lord came and he stood near to Samuel. He called Samuel's name again, as he had done before. He said, ‘Samuel, Samuel’. Samuel said, ‘Speak. I am your servant and I am listening.’^[b]

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to me. I am ready to do something great among the Israelite people. When people hear about it, they will shake with fear. ¹² When that day arrives, I will punish Eli and his family in all the ways that I have said. I will start at the beginning and I will continue to the end. ¹³ I have warned Eli that I would punish his family for all time. He knew that his sons were doing very bad things. They were insulting me, God, and Eli did not stop them. ¹⁴ So I made a strong promise and I said, “I will never forgive the sins of Eli's family. No sacrifices or offerings will ever take away those sins.” ’

¹⁵ Samuel lay down again until the morning. Then he opened the doors of the Lord's house. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision that he had received from God. ¹⁶ But Eli called out to Samuel, ‘Samuel, my son.’ Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’

¹⁷ Eli asked Samuel, ‘What message did the Lord speak to you? You must not hide it from me. God will certainly punish you if you do not tell me everything that he said to you.’

¹⁸ So Samuel told Eli everything. He did not hide any of God's message. Then Eli said, ‘The Lord. must do what he thinks is right.’

¹⁹ The Lord was with Samuel while he continued to grow up. So every message that Samuel spoke became true. ²⁰ In all Israel, from the north to the south, everyone realized that Samuel was truly the Lord's prophet.^{[c] 21} The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh. He showed himself to Samuel and he spoke to him there.

3 So someone may ask, ‘Does it help a person if they are a Jew, rather than a Gentile? Does it help a person if someone has circumcised them?’ ² Yes, it helps in many ways. The first is that God chose to give his messages to the Jewish people. ³ But you may say, ‘Some Jews did not believe God's messages as they should have done. Because of that, maybe God will not do what he said he would do.’ ⁴ No, certainly it does not mean that! God will always do what he says. He will always say what is true, even if everyone in the world should tell lies. This is what is written in the Bible:

⁵ Maybe some people may say, ‘The wrong things that we do show more clearly that God is always right. So perhaps God is wrong to punish us.’ ⁶ That is not true! God always decides what is right and fair. That is why he is able to judge everyone in the world.

⁷ Someone might also say, ‘When I tell lies, that shows how great and good God is. My lies show more clearly that God always says what is true. So God should not say that I am a bad person. He should not punish me.’ ⁸ But if that is true, you could also say, ‘We should do more and more bad things. Then something good will happen as a result.’ Some people even say that is the message which I teach. But if they say that, they are insulting me. It is right that God should punish those people.

Nobody is right with God

⁹ So then, what do we learn from that? We cannot say that we Jews are better than other people. No, certainly we cannot say that! I have said already that sin has power over everyone. That is true for both Jews and Gentiles. ¹⁰ This is written in the Bible:

¹⁹ So, we know that God's Law belongs to the Jews. God told them to obey everything that his Law teaches. As a result, nobody can say: ‘God should not punish me.’ Everybody in the world must stand in front of God and he will judge them. ²⁰ God's Law shows people clearly that they have done wrong things. Nobody can become right with God because they obey that Law.

How God accepts people

²¹ But now we know how to become right with God. God has shown us the way that he will accept people as right with himself. This way is not part of the Law that he gave to Moses. But God's Law and the messages of his prophets have told us about it. ²² God accepts people as right with himself because Jesus Christ did what God wanted. God accepts every person who believes in Christ. It is the same way for everyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

²³ All people have done wrong things. Nobody can be good and great, as God wanted them to be. ²⁴ But because God is very kind, he accepts us as right with himself. That is God's gift to us. Jesus Christ has paid for our sins so that we have become free. ²⁵ God showed everyone that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. God forgives us if we trust in Jesus and the blood of his sacrifice. God did this to show clearly that he is always right and fair. In past times, God was patient. He did not punish people who did wrong things. ²⁶ He did this to show us today that he is completely right and fair. He accepts people as right with himself if they believe in Jesus.

²⁷ So then, nobody should be proud that they are good enough. Nobody becomes right with God because they have done good things. No! God accepts a person only if that person believes in Jesus Christ. ²⁸ So this is what we are saying. A person becomes right with God if they trust in Christ. It is not because they do the good things which God's Law teaches.

²⁹ God is not God only for Jewish people. He is also God for the Gentiles. Yes! He is the God for all people. ³⁰ There is only one God. He will accept Jews as right with himself if they believe in Christ. He will also accept other people as right with himself if they believe in Christ. ³¹ What does this show us about God's Law which he gave to Moses? When we say that all people need to believe in Jesus, does that mean that God's Law has no purpose? No! When we believe in Jesus, we are showing the true purpose of God's Law.

41 But in the seventh month of the year, Nethaniah's son Ishmael went to Mizpah to visit Ahikam's son Gedaliah. Ishmael was the grandson of Elishama who belonged to the royal family. He had been an officer who served King Zedekiah. Ishmael brought ten of his men with him. They were all eating a meal with Gedaliah in Mizpah. ² During the meal, Ishmael and his ten men stood up. They took hold of their swords and they killed Gedaliah, Ahikam's son and grandson of Shaphan. Ishmael and his men killed the man that the king of Babylon had chosen to rule Judah. ³ Ishmael also killed the men of Judah and the soldiers of Babylon who were there with Gedaliah.

⁴ The next day, before anyone knew about Gedaliah's murder, ⁵ 80 men arrived in Mizpah. They had come from their homes in Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria. They brought grain offerings and incense to offer to the Lord in his temple. They had cut off their beards, torn their clothes and cut their skin to show that they were very upset. ⁶ Nethaniah's son Ishmael went out of the city to meet them. He was weeping as he went. When he met the men, he said to them, ‘Come with me to meet Ahikam's son Gedaliah.’ ⁷ So they all went into the city. Then Ishmael and his men killed them. They threw the dead bodies into a deep hole which stored water. ⁸ But ten of the men said, ‘Please do not kill us! We have hidden lots of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey in a field. We will give it to you.’ So Ishmael let them stay alive. He did not kill them with the other men. ⁹ Ishmael filled the deep hole with all the dead bodies of the men he had murdered. The hole had been built by King Asa to store water. Asa had dug holes like that to keep the city safe from King Baasha of Israel.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael took hold of all the other people in Mizpah who were still alive. He made them his prisoners. These people included the king's daughters, as well as all the other people who remained in Mizpah. Captain Nebuzaradan had said that Ahikam's son Gedaliah would have authority over those people. But Ishmael took them away as his prisoners. He started to take them towards the land of Ammon.

Johanan rescues the people from Ishmael

¹¹ Kareah's son Johanan and the army officers who were with him heard news about what had happened. They heard about the wicked things that Nethaniah's son Ishmael had done. ¹² So they took all their soldiers to go and fight against Ishmael. They chased after him. They caught him near the large pool at Gibeon. ¹³ All the people that Ishmael had taken as his prisoners saw Johanan and the officers who were with him. They were very happy to see them. ¹⁴ All the people that Ishmael had taken away from Mizpah ran away from him. They went to join Kareah's son Johanan. ¹⁵ But Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan. They went to live among the Ammonite people.

¹⁶ Johanan and the army officers who were with him led the people away from Gibeon. Those were the people who were still alive in Mizpah after Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah. Now Johanan and his men had rescued them from Ishmael. Johanan brought those men, women, children, soldiers and palace officers away from Gibeon.

¹⁷ They started on the way towards Egypt. They stopped at Geruth Kimham, a town that is near Bethlehem. ¹⁸ They were afraid that the soldiers of Babylon would want to kill them. They would be angry because Nethaniah's son Ishmael had killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah. The king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah to rule Judah.

David wrote this prayer.

A prayer for help