M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
14 A young man carried the armour of Saul's son Jonathan. One day, Jonathan said to the young man, ‘Come with me. We will go over to the place where the Philistine soldiers have their camp.’ But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing.
2 Saul was staying near Gibeah. He sat under a big fruit tree at Migron. There were about 600 soldiers with him. 3 The priest Ahijah was with Saul. Ahijah wore the priest's ephod. Ahijah was the son of Ichabod's brother, Ahitub. Ahitub was the son of Phinehas and the grandson of Eli. Eli was the priest who had served the Lord in Shiloh.[a]
Nobody knew that Jonathan had left. 4 To reach the Philistines, he had to go along a narrow valley. There were high rocks on both sides of the road. The name of one rock was ‘Bozez’. The name of the other rock was ‘Seneh’. 5 The rock on the north side of the road was near Michmash. The rock on the south side was near Geba.
6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Now we will go to the camp of those foreign people. Perhaps the Lord will help us to win the fight. He can win a battle whether there are many soldiers or only a few.’
7 The young man said, ‘You must do whatever you think is right. I will serve you faithfully all the way.’
8 Jonathan said, ‘Listen! We will go across to the Philistines now. We will let them see us. 9 They may tell us to stop and wait for them to come to us. If they say that, we will stay here. 10 But they may ask us to go up and fight against them. Then we will do that. We will know that the Lord has put them under our power. It will be his sign to us.’
11 Jonathan and the young man stood where the Philistine soldiers could see them. The Philistines said, ‘Look! The Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding.’ 12 They shouted to Jonathan and the young man, ‘Come up here to fight against us! We will teach you how to fight!’
Jonathan said to the young man, ‘Follow me as I climb up to them. The Lord has put those men under Israel's power!’
13 Jonathan climbed up the rock wall on his hands and his feet. The young man climbed up behind him. Jonathan attacked and killed some of the Philistines. The young man followed behind Jonathan and killed more of them. 14 In the first fight, Jonathan and his young man killed about 20 Philistines in a small area.
15 All the other soldiers in the Philistine army then became very afraid. This included the soldiers in the camp, those in the fields, those who were guards, and the groups who were attacking other towns. Even the ground shook because God had made them all very afraid.
16 Some of Saul's soldiers who were with him in Gibeah were watching the Philistines. They saw that their soldiers were running away in different directions. 17 Saul said to his men, ‘Count our soldiers. Find out who is not here.’ When they did that, Jonathan and the young man who carried his armour were not there.
18 Saul said to Ahijah the priest, ‘Bring the ephod here.’ At that time, Ahijah was wearing the ephod. 19 While Saul was saying this, the Philistine soldiers were making more and more noise. They were all very confused. So Saul said to the priest, ‘Take your hand out of the ephod. It is time to go!’[b]
20 Then Saul and all the soldiers who were with him marched out to battle. They found that the Philistines were completely confused. They were fighting each other with their swords. 21 Before this time, some of the Hebrew men had gone to join with the Philistine army. Now they went back to join the Israelite army with Saul and Jonathan. 22 The Israelite soldiers who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim also heard the news. When they knew that the Philistine soldiers were running away, they chased after them as well. 23 In that way, the Lord saved Israel's people on that day. The battle moved all the way to Beth Aven and beyond it.
After the battle
24 The Israelite soldiers became very weak and hungry that day. Saul had told his army to agree to this promise: ‘Nobody may eat any food before this evening. By then I will have won against my enemies. If anyone eats anything before then, may God curse him!’ So no soldier in Saul's army ate any food.
25 Saul's army went into a forest. There was honey on the ground. 26 The men saw all the honey but none of them ate any of it. They were afraid that God would curse them. 27 But Jonathan had not heard about the soldiers' promise to his father. He pushed the end of his stick into the honey. He took some honey on his fingers and he ate it. Then he felt stronger. 28 One of the soldiers told Jonathan, ‘Your father made us promise not to eat any food today. We all agreed that God should curse anyone who eats anything. That is why we are all so weak.’
29 Jonathan said, ‘My father has caused a lot of trouble for all the people. Look what happened when I ate only a little bit of honey. I became strong again! 30 When our army won against our enemies today, we could have eaten the food that they left. Then our soldiers would have been strong enough to kill many more Philistines.’
31 That day, the Israelite army killed many Philistine soldiers. They chased the Philistines all the way from Michmash to Aijalon. After this, the Israelites became tired and weak. 32 So they quickly took sheep, cows and calves from the Philistines as food to eat. The soldiers were so hungry that they killed the animals on the ground. Then they ate the meat with the blood still in it.
33 Someone told Saul, ‘Look at what the army is doing. They are eating meat that still has blood in it. That is a sin against the Lord.’
Saul said to his soldiers, ‘You have turned against the Lord! Find a large stone and roll it here to me.’
34 Then Saul said, ‘Go around to tell all the soldiers, “Bring the cows and the sheep here. Kill them properly and eat them here. Do not eat meat which still has blood in it. That is a sin against the Lord.” ’ So that night every soldier brought an animal. They killed their animals on the stone.
35 Then Saul built an altar to worship the Lord. It was the first time that he had built an altar for the Lord.
36 Then Saul said, ‘We will go tonight and we will attack the Philistines again. We will chase them all night until dawn. We will kill all of them.’
The men answered, ‘Do whatever you think is right.’
But the priest said, ‘We should ask God first.’
37 Saul asked God, ‘Should we attack the Philistines? Will you give us power over them?’ But God did not answer Saul that day.
38 So Saul said to all the leaders of the army, ‘Come here. Someone has done a bad thing today. We must find out who has done it. 39 The Lord is the one who rescues Israel. As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that I will punish the man who has done this bad thing. Whoever it is must die, even if it is my own son Jonathan.’ But nobody in the army said anything.
40 Saul said to all the Israelites, ‘You stand on this side. My son Jonathan and I will stand on the other side.’
The people answered, ‘Do what you think is right.’
41 Then Saul prayed to the Lord, Israel's God. He said, ‘Please show us who has done this sin. Let the special stones, Urim and Thummim, show who has done it.’[c] The stones chose Jonathan and Saul. They did not choose the soldiers of the army.
42 Then Saul said, ‘Let the stones show whether it was Jonathan or me.’ The stones chose Jonathan.
43 Saul said to Jonathan, ‘Tell me what you have done.’
Jonathan told him, ‘I pushed the end of my stick into some honey. I ate a little bit. You have said that I must die.’
44 Saul said, ‘Jonathan, you must surely die! I ask God to kill me if I do not punish you with death.’
45 But the soldiers said to Saul, ‘No! Jonathan must not die! He has rescued Israel in battle. As surely as the Lord lives, we promise that he will not lose even one hair on his head. It is God who has helped Jonathan to win the fight today.’
In that way, the army saved Jonathan from death.
46 After that, Saul stopped fighting against the Philistines. The Philistines returned to their homes.
Saul leads Israel as their king
47 After Saul became king of Israel, he fought against all their enemies. He fought against the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Edomites. He fought against the kings who ruled in Zobah. He also fought against the Philistines. Saul won against all Israel's enemies, wherever they were. 48 He fought very bravely and he won against the Amalekites. Saul kept Israel safe from all the people who attacked them.
49 Saul's sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malki-Shua.[d] Saul had two daughters. Merab was his older daughter. Michal was his younger daughter. 50 The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam. She was the daughter of Ahimaaz. Abner was the leader of Saul's army. He was the son of Saul's uncle, Ner. 51 Abiel was the father of both Saul's father, Kish, and Abner's father, Ner.
52 During all of Saul's life there were wars between the Philistines and the Israelites. If Saul found a strong soldier or a brave man, he caused the man to join his army.
How to serve God
12 My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God. 2 Do not become like the people who belong to this world. But let God completely change the way that you think, so that you live differently. Then you will understand what God wants you to do. You will know what is good. You will know what pleases God. You will know what is completely right.
3 God has been kind to me so that I can serve him. Because of that, I say this to every one of you: Do not think that you are better than you really are. Instead, think about yourself carefully. Decide how much God has helped you to trust him. Then you will know how to serve him well. 4 Each part of our body works in a different way. But all the parts belong to our one body. 5 In the same way, we are many people, but we all belong to Christ, like one body. We also belong to each other, like the different parts of one body belong to each other.
6 God has been kind to us. He has given to each of us different gifts so that we can serve him. God helps some people to speak his messages clearly. Those people should trust God to tell them what to say. 7 God helps some people to serve others. They should do that well. God helps some people to be able to teach others. Those people should teach well.
8 If God has helped you to make others strong, then you should do that. If God has helped you to share your things with others, do that seriously. If God has helped you to be a leader, do that carefully. If God has helped you to be kind to others, do that happily.
Love people and help them
9 Really love other people, not like a hypocrite. Hate anything that is bad. Continue to do things that are good. 10 Love each other truly like brothers and sisters. Be really happy to respect other Christians. 11 Do not be lazy, but always work hard. Serve the Lord well because you enjoy it. 12 Be happy, because you can trust God to do what he says. Be patient when you have troubles. Always continue to pray. 13 If any of God's people need anything, then help them with what you have. Always be happy to let people stay in your home.
14 Ask God to bless people who cause trouble for you. Yes, ask him to be kind to them. Do not ask him to do bad things to them. 15 If you are with someone who is happy, you should also be happy. If you are with someone who is sad, you should also be sad. 16 Always try to agree and to be friends with each other. Do not be proud. Be friends with people who are not important. Do not think that you know everything.
17 If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way so that people will respect you. They will see that you do good things. 18 If it is possible, try always to be friends with other people.
19 My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible:[a]
‘The Lord God says,
“When people do something wrong,
I am the one who will punish them.
I will pay them back.” ’
20 But the Bible also says this:[b]
‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
If you help your enemy, he will become ashamed.
He will be sorry because of what he did to you.’
21 Do not let evil things win against you! Instead, do good things. Then you will win against the evil things that people do.
51 The Lord says this:
‘I will send an enemy to destroy Babylon and the people of Babylonia.
It will come like a strong wind that blows them away.
2 I will send foreign soldiers to remove them from their land,
like a wind that blows chaff away.
They will make the land become empty.
On the day of that great trouble,
they will attack Babylonia from all directions.
3 Do not give Babylon's soldiers time to pick up their weapons!
Do not give them time to put on their armour!
Kill all their young men.
Completely destroy their whole army.
4 Their dead bodies will lie on the ground
all over Babylonia and in the streets of the city.
5 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God,
will not leave Israel and Judah on their own.
Those people are guilty of many bad things
that they have done against Israel's holy God.[a]
6 Run away from Babylonia!
Run quickly to escape from there!
Do not stay there to die along with Babylonia's people.
The time has come for the Lord to pay them back for their sins.
He will punish them as they deserve.
7 Babylon has been like a gold cup of wine in the Lord's hand.
The nations of the world had to drink that wine.[b]
It made everyone become drunk,
and so they all became crazy.
8 But now Babylon will quickly fall.
An enemy will destroy it, so weep for it!
Find some medicine that will make its wounds better.
Perhaps it will become well again.
9 The foreign people in Babylon say,
“We tried to make its wounds better,
but it was not possible to do it.
Now we must leave it.
We must each go back to our own country.
Its punishment will have no end.
It will reach as high as the sky!”
10 The people from Judah who are in Babylon say,
“The Lord has shown that we are his people.
Now we must go to Jerusalem.
We must tell people in Zion
about how the Lord our God has helped us.” ’
11 ‘Make your arrows sharp!
Prepare your weapons!
The Lord has caused Media's kings to prepare for war.
He will use them to destroy Babylon.
The Lord will punish the people of Babylonia
because they destroyed his temple.
12 Wave a flag and prepare to attack Babylon's city walls!
Bring plenty of guards to watch all around the city.
Put soldiers to catch anyone who tries to escape.
Yes, the Lord will now do everything that he has decided.
He will punish Babylon's people, as he said he would do.
13 You people of Babylon, who live beside many rivers,
it is now time for you to die.
You have become rich with many valuable things,
but now your lives will finish.’[c]
14 The Lord Almighty has made this strong promise
with the authority of his own name:
‘I will cause the enemy's soldiers to fill your cities.
They will come like a big crowd of locusts.
They will shout loudly when they take your city for themselves.’
A song to praise the Lord[d]
15 The Lord used his power to make the earth.
He used his wisdom to make it strong.
He knew how to put the sky to cover the earth.
16 When he shouts like thunder,
the water in the sky roars.
He brings the clouds from the far places of the earth.
He causes bright lightning to show in the storms.
He opens his rooms so that the wind comes out
and it blows everywhere.
17 People who worship idols are stupid.
They do not understand what they are doing.
The men who make idols will be ashamed.
They make images of gods that are false.
None of their idols have the breath of life in them.
18 They are useless things that people should laugh at.
When the time for their punishment arrives,
God will destroy them.
19 The God that Jacob's descendants worship
is not like those idols.
He created everything.
He chose Israel's people to belong to him.
His name is the Lord Almighty.
20 ‘You are the weapon that I use to fight my battles.[e]
I have used you to punish nations.
I have used you to destroy kingdoms.
21 I have used you to destroy whole armies,
with their horses, chariots and riders.
22 I have used you to destroy men and women,
old men, young men, boys and girls.
23 I have used you to destroy shepherds and their sheep,
as well as farmers and their oxen.
I have used you to destroy rulers and their officers.
24 But now I will punish Babylon
and all the people who live in Babylonia.
I will pay them back for all the evil things that they did in Jerusalem.
And you will see me do that.’
That is what the Lord says.
25 The Lord says,
‘Listen to me, Babylon! I am your enemy!
You are like a strong mountain that destroys the whole earth.
I will punish you with all my strength.
I will push you down from your high place.
I will make you a heap of ashes.
26 Nobody will be able to use any of your stones
as a foundation for a new building.
You will remain as empty as a desert for ever.’
That is what the Lord says.
27 ‘Call the nations to come and fight a battle against Babylonia.
Wave a flag and make a noise with trumpets,
so that these kingdoms prepare their armies to attack:
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz.
Choose a captain to lead them into battle.
Send an army of soldiers on horses to attack,
like a large crowd of locusts.
28 Tell the nations to prepare their armies for war against Babylonia.
Tell the kings of Media to get ready,
as well as their leaders and officers.
The armies of the countries that they rule must also be ready to fight.
29 The whole earth will shake with pain
as the Lord punishes Babylonia.
He will certainly do what he has decided to do.
He will make the land of Babylonia as empty as a desert.
Nobody will live there.
30 The brave soldiers of Babylonia are no longer fighting!
They remain inside their strong buildings.
Their strength has gone! They are as weak as women.
In their cities, enemy soldiers are burning their houses.
They have broken down the city gates.
31 Now people run to send the news to the king of Babylon.
They pass this message along the line:
“The enemy has taken power over the whole city!
32 They have guards to stop people escaping across the rivers.
They have burned the reeds in the wet fields.
All our soldiers are afraid.”
33 The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this:
Babylon is like a threshing floor
that is ready for people to stamp on wheat.
The harvest time will soon come!
Then the enemy will cut down Babylon,
and they will stamp all over it!’
34 ‘King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has destroyed us with his army.
He has made us weak and confused.
He has eaten us like a hungry monster.
He has filled himself with all our good things.
Then he spat us out of his mouth.’
35 Zion's people then say to the Lord,
‘Please punish the people of Babylonia,
because they did cruel things to us.’
Jerusalem's people say,
‘Pay back the people of Babylonia,
because they killed our relatives.’
36 So the Lord says,
‘I will help you to win.
I will punish the people of Babylonia for what they have done to you.
I will cause all their rivers and their springs to become dry.
37 Babylon will become a heap of stones.
Wild animals will live there.
People will see that it is a disgusting place,
and they will laugh at it.
Nobody will live there.
38 Its people shout loudly, like lions that roar.
They make a noise like baby lions that are hungry.
39 While they are feeling so hungry,
I will prepare a feast for them.
I will cause them to become drunk,
and they will become helpless.
They will sleep for ever
and they will never wake up again.’
That is what the Lord says.
40 ‘I will take them down to the place of death.
People will kill them as if they are lambs, sheep and goats.’
41 ‘Now an enemy will take power over Babylon!
Everyone in the world praised it as a great nation.
But now all the nations will see that it is a disgusting place.
42 The sea will pour over it.
Many waves of water will cover it.
43 Babylonia's towns will become heaps of stones.
The land will be dry and empty, like a desert.
Nobody will live there any more.
Nobody will even travel through the land.
44 I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon.
I will cause him to give back everything that he has taken.
Nations will never go to worship him again.
Yes, the walls of Babylon will fall down!’
45 ‘Escape from Babylon, my people!
Run away to save your lives!
The Lord is very angry with that place,
so run away from there!
46 You must be brave!
When you hear news in Babylon of what is happening,
do not be afraid.
People will report one thing this year,
and next year they will report a different thing.
They will speak about violence in the land,
and about rulers who are fighting against each other.
47 So the time will soon come when I will punish Babylon's idols.
The whole country will become ashamed.
Its people will die and their dead bodies will lie everywhere.
48 Then everyone in heaven and everyone on the earth
will shout with joy because of what happens to Babylon.
They will be happy because an army will come from the north to destroy it.’
That is what the Lord says.
49 ‘Babylon's people have caused the death of people everywhere.
They have killed many Israelites.
So now Babylon must lose its power.
50 You Israelites who are still alive,
leave Babylon now! Do not wait!
You are far away from your homes.
But remember that the Lord is with you.
Think about Jerusalem.
51 You say, “We are ashamed. People have insulted us.
We hide our faces in shame
because foreigners have gone into the holy places of the Lord's temple.” ’
52 But the Lord says this:
‘The time will soon come when I will punish Babylon's idols.
People everywhere in that land will cry with pain,
because their wounds are causing them to die.
53 Babylon's people may build their city very high.
They may make its walls very strong.
But I will send an army to destroy it.’
That is what the Lord says.
54 ‘Listen to the noise that comes from Babylon!
People are crying in pain.
Listen to the noise of the enemy army
as it destroys Babylonia.
55 The Lord is preparing to destroy Babylon.
No noise will come from there any more.
The enemy soldiers will attack like great waves of water.
There will be a loud noise of battle.
56 An army is coming to destroy Babylon.
They will take hold of its brave soldiers.
They will break their weapons.
The Lord is a God who punishes people as they deserve.
He always pays them back for their sins.
57 I will make Babylon's officers and its wise men drunk,
as well as its rulers, its leaders and its soldiers.
They will sleep for ever
and they will never wake up again.’
That is what the King says. His name is the Lord Almighty.
58 The Lord Almighty says this:
‘The enemy will completely knock down the strong walls of Babylon.
They will burn its high gates with fire.
The nations work very hard,
but their work is useless.
They make themselves tired,
but fire destroys all their work.’
Jeremiah sends God's message to Babylon
59 This is the command that the prophet Jeremiah gave to the king's officer Seraiah. Seraiah was the son of Neriah and the grandson of Mahseiah. He took the message when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah. That happened in the fourth year that Zedekiah had ruled Judah as king. 60 Jeremiah had written on a scroll a list of all the terrible troubles that would happen to Babylon. Those were all the messages that he had written about Babylon. 61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘When you arrive in Babylon, you must read aloud all these messages. 62 Then say, “Lord, you have said that you will destroy this place. Then no people or animals will live in it any longer. It will be empty for ever.” 63 When you have finished reading aloud all the words on the scroll, tie a big stone to it. Throw it all into the middle of the Euphrates river. 64 Then say, “That is how Babylon will sink! It will go down and it will never rise up again. The Lord is ready to cause all these terrible troubles to happen to Babylon. Its people will be too weak to stop it.” ’
That is the end of Jeremiah's messages.
David wrote this song. He asks God to bless the Temple.
Thank you, Lord[a]
30 Lord, I will praise you,
because you have saved me from death.
You have not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I called to you for help,
and you have made me well again.
3 Lord, you pulled me up
out of the deep hole of death.
You saved me
from among those who are going into the grave.
4 Sing to the Lord,
you people who trust him.
Praise his holy name.
5 His anger continues only for a moment,
but he is kind to us for our whole life.
You may be sad all through the night,
but in the morning, you will be happy again.[b]
6 When I was feeling safe and strong,
I thought, ‘Nothing can ever destroy me.’
7 But Lord, it was you who made my kingdom strong,
because you are so kind.
But then you turned away from me,
and I became very afraid.[c]
8 I called to you for help, Lord.
I asked you to be kind to me, my Lord.
9 If I go down into the deep hole of death,
that will not help you!
My dead body cannot praise you there!
It cannot tell people to trust you!
10 Lord, please listen to me!
Please be kind to me!
Lord, please be my helper!
11 Now you have caused me to stop crying,
so that I dance instead!
I do not need to wear sackcloth,
because I am no longer sad.
Instead, you have made me very happy.[d]
12 So I am truly happy and I will sing to praise you.
I cannot stay quiet!
Lord, my God,
I will continue to thank you for ever.
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