M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Saul Defeats the Amalekites but Spares Their King
15 Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.(A) 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.(B) 3 Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”(C)
4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand soldiers of Judah. 5 Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.(D) 7 Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.(E) 8 He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.(F) 9 Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fatted calves,[a] and the lambs, and all that was valuable and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.(G)
Saul Rejected as King
10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commands.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all night.(H) 12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal.”(I) 13 When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.”(J) 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”(K) 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” He replied, “Speak.”
17 Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.(L) 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’(M) 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”(N) 20 Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.(O) 21 But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”(P) 22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed than the fat of rams.(Q)
23 For rebellion is no less a sin than divination,
and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”(R)
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.(S) 25 Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” 26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”(T) 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore.(U) 28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.(V) 29 Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not deceive or change his mind, for he is not a mortal, that he should change his mind.”(W) 30 Then Saul[b] said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”(X) 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” And Agag came to him haltingly.[c] Agag said, “Surely death is bitter.”[d] 33 Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so your mother shall be childless among women.”
And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.(Y)
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.(Z) 35 Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.(AA)
Being Subject to Authorities
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.(A) 2 Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval,(B) 4 for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority[a] does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.(C) 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s agents, busy with this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Love for One Another
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.(D) 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(E) 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.(F)
An Urgent Appeal
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;(G) 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off[b] the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;(H) 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.(I) 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.(J)
The Destruction of Jerusalem Reviewed
52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.(A) 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.(B) 3 Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.(C) 4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around.(D) 5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.(E) 7 Then a breach was made in the city wall,[a] and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the King’s Garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.(F) 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered, deserting him.(G) 9 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.(H) 10 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.(I) 11 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.(J)
12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.(K) 13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.(L) 14 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.(M) 15 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans.(N) 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.(O)
17 The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon.(P) 18 They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service.(Q) 19 The captain of the guard took away the small bowls also, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the ladles, and the bowls for libation, both those of gold and those of silver.(R) 20 As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.(S) 21 As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; its circumference was twelve cubits; it was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers.(T) 22 Upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was five cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, encircled the top of the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates.(U) 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates encircling the latticework numbered one hundred.
24 The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold.(V) 25 From the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, seven men of the king’s council who were found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found inside the city. 26 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.(W) 27 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.(X)
28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;(Y) 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took into exile from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile of the Judeans seven hundred forty-five persons; all the persons were four thousand six hundred.(Z)
Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, showed favor to King Jehoiachin of Judah and brought him out of prison;(AA) 32 he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table.(AB) 34 For his allowance, a regular daily allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, as long as he lived, up to the day of his death.(AC)
Psalm 31
Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.(A)
2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.(B)
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me;(C)
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.(D)
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.(E)
6 You hate[a] those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.(F)
7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken notice of my adversities(G)
8 and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.(H)
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,[b]
and my bones waste away.(I)
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.(J)
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.(K)
13 For I hear the whispering of many—
terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.(L)
14 But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(M)
15 My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.(N)
16 Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.(O)
17 Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.(P)
18 Let the lying lips be stilled
that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.(Q)
19 O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!(R)
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
from contentious tongues.(S)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.