M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Jonathan helps David
20 Then David ran away from Naioth at Ramah. He went to Jonathan and he asked him, ‘What bad things have I done? What have I done to hurt your father? Why is he trying to kill me?’
2 Jonathan replied, ‘No. You will not die. My father tells me everything that he does, even the little things. So it is not true that he is trying to kill you. He would not hide this from me.’
3 But David answered, ‘Your father knows that you like me very much. He has decided that he will not tell you. He does not want to make you upset. I promise that my words are true, as truly as the Lord lives and you live. I know that I am very near to death.’
4 Jonathan said to David, ‘I will do anything that you want me to do for you.’
5 David said to Jonathan, ‘Tomorrow we have a special meal because of the new moon.[a] I should go and eat this meal with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field. I will stay there until the third evening. 6 Your father may see that I am not at the meal. If he does, say to him, “David asked me to let him go to his home in Bethlehem. His family offer a sacrifice there at this time every year.” 7 Your father may say, “That is good.” If he says that, I will know that I am safe. But if he becomes very angry, we will know that he has decided to hurt me. 8 Jonathan, please show that you love me. The Lord knows about the promise that you made, to be my friend. If I am guilty of a sin, please kill me yourself. Do not let your father kill me.’
9 Jonathan said, ‘No, that will never happen! If I ever find out that my father wants to kill you, I will surely tell you.’
10 David asked Jonathan, ‘If your father answers you in an angry way, who will tell me?’ 11 Jonathan said, ‘Come with me into the field.’ So they went there together.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, ‘I make this promise to you, and the Lord, Israel's God, knows that it is true. Tomorrow or the next day I will find out what my father is thinking about you. If he is feeling friendly to you, I will send someone to tell you. 13 But if my father wants to hurt you, I will tell you clearly. I ask the Lord to punish me, if I do not tell you. I will help you to escape and be safe. I pray that the Lord will bless you, as he blessed my father. 14 While I am still alive, please be kind to me. Continue to love me, as the Lord loves his people. And if I die, 15 continue to be kind to my family. Even when the Lord removes every one of your enemies from the earth, do not forget about my family.’
16 So Jonathan made an agreement with David's family. He said, ‘I am asking the Lord to destroy all David's enemies.’ 17 Jonathan asked David to promise again that they would be friends. That was because Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own life.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Tomorrow we will have the special meal because of the new moon. Nobody will be sitting in your seat, so people will know that you are not there. 19 The day after tomorrow, go back to the place where you hid the other time. Wait beside the rock called Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows towards the rock to see where they go. 21 Then I will send a boy to find the arrows. If you are not in danger I will say to the boy, “The arrows are on this side of you. Come and bring them here.” That will mean that you are safe. You can then come out from the place where you are hiding. As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that you will not be in trouble. 22 But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are beyond you,” you must run away. It will mean that the Lord has sent you away. 23 But never forget the promise that we have made to each other. The Lord will make sure that we are faithful to each other.’
24 So David hid in the field. At the time of the new moon, the king sat down to eat the special meal. 25 He sat beside the wall in his usual place. Jonathan sat with his face towards him. Abner sat beside the king. David's seat was empty. 26 Saul did not say anything about it that day. He thought, ‘Perhaps something has happened to David that has made him unclean. I am sure that is why he is not here.’[b] 27 The next day after the new moon, David's seat was still empty at the meal. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, ‘Why has Jesse's son not come to the meal? He did not come yesterday or today.’
28 Jonathan answered, ‘David asked me very strongly to let him go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, “Please let me go. My family is offering a sacrifice to God in the town. My brother told me that I must be there. If you agree as my friend, let me go to visit my brothers.” That is why David has not come to eat this meal with the king.’
30 Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said, ‘You stupid man! I see that you have turned against me! You have become a friend of that son of Jesse. You have brought shame on yourself. Your mother should be ashamed that she gave birth to you! 31 You will never rule as king while that son of Jesse is still alive. Send men to go and bring him to me now. He must die!’[c]
32 Jonathan said to his father, King Saul, ‘Why must David die? What wrong thing has he done?’
33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan and tried to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father had decided to kill David. 34 Jonathan was very angry. He got up from the table. He did not eat anything on that second day of the special meal. He was very upset because his father had insulted David.
35 The next morning, Jonathan went out to the field to meet David. He took a young boy with him. 36 He said to the boy, ‘I will shoot some arrows. You must run and find them.’ While the boy was running, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 The boy ran to the place where the arrow had reached. Jonathan shouted to him, ‘I think that the arrow is beyond you.’ 38 Then he shouted, ‘Hurry now! Go quickly. Do not wait.’ The boy picked up the arrow and he brought it back to Jonathan. 39 (The boy did not understand what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows back to the boy. He said to the boy, ‘Go now and take these things back to the town.’
41 When the boy had left, David came out from beside the rock. He went down on his knees in front of Jonathan. He bent down on the ground three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other and they wept. David wept even more than Jonathan did.
42 Jonathan said to David, ‘Go now and God will keep you safe. We have promised each other in the Lord's name that we will always be friends. The Lord will watch us to make sure that we always keep this promise. He will watch our descendants too, for ever.’
Then David left. Jonathan returned to the town.
How Paul taught God's message
2 Christian friends, I came to tell you God's true message. I did not use clever words when I spoke to you. I did not try to make you think that I was very wise. 2 While I was with you, I decided to teach you only about Jesus Christ. I taught you about his death on a cross. I wanted to forget everything else.
3 I lived among you as someone who felt weak. I was very afraid. 4 When I spoke to you and when I taught you God's message, I did not use clever words. I did not want you to believe me because you thought I was wise. Instead, it was the power of God's Holy Spirit that showed you that my message was true. 5 As a result, you now believe because of God's power. You do not believe because of human ideas.
6 But we do speak about wise thoughts to those of you who know Christ very well. But those wise thoughts do not belong to this world. They are not the ideas that the rulers of this world think are important. Those rulers will not be powerful for long. 7 No, the wise thoughts that we speak about belong to God. He has hidden them from people until now. But before God made the world, he decided to let us know these secrets. He wanted us to enjoy his glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world understood God's wise plan. If they had understood, they would not have killed Jesus on a cross. He is the Lord who rules heaven and earth. 9 This is written in the Bible:
‘Nobody ever saw or heard anything about this.
Nobody ever thought that it could happen.
But these are the things that God has prepared for his people who love him.’[a]
10 But God has sent his Spirit to show these secrets to us. God's Spirit looks carefully into everything. He even knows God's secret thoughts. 11 Only a person's own spirit can know everything that is in his thoughts. And it is the same with God. Only God's Spirit knows everything that is in God's thoughts. 12 We have received God's own Spirit, not a spirit that belongs to this world. As a result, we can understand all the good things that God has given to us. 13 Those are the things that we speak about. We do not use clever words to speak about human ideas. Instead, we speak the message that God's Spirit has taught us. In that way, we explain a spiritual message to people who have God's Spirit.
14 If someone does not believe in God, they cannot accept the message that comes from God's Spirit. They think that God's message is silly. They cannot even understand those things. Only God's Spirit can explain them to people. 15 But we have God's Spirit with us. So we can understand the true value of all things. But other people cannot truly understand us, who belong to God. 16 As it says in the Bible:
‘Nobody can know what the Lord God is thinking.
Nobody can tell him what he should do.’[b]
But we think about these things in the same way that Christ thinks.
A prayer[a]
5 Lord, please remember the trouble that has happened to us.
Look at us, because we are ashamed.
2 Strangers have taken the land that our ancestors gave to us.
Foreign people live in our homes.
3 We are children whose fathers have died.
Our mothers no longer have husbands.
4 We must pay money for the water that we drink.
We must buy wood for our fires.
5 Our enemies cause us to work like animals.
But the work is too difficult
and they will not let us rest.
6 We gave ourselves to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians,
so that we could get food to eat.
7 Our ancestors sinned, but they are dead.
Now we have the troubles that you caused because of them.
You punished us because of their sin.[b]
8 Slaves now rule us.
And there is nobody to save us from their power.
9 We meet danger when we work in the fields.[c]
Enemies are everywhere and they want to kill us.
10 Our skin feels as if we are burning.
We are so hungry that we are ill.
11 Enemies do what they want with the women in Zion.
They are cruel to the young women in Judah's cities.
12 They hang our leaders by their hands.
And they are cruel to our old men too.
13 They took the young men to make flour for them, like slaves.
Our boys have to carry heavy bags of wood.
14 Our enemies no longer let our old men decide things.[d]
The old men cannot say what is right or fair for us.
And the young men have stopped their music.
15 We are not happy any longer.
Instead, we are very sad,
so we do not dance any longer.
16 And we have no king in Jerusalem any longer.
We have sinned, so it will be very bad for us.
17 So our bodies feel ill and we feel ill deep inside us.
Our eyes are very tired and we cannot hope for good things any longer.
18 We are so sad because they destroyed Zion's walls and buildings.
Wild animals walk on them now.
19 But you, Lord, will be king for ever.
You will always rule us.
20 Tell us why you have forgotten us.
Tell us why you have left us alone for so long.
21 Help us to come back to you, Lord.
Let us be great again, like we were long ago.
22 Please do that, unless you have turned away from us completely.
Do not continue to be angry with us more than we can take.[e]
The Lord's servant, David, wrote this song for the music leader.
A message from God
36 A wicked person turns against God completely.
He does not respect God.
2 He is too proud to think about his sin,
so he does not hate it.
3 He speaks wicked things to deceive people.
He does nothing that is wise or good.
4 While he lies on his bed at night,
he thinks about bad things that he can do.
He lives only to do things that are not good.
He does not turn away from evil things.
5 Lord your faithful love reaches as high as the sky.
People can trust you beyond the clouds.
6 Your justice is like the strongest mountains.
You always do what is right,
more than the seas are deep.[a]
You take care of people and animals
and you keep them safe.
7 God, your faithful love has great value!
You keep all humans safe,
like birds protect their babies under their wings.
8 You have plenty of food in your house,
to give them all that they need.
You give them water from your river,
that makes them happy when they drink it.
9 Yes, you are the one who gives us light and life.
10 Continue to love those who serve you as your people.
Let good, honest people receive your justice.
11 Do not let proud people hurt me.
Do not let evil people chase me away from home.
12 Now I see that those wicked people have fallen down!
They are lying there on the ground,
and they cannot get up again!
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