M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David and Ziba

16 When David had passed a little beyond ^(A)the summit, ^(B)Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, ^(C)a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ² And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, ^(D)“The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who ^(E)faint in the wilderness to drink.” ³ And the king said, “And where is your master's son?” ^(F)Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.’” ⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” And Ziba said, “I pay homage; let me ever find favour in your sight, my lord the king.”

Shimei Curses David

⁵ When King David came to ^(G)Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was ^(H)Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came ^(I)he cursed continually. ⁶ And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷ And Shimei said as he ^(J)cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸ The Lord ^(K)has avenged on you all ^(L)the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this ^(M)dead dog ^(N)curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰ But the king said, ^(O)“What have I to do with you, ^(P)you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David’, who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, ^(Q)my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹² It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me,^[a] and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³ So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and ^(R)cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. ¹⁴ And the king, and all the people who were with him, ^(S)arrived weary at the Jordan.^[b] And there he refreshed himself.

Absalom Enters Jerusalem

^15 (T)Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ¹⁶ And when Hushai the Archite, ^(U)David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, ^(V)“Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷ And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? ^(W)Why did you not go with your friend?” ¹⁸ And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. ¹⁹ And again, ^(X)whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

²⁰ Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?” ²¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to ^(Y)your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and ^(Z)the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” ²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom ^(AA)on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines ^(AB)in the sight of all Israel. ²³ Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, ^(AC)both by David and by Absalom.

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

9 Now ^(A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about ^(B)the ministry for the saints, ² for I know your readiness, ^(C)of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready ^(D)since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But ^(E)I am sending^[a] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^(F)as I said you would be. ⁴ Otherwise, if some Macedonians ^(G)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the ^(H)gift^[b] you have promised, so that it may be ready ^(I)as a willing gift, ^(J)not as an exaction.^[c]

The Cheerful Giver

⁶ The point is this: ^(K)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[d] will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^(L)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(M)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And ^(N)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies ^(P)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(Q)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ^11 (R)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(S)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^(T)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ By their approval of this service, ^(U)they^[f] will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your ^(V)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ^15 (W)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, there were ^(B)two women, the daughters of one mother. ^3 (C)They played the whore in Egypt; ^(D)they played the whore ^(E)in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms^[a] handled. ⁴ Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^(F)They became mine, and they ^(G)bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^(H)Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Oholah played the whore ^(I)while she was mine, and ^(J)she lusted after her lovers ^(K)the Assyrians, warriors ⁶ clothed in purple, ^(L)governors and commanders, ^(M)all of them desirable young men, ^(N)horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. ⁸ She did not give up her whoring ^(O)that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. ⁹ Therefore ^(P)I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ^10 (Q)These uncovered her nakedness; ^(R)they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^(S)a byword among women, ^(T)when judgement had been executed on her.

^11 (U)“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^(V)more corrupt than her sister^[b] in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armour, horsemen riding on horses, ^(W)all of them desirable young men. ¹³ And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. ¹⁴ But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^(X)portrayed on the wall, the ^(Y)images of ^(Z)the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, ¹⁵ wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶ When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^(AA)sent messengers to them ^(AB)in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her ^(AC)into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^(AD)she turned from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. ¹⁹ Yet she increased her whoring, ^(AE)remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt ²⁰ and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. ²¹ Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed^[c] your young breasts.”

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^(AF)from whom you turned in disgust, ^(AG)and I will bring them against you from every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^(AH)Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^(AI)desirable young men, ^(AJ)governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ And they shall come against you from the north^[d] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^(AK)They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^(AL)I will commit the judgement to them, and ^(AM)they shall judge you according to their judgements. ²⁵ And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^(AN)that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^(AO)They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ^26 (AP)They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. ^27 (AQ)Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^(AR)your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt any more.

²⁸ “For thus says the Lord God: ^(AS)Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^(AT)into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹ and ^(AU)they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labour ^(AV)and leave you naked and bare, and ^(AW)the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰ have brought this upon you, because ^(AX)you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; ^(AY)therefore I will give ^(AZ)her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(BE)you have forgotten me and ^(BF)cast me behind your back, you yourself ^(BG)must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

³⁶ The Lord said to me: ^(BH)“Son of man, ^(BI)will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For ^(BJ)they have committed adultery, ^(BK)and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^(BL)offered up^[e] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸ Moreover, this they have done to me: ^(BM)they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^(BN)profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when ^(BO)they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^(BP)they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^(BQ)this is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰ They even sent for men to come from far, ^(BR)to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^(BS)painted your eyes, ^(BT)and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹ You sat on ^(BU)a stately couch, with a table spread before it ^(BV)on which you had placed my incense and ^(BW)my oil. ⁴² The ^(BX)sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards^[f] were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^(BY)bracelets on the hands of the women, and ^(BZ)beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³ “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!^{[g] 44} For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! ⁴⁵ But righteous men ^(CA)shall pass judgement on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶ For thus says the Lord God: ^(CB)“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^(CC)an object of terror and ^(CD)a plunder. ^47 (CE)And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^(CF)They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^(CG)burn up their houses. ^48 (CH)Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. ⁴⁹ And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^(CI)you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^(CJ)you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, ^(A)for the memorial offering.

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent