M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Gibeonites punish Saul's descendants
21 While David was king, there was a famine in Israel for three years. So David asked the Lord what had caused this trouble. The Lord said, ‘Saul's family is guilty of murder, because Saul killed many of the Gibeonites.’
2 The Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel. They were the only Amorite people who still lived. The Israelites had promised not to kill them.[a] But Saul thought that he should kill them. He thought that this would help Israel and Judah to rule their land.
Now King David told the Gibeonites to come to speak with him. 3 He asked them, ‘What can I do to help you? How can I make things right between us? I want you to bring the Lord's blessing to his people again.’
4 The Gibeonites answered David, ‘We do not want Saul's family to give us money or gold. And it would not be right for us to kill anyone in Israel.’
So David asked them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
5 They answered the king, ‘You know that Saul tried to destroy us. That man wanted to kill all of our family who were living in Israel. 6 So we want you to give us seven of his male descendants. Then we will kill them. We will hang their bodies at the place where people worship the Lord in Gibeah. That was Saul's town, the man that the Lord had chosen to be king.’
The king said, ‘I will give them to you.’
7 The king did not give Jonathan's son Mephibosheth to them. He was kind to Mephibosheth because of David's promise to Jonathan, Saul's son. David had made that promise in the Lord's name. 8 Instead, the king took Saul's two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth. Aiah's daughter Rizpah was their mother. He also took the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab. Adriel, the son of Barzillai from Meholath, was their father. 9 He gave them to the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites hanged them on a hill where people worshipped the Lord. All seven of them died together. That happened at the time when the barley harvest was beginning.
10 Aiah's daughter, Rizpah, put sackcloth on a rock and she sat on it. She stayed there to watch her sons' bodies, from the harvest time until the heavy rain came. During that time, she stopped the birds from eating the bodies in the daytime. At night, she kept the wild animals away.
11 They told David what Saul's slave wife, Rizpah, had done. 12 Then David went to fetch the bones of Saul and Saul's son Jonathan from the people at Jabesh Gilead. Their men had secretly taken their bodies from the open place in Beth Shan. The Philistines had killed Saul on Gilboa mountain and they had hung their bodies there.[b] 13 Now David brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan back from Jabesh Gilead. He also picked up the bones of the seven men that the Gibeonites had killed.
14 People buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the grave of Saul's father, Kish. The grave was in Zela, in land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe. The king had told them everything that they should do. After they had done all these things, God answered their prayers for their country.
Wars against the Philistines
15 Now the Philistines had started to attack the Israelites again. David went with his soldiers to fight against the Philistines. He became very tired. 16 A descendant of Rapha who was called Ishbi-Benob said that he would kill David. He had a bronze spear that weighed 3½ kilograms and he had a new sword. 17 But Zeruiah's son Abishai saved David. Abishai knocked down the Philistine and he killed him. So David's men said very strongly, ‘Our king, you must never again come out with us to fight a battle. You are like Israel's light. We do not want your life to finish.’[c]
18 Some time after that, the Israelites fought a battle against the Philistines at Gob. In that battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of Rapha.
19 In another battle against the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, the son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem, killed Goliath from Gath. Goliath's spear was very thick and heavy, like a big tree.
20 There was another battle at Gath. Another descendant of Rapha fought against the Israelites there. He was a very large man. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 21 He shouted to insult the Israelite soldiers. So Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimeah, killed him.
22 Those four Philistines were descendants of Rapha and they lived in Gath. David and his soldiers killed all of them.[d]
Paul says ‘hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. It is not any group of people or any one person that has given that authority to me. It is Jesus Christ himself who has chosen me to serve him. And God our Father, who raised Jesus to become alive again after his death, has also sent me. 2 All the believers who are here say ‘hello’ to you. We all send this letter to you.
I am writing to you, the people of the churches that are in Galatia.
3 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds. 4 Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice because of all the wrong things that we have done. He did that to save us from all the bad things of this world in which we live now. This is what God, our Father, wanted him to do. 5 God is great and we should praise him for ever. Amen. This is true.
The true message of good news
6 I am very surprised that you are turning away so soon from God. He is the one who chose you to come to him. He did that because Christ is very kind to you. But now you want to accept a different message which some people call good news. 7 But really, there is no other message from God which is good news. Some people are confusing you. They are trying to change the good news about Christ and make it something different. 8 Nobody should ever teach a message that is different from the good news that we taught you. Neither we ourselves, nor even an angel from heaven, should ever teach a different message. If anyone does that, I pray that God would curse him. 9 We have already said this, but now I will say it again. Do not accept any message that is different from the message that we taught you. If anyone teaches a different message, I pray that God will curse him very strongly.
10 When I say these things, I am not trying to please people. No, it is God that I want to please. If I only wanted to make people happy, then I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul's message is from God
11 The good news that I tell people did not come from any person on earth. I want you to know that, my friends. 12 Nobody on earth gave it to me. Nobody taught it to me. No, it was Jesus Christ himself who showed it to me clearly.
13 You know about the things that I did before, when I obeyed the Jewish rules. I caused very much trouble against God's church. I tried to destroy those people completely. 14 I obeyed the Jewish rules better than many other Jews who were my friends. I tried very much to obey the ideas that our Jewish ancestors taught. 15 But God had chosen me to serve him even before I was born. He chose me to be his servant because he is very kind. 16 He decided to show his Son clearly to me, so that I could tell the Gentiles about him.[a] When God chose me to do that, I did not talk about it with any person. 17 Nor did I go to Jerusalem to see Christ's apostles there. Those men were already his apostles before I was. But I did not go to talk to them. Instead, I went immediately to the region of Arabia.[b] Later, I went back to the city of Damascus.
18 Then, three years later, I did go to Jerusalem. I stayed there with Christ's apostle Peter for 15 days, so that he could teach me. 19 I did not see any other apostles, except James, who is the Lord's brother. 20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true! 21 Later, I went to different places in Syria and Cilicia.[c] 22 The Christians in the churches in Judea had never met me.[d] 23 They had only heard people say this about me: ‘This man caused bad trouble against us Christians before. He tried to destroy God's message about Jesus. But now he himself is telling people the good news about Jesus, so that they believe.’ 24 When the believers in Judea heard that, they praised God because of me.
God warns the king of Tyre
28 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, say this to the ruler of Tyre. “This is what the Almighty Lord says:
You are a very proud man.
You say, ‘I am a god and Tyre is my throne.
I rule over all the seas around me.’
But, whatever you think, you are only a man. You are not a god.
3 You think that you are wiser than Daniel,
and that you know all secrets.
4 You have been wise and clever enough to make yourself rich.
You have stored much gold and silver in your palace.
5 Because you are a clever trader,
you have become even richer.
And because of your riches, you have become very proud.
6 So this is what the Almighty Lord says:
You think that you are as wise as a god.
7 So listen! I will bring a foreign army to attack you.
They will be a very cruel enemy.
They will use their swords to destroy your beautiful city.
They will spoil the beautiful things that you have used your wisdom to get for yourselves.
8 They will kill you violently in battle,
and the sea will become your grave.
9 When your enemies attack you,
you will no longer say, ‘I am a god.’
When they are ready to kill you,
you will know that you are only human.
10 Foreign people will kill you.
You will die like people who do not belong to me.
I, the Almighty Lord have said this.” ’
11 The Lord gave this message to me: 12 ‘Son of man, sing this funeral song about the king of Tyre. Tell him, “This is what the Almighty Lord says:
At one time, you were the example of a good man.
You were completely wise and beautiful.
13 You lived in God's beautiful garden, Eden.
You wore valuable jewels on your clothes.
The jewels were ruby, topaz, emerald,
chrysolite, onyx, jasper,
sapphire, turquoise and beryl.[a]
They were fixed to pieces of gold.
They were ready for you to wear on the day that you were born.
14 I put you there with a cherub to be your guard.
You lived on my holy mountain.
You walked among the stones that burned with fire.
15 Everything that you did was completely good
from the day that you were born.
But later, you started to do wicked things.
16 As a trader, you bought and sold many things.
As a result, you became violent and you did evil things.
So I sent you away in shame.
I would not allow you to remain on my mountain.
The cherub that had been your guard chased you out.
You could no longer walk among the stones that burned with fire.
17 But because you were so beautiful, you were very proud.
You used your wisdom to do bad things,
because you loved to have beautiful things.
So I threw you down to the ground.
I let other kings see what had happened to you.
18 As a trader, you did many wrong things to cheat people.
Your holy places became unclean.
So I caused fire to completely destroy your city.
Everyone could see that only ashes remained on the ground.
19 All the people of other nations who knew you are very afraid.
They have seen the terrible thing that has happened to you.
You have come to a complete end and you will never return.” ’
God warns Sidon[b]
20 The Lord gave this message to me: 21 ‘Son of man, turn and look towards Sidon. Tell them my message to warn them. 22 Say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says:
Listen! I have become your enemy, Sidon.
I will show your people how great I am.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
I will punish your people for their sins
so that they know that I am a holy God.
23 I will cause disease to kill people in the city.
Enemies will attack from all around the city,
and people will die in the streets.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
24 Israel will no longer suffer because of the nations that are around them. Those nations will not be like sharp thorns that give the Israelites pain. They will not insult the Israelites any more. Then they will know that I am the Almighty Lord.
25 This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will bring Israel's people back from the countries where I sent them to live. Then all the nations will see that I am a holy God for my people. My people will live in their own land that I gave to my servant, Jacob.[c] 26 They will live there safely. They will build houses and they will plant vineyards. I will punish all the nations around them who have insulted them. Then my people will live safely in their homes. And they will know that I am the Lord their God.” ’
Asaph wrote this song for the music leader, Jeduthun.
A prayer in times of trouble[a]
77 I will call out to God for help.
I will call aloud to God,
and he will listen to me.
2 When trouble came to me,
I looked for the Lord to help me.
All through the night,
I lifted my hands to him while I prayed.
But I did not feel peace in myself.
3 When I think about God,
I am sad and upset.
I do not know if he will help me.
Selah.
4 God, you do not let me close my eyes to sleep.
I am so upset that I cannot even speak.[b]
5 I think about my life long ago,
in the years that have passed.
6 At night, I remember the songs that I sang before.
I think carefully about what is happening.
7 I ask myself, ‘Will the Lord always turn against me?
Will he never be kind to me again?
8 Does he no longer have a faithful love for his people?
Will he never do what he has promised us?
9 Has God forgotten to be kind and help us?
Is he so angry that he will not be kind to us any more?’[c]
Selah.
10 Then I said, ‘This makes me very upset!
Has the Most High God stopped helping us?
11 I will remember the things that the Lord has done.
Yes, I will remember the miracles that you did long ago.
12 I will think about everything that you have done.
I will think carefully about all those great things.’
13 God, your ways are holy.
There is no god as great as our God.
14 You are the God who does miracles.
You show the nations
that you are very powerful.
15 You used your power to rescue your people.
Yes, you saved the descendants
of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah.
16 The waters of the sea saw you, God.
When they saw you,
they shook with fear!
Even the deepest seas were afraid.
17 Rain poured down from the clouds.
The noise of thunder was in the skies.
Your arrows of lightning
shot everywhere.
18 The sound of your thunder was in the storm.
Your lightning made all the world bright.
The earth shook.
19 You went through the sea.
Your path went through the deep water,
but nobody saw where your feet had gone.
20 You led your people,
as a shepherd leads his sheep.
Moses and Aaron did that for you.
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