M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Bringing Back the Ark of the Covenant
13 David talked with all the officers of his army. He talked with the commanders of 100 men and the commanders of 1,000 men. 2 Then David called the people of Israel together. He said, “If you think it is a good idea, and if it is what the Lord our God wants, let’s send a message. Let’s send it to our fellow Israelites in all the areas of Israel. Let’s also send it to the priests and Levites living with them in their towns and pastures. Tell them to come and join us. 3 Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of our God back to us. We did not use it to ask God for help while Saul was king.” 4 So all the people agreed with David. They all thought it was the right thing to do.
5 So David gathered all the Israelites from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath. They were to bring the Ark of the Covenant of God back from the town of Kiriath Jearim. 6 David and all the Israelites with him went to Baalah of Judah. (Baalah is another name for Kiriath Jearim.) They went there to get the Ark of the Covenant of God the Lord. His throne is between the golden creatures with wings on the Ark of the Covenant. It is called by the Lord’s name.
7 The people moved the Ark of the Covenant of God from Abinadab’s house. They put it on a new cart. And Uzzah and Ahio guided the cart. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their strength before God. They were singing and playing harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.
9 They came to the threshing floor of Kidon. The oxen pulling the cart stumbled. And Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark of the Covenant. 10 The Lord became very angry with Uzzah. And he killed Uzzah because Uzzah had touched the Ark of the Covenant. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God.
11 David became angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah in his anger. So even today that place is called the Punishment of Uzzah.
12 David was afraid of God that day. David asked, “How can I bring the Ark of the Covenant of God home to me?” 13 So David did not take the Ark of the Covenant with him to Jerusalem. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom of Gath. 14 The Ark of the Covenant of God stayed with Obed-Edom’s family in his house for three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything he owned.
David’s Kingdom Grows
14 Hiram king of the city of Tyre sent messengers to David. He also sent cedar logs, stonecutters and carpenters. He sent them to build a palace for David. 2 Then David knew that the Lord really had made him king of Israel. And he knew the Lord had made his kingdom very important. The Lord did this because he loved his people, the Israelites.
3 David married more women in Jerusalem. And he had more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of David’s children born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines
8 The Philistine people heard that David had been appointed king of all Israel. So all the Philistines went to look for him. When David heard about it, he went out to fight them. 9 The Philistines had attacked and robbed the people in the Valley of Rephaim. 10 David asked God, “Should I go and attack the Philistines? Will you let me defeat them?”
The Lord answered him, “Go. I will let you defeat them.”
11 So David and his men went up to the town of Baal Perazim. There he defeated the Philistines. David said, “Like a flood of water, God has broken through my enemies. He has done this through me.” So that place was named Baal Perazim.[a] 12 The Philistines had left their idols there. So David ordered his men to burn them.
13 Soon the Philistines attacked the people in the valley again. 14 So David prayed to God again, and God answered him. God said, “Don’t attack the Philistines from the front. Instead, go around them. Attack them in front of the balsam trees. 15 You will hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees. Then quickly attack the Philistines. I, God, will have gone out before you to defeat the Philistine army.” 16 David did what God commanded him to do. So David and his men defeated the Philistine army. They killed the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
17 So David became famous in all the countries. And the Lord made all nations afraid of David.
Faith and Wisdom
1 From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To all of God’s people who are scattered everywhere in the world:
Greetings.
2 My brothers, you will have many kinds of troubles. But when these things happen, you should be very happy. 3 You know that these things are testing your faith. And this will give you patience. 4 Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete. You will have everything you need. 5 But if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. God is generous. He enjoys giving to all people, so God will give you wisdom. 6 But when you ask God, you must believe. Do not doubt God. Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea. The wind blows the wave up and down. 7-8 He who doubts is thinking two different things at the same time. He cannot decide about anything he does. A person like that should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
True Riches
9 If a believer is poor, he should take pride that God has made him spiritually rich. 10 If he is rich, he should take pride that God has shown him that he is spiritually poor. The rich person will die like a wild flower in the grass. 11 The sun rises and becomes hotter and hotter. The heat makes the plants very dry, and the flower falls off. The flower was beautiful, but now it is dead. It is the same with a rich person. While he is still taking care of his business, he will die.
Temptation Is Not from God
12 When a person is tempted and still continues strong, he should be happy. After he has proved his faith, God will reward him with life forever. God promised this to all people who love him. 13 When someone is being tempted, he should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. 14 It is the evil that a person wants that tempts him. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him. 15 This desire causes sin. Then the sin grows and brings death.
16 My dear brothers, do not be fooled about this. 17 Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars. God does not change like their shifting shadows. 18 God decided to give us life through the word of truth. He wanted us to be the most important of all the things he made.
Listening and Obeying
19 My dear brothers, always be willing to listen and slow to speak. Do not become angry easily. 20 Anger will not help you live a good life as God wants. 21 So put out of your life every evil thing and every kind of wrong you do. Don’t be proud but accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save your souls.
22 Do what God’s teaching says; do not just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. 23 A person who hears God’s teaching and does nothing is like a man looking in a mirror. 24 He sees his face, then goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like. 25 But the truly happy person is the one who carefully studies God’s perfect law that makes people free. He continues to study it. He listens to God’s teaching and does not forget what he heard. Then he obeys what God’s teaching says. When he does this, it makes him happy.
The True Way to Worship God
26 A person might think he is religious. But if he says things he should not say, then he is just fooling himself. His “religion” is worth nothing. 27 Religion that God the Father accepts is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help; and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of religion that God accepts as pure and good.
The Vision of Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of fruit from the end of the harvest.”
Then the Lord said to me, “An end has come for my people, the Israelites. I will not overlook their sins anymore.
3 “On that day the palace songs will become funeral songs,” says the Lord God. “There will be dead bodies thrown everywhere! Silence!”
4 Listen to me you who walk on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor people of this country.
5 Your businessmen say,
“When will the New Moon Festival be over
so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so we can bring out wheat to sell?
We can charge them more
and give them less.
We can change the scales to cheat the people.
6 We will buy poor people for silver.
And we will buy needy people for the price of a pair of sandals.
We will even sell the wheat that was swept up from the floor.”
7 The Lord used his name, the Pride of Jacob, to make a promise. He said, “I will never forget what these people did.
8 The whole land will shake because of it.
Everyone who lives in the land will cry for those who died.
The whole land will rise like the Nile.
It will be shaken, and then it will fall
like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God says:
“At that time I will cause the sun to go down at noon.
I will make the earth dark on a clear day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will become songs of sadness for the dead.
I will make all of you wear rough cloth to show your sadness.
You will shave your heads to show sadness.
I will make that day like the crying for the death of an only son.
Its end will be very painful.”
11 The Lord God says: “The days are coming
when I will cause a time of hunger in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread or thirsty for water.
But they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 People will wander from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea.
They will wander from the north to the east.
They will search for the word of the Lord.
But they won’t find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young women and the young men
will become weak from thirst.
14 They made promises by the idol in Samaria.
They said, ‘As surely as the god of Dan lives . . .’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[a] lives, we promise . . .’
So they will fall
and never get up again.”
The Preaching of John
3 It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar. These men were under Caesar: Pontius Pilate was the ruler of Judea. Herod was the ruler of Galilee. Philip, Herod’s brother, was the ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis. And Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time, a command from God came to John son of Zechariah. John was living in the desert. 3 He went all over the area around the Jordan River and preached to the people. He preached a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of their sins. 4 As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet:
“This is a voice of a man
who calls out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make the road straight for him.
5 Every valley should be filled in.
Every mountain and hill should be made flat.
Roads with turns should be made straight,
and rough roads should be made smooth.
6 And all people will know about the salvation of God!’” Isaiah 40:3-5
7 Crowds of people came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s anger that is coming? 8 You must do the things that will show that you really have changed your hearts. Don’t say, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God can make children for Abraham from these rocks here. 9 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”[a]
10 The people asked John, “What should we do?”
11 John answered, “If you have two shirts, share with the person who does not have one. If you have food, share that too.”
12 Even tax collectors came to John to be baptized. They said to John, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 John said to them, “Don’t take more taxes from people than you have been ordered to take.”
14 The soldiers asked John, “What about us? What should we do?”
John said to them, “Don’t force people to give you money. Don’t lie about them. Be satisfied with the pay you get.”
15 All the people were hoping for the Christ to come, and they wondered about John. They thought, “Maybe he is the Christ.”
16 John answered everyone, “I baptize you with water, but there is one coming later who can do more than I can. I am not good enough to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He will come ready to clean the grain. He will separate the good grain from the chaff. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn. Then he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.”[b] 18 And John continued to preach the Good News, saying many other things to encourage the people.
19 But John spoke against Herod, the governor, because of his sin with Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother. John also criticized Herod for the many other evil things Herod did. 20 So Herod did another evil thing: He put John in prison.
Jesus Is Baptized by John
21 When all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus also was baptized. While Jesus was praying, heaven opened and 22 the Holy Spirit came down on him. The Spirit was in the form of a dove. Then a voice came from heaven and said, “You are my Son and I love you. I am very pleased with you.”
The Family History of Jesus
23 When Jesus began to teach, he was about 30 years old. People thought that Jesus was Joseph’s son.
Joseph was the son[c] of Heli.
24 Heli was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
Levi was the son of Melki.
Melki was the son of Jannai.
Jannai was the son of Joseph.
25 Joseph was the son of Mattathias.
Mattathias was the son of Amos.
Amos was the son of Nahum.
Nahum was the son of Esli.
Esli was the son of Naggai.
26 Naggai was the son of Maath.
Maath was the son of Mattathias.
Mattathias was the son of Semein.
Semein was the son of Josech.
Josech was the son of Joda.
27 Joda was the son of Joanan.
Joanan was the son of Rhesa.
Rhesa was the son of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the grandson of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the son of Neri.
28 Neri was the son of Melchi.
Melchi was the son of Addi.
Addi was the son of Cosam.
Cosam was the son of Elmadam.
Elmadam was the son of Er.
29 Er was the son of Joshua.
Joshua was the son of Eliezer.
Eliezer was the son of Jorim.
Jorim was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
30 Levi was the son of Simeon.
Simeon was the son of Judah.
Judah was the son of Joseph.
Joseph was the son of Jonam.
Jonam was the son of Eliakim.
31 Eliakim was the son of Melea.
Melea was the son of Menna.
Menna was the son of Mattatha.
Mattatha was the son of Nathan.
Nathan was the son of David.
32 David was the son of Jesse.
Jesse was the son of Obed.
Obed was the son of Boaz.
Boaz was the son of Salmon.[d]
Salmon was the son of Nahshon.
33 Nahshon was the son of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the son of Admin.
Admin was the son of Arni.
Arni was the son of Hezron.
Hezron was the son of Perez.
Perez was the son of Judah.
34 Judah was the son of Jacob.
Jacob was the son of Isaac.
Isaac was the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the son of Terah.
Terah was the son of Nahor.
35 Nahor was the son of Serug.
Serug was the son of Reu.
Reu was the son of Peleg.
Peleg was the son of Eber.
Eber was the son of Shelah.
36 Shelah was the son of Cainan.
Cainan was the son of Arphaxad.
Arphaxad was the son of Shem.
Shem was the son of Noah.
Noah was the son of Lamech.
37 Lamech was the son of Methuselah.
Methuselah was the son of Enoch.
Enoch was the son of Jared.
Jared was the son of Mahalalel.
Mahalalel was the son of Kenan.
38 Kenan was the son of Enosh.
Enosh was the son of Seth.
Seth was the son of Adam.
Adam was the son of God.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.