M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David hears that Saul is dead
1 After David had won the fight against the Amalekites, he returned to Ziklag. He stayed in Ziklag for two days. Saul had already died.[a] 2 The next day, a man arrived from the camp of Saul's army.[b] He had dirt on his head and he had torn his clothes. When the man met David, he threw himself down on the ground to give honour to David.
3 David asked him, ‘Where have you come from?’
The man replied, ‘I have run from the Israelite army's camp.’
4 David said, ‘Tell me what happened in the battle.’
The man replied, ‘The Israelites ran away and the enemy killed many of them. Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.’
5 When the young man told this to David, David asked him, ‘How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?’
6 The young man said, ‘I was on Gilboa mountain. I saw Saul there. He had to use his spear like a stick to help him to stand. The enemy army with its horses and chariots were getting very near to him. 7 Saul turned round and he saw me. He shouted to me and I said, “Here I am, sir.”
8 He asked me, “Who are you?”
I said to him, “I am an Amalekite.”
9 He said to me, “Stand over me and kill me. I have a lot of pain and I am almost dead.”
10 I knew that he would soon fall down. He was too weak to live. So I stood over him and I killed him. Then I took the crown from his head and the ring that was on his arm. I have brought them here to you, my lord.’
11 Then David tore his clothes because he was very upset. The men who were with him did the same thing. 12 They cried and they wept until the evening. They did not eat any food. They were very upset about Saul and Jonathan, and all the Lord's people.[c] They were sad because so many Israelites had died in the battle.
13 David asked the young man who had brought the report to him, ‘Where are you from?’
The man replied, ‘I am an Amalekite, the son of a foreign man who lives in Israel.’
14 David said to him, ‘The Lord had chosen Saul to be Israel's king. You should have been very afraid to kill him!’
15 Then David said to one of his own young men, ‘Go and knock him down!’ So the man knocked him down so that he died. 16 David had said to the Amalekite, ‘You deserve to die because of what you have said. Your own words show that you did a bad thing. You yourself said, “I have killed the Lord's chosen king.” ’
David's song to remember Saul and Jonathan
17 David sang this song to remember the death of Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 He said that the people in Judah should learn this song. Its name is ‘The Bow’. It is written down in the Book of Jashar.[d]
19 ‘The greatest men of Israel now lie on the mountains. They are dead!
Those brave men have fallen to the ground!
20 Do not tell the people in Gath about it.
Do not tell the news in the streets of Ashkelon.
If you do, the daughters of the Philistines will sing with joy.
Yes, those foreign people who do not worship God will be happy.
21 You mountains of Gilboa, I hope that no rain or dew will come on you now.
I pray that no crops will grow in your fields to make grain offerings.
In those fields, the shields of brave soldiers became useless.
No longer will anyone clean Saul's shield with oil.[e]
22 When Jonathan shot arrows from his bow,
his enemies fell to the ground, dead.
He would never turn away from them.
Saul's sword also cut down his enemies.
He always finished the job.
23 People loved Saul and Jonathan as great people while they lived.
They were still together when they died.
They moved faster than eagles
They were stronger than lions.
24 You women of Israel, weep for Saul.
He gave you beautiful clothes to wear.
He gave you gold and jewels to fix on your clothes.
25 Brave soldiers have died as they fought a great battle!
Jonathan's dead body lies on Gilboa's hills.
26 My brother, Jonathan! I am very sad about your death.
You were my good friend.
Your love for me was very special.
It was better than the love of women.
27 The brave men have fallen in the battle!
Their weapons are now useless.’
Gifts from God's Spirit
12 My Christian friends, I want you to understand clearly about spiritual gifts. 2 You know how you lived before you came to know God. You let idols lead you in many wrong ways. And those idols cannot even speak! 3 This is what I want you to understand now. God's Spirit will never lead anyone to say, ‘God has cursed Jesus.’ And it is only God's Spirit that will lead someone to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
4 The Holy Spirit helps us with different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Spirit who gives them. 5 We serve the Lord in different ways, but all of us serve the same Lord. 6 We do different kinds of work. But it is the same God who helps us all to work in different ways.
7 God helps each of us with a gift from his Spirit. He does that so that we can help others.
8 The Spirit helps some people to speak wise messages. Other people can speak messages that help people to know what is true. It is the same Spirit that helps them to do that. 9 The same Spirit causes other people to trust God strongly. He gives to other people gifts to make sick people well. 10 The same Spirit gives other people power to do miracles. Other people can speak messages from God. Some people can recognize whether spirits are good or bad. Some people can speak in different kinds of languages. And other people can explain what those languages mean. 11 There is only one Holy Spirit. The same Spirit helps people to do all these different things. He decides which gifts he will give to each person.
One body with many parts
12 Each person has only one body, but that body has many parts. All those different parts make only one body. It is like that with Christ too. 13 When they baptized us, we all became parts of one body. It was the one Spirit who brought us together. It made no difference whether we were Jews or Gentiles. It made no difference whether we were slaves or free people. God poured his one Spirit into all of us.
14 A person's body does not have only one part. It has many parts. 15 If the foot could speak, it might say, ‘I am not a hand, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It is still a part of the body. 16 If the ear could speak, it might say, ‘I am not an eye, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It still belongs to the body. 17 If the whole body was an eye, the body would not hear anything. If the whole body was an ear, it would not recognize different smells. 18 But God has decided where each different part of our body should be.
19 If our body was all the same part, it would not be a proper body. 20 But as it is, a body has many parts. It is still only one whole body. 21 For that reason, the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you.’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’ 22 No. Even the parts of a body that seem to be weaker are very necessary. 23 Think about the parts of our body that are not very special. We dress them carefully! And we take special care of those parts that we do not want people to see. 24 But we do not need to do this with the beautiful parts of our body.
God has put all these parts together in one body. Some parts seem to be not very special. But God has shown that those parts are very valuable. 25 He has done that to bring all the parts together as one body. All the parts work together to help each other. 26 Then if one part of the body hurts, every other part also hurts. If people praise one part, every part of the body is also happy.
27 All of you together are Christ's body. And each of you is a part of that body. 28 Like the parts of a body, God has put people in different places in his church. First, there are apostles. Second, there are people who speak messages from God. Third, there are teachers. After that, there are people who do miracles. There are people who have gifts to make sick people well. There are people who help others in special ways. There are people who can lead others. And there are people who can speak different kinds of languages.
29 Not everyone in the church is an apostle. Not everyone speaks messages from God. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can do miracles. 30 Not everyone has the gifts to make sick people well. Not everyone can speak in different kinds of languages. Nor can everyone explain what messages in those languages mean. You know that. 31 But it is good if you really want the more valuable gifts from God.
Now I will show you a way that is better than anything else.
God's glory leaves the temple
10 In the vision, I saw something that looked like a throne. It was made from a blue jewel called sapphire. It was above the roof and it was high over the heads of the cherubs. 2 The Lord said to the man who was wearing linen clothes, ‘Go between the wheels that are under the cherubs. Pick up some of the hot coals that are burning among the cherubs. Fill your hands with them. Then throw them everywhere over the city.’ Then the man did this, as I watched him.
3 The cherubs stood at the south side of the temple when the man went in among them. A cloud filled the inside yard of the temple.[a] 4 Then the Lord's bright glory rose up. It went up from above the cherubs. It moved to the entrance of the temple. The cloud filled the temple. The bright glory of the Lord's shone everywhere in the yard. 5 The noise of the cherubs' wings was very loud. It reached as far as the outside yard. The noise was like the voice of Almighty God when he speaks.
6 The Lord gave a command to the man who was wearing linen clothes. He said, ‘Go in among the cherubs. Take coals of fire from between the wheels.’ So the man went in and he stood beside one of the wheels.
7 Then one of the cherubs put his hand towards the fire which was among the cherubs. He took some coals from the fire. He put them into the hands of the man who was wearing linen clothes. The man took the coals and he went out. 8 (Under the wings of the cherubs I could see something that looked like human hands.)
9 In the vision, I saw four wheels beside the cherubs. There was one wheel at the side of each cherub. The wheels shone like bright jewels. 10 All the four wheels looked the same. Each wheel had another wheel that went across the middle of it. 11 When the cherubs moved, they could go forward in any of the four directions. They did not have to turn as they moved. When the head turned in a certain direction, they would move that way. They did not need to turn. 12 Eyes completely covered their bodies. This included their backs, their hands and their wings. Eyes also covered the edges of all the wheels. 13 I heard someone call the wheels, ‘wheels that turn very fast’.[b]
14 Each of the cherubs had four faces. One face was the face of a bull. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was a lion's face. And the fourth face was an eagle's face.
15 The cherubs rose up into the air. They were the same as the living things that I had seen beside the River Kebar. 16 When they moved, the wheels that were beside them also moved. When the cherubs lifted up their wings to fly into the air, the wheels moved beside them. 17 When the cherubs stood still, the wheels also stood still. And when the cherubs rose in the air, the wheels also rose with them. This was because the spirit of the living things was in the wheels.
18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the entrance of the temple. It stopped at a place above the cherubs. 19 Then the cherubs lifted up their wings and they rose up from the ground. The wheels also moved with them. I watched them do this. They stopped by the east gate of the Lord's temple. The glory of Israel's God stayed above them.[c]
20 They were the same living things that I had seen beside the Kebar River when they were under Israel's God. I realized that they were cherubs. 21 Each of them had four faces and four wings. They had something with the shape of human hands under their wings. 22 They had the same four faces that I had seen beside the River Kebar. Each of them moved forward and they did not turn.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
Riches cannot save you
49 Listen to this, people from every nation.
Yes, listen carefully,
everyone who lives in this world!
2 All people must listen, whoever you are,
whether you are rich people or poor people.
3 I will speak wise words to you.
When you know my thoughts,
you will understand things better.
4 I have studied proverbs.
I explain what they mean
as I make music on my harp.
5 When trouble comes,
why am I afraid?
When cruel people are all round me,
and they want to hurt me,
why am I afraid?
6 Those people think that their money will keep them safe.
They are proud about their riches.
7 Nobody can pay the price to save another person.
Nobody can pay God the price for their life.
8 A human life costs too much to buy it back.
Nobody could ever pay enough.
9 So nobody can live for ever.
Everyone goes to their grave one day.
10 Surely you see that even wise people die,
in the way that fools and stupid people also die.
Then their money will belong to someone else.
11 Their graves will be their homes for ever.
They had their own land,
which was called by their name,
12 but people do not live for ever,
even if they are very rich.
They will die, just like the animals.
13 The same thing will happen to fools,
and to those who copy their way of life.
Selah.
14 They will follow one another like sheep.
Death will be their shepherd
that leads them into their graves.
But when the day arrives,
righteous people will rule over them.
They will no longer live in their great houses,
but death will destroy their bodies in their graves.
15 But God will save my life from the power of death.
He will take me to a safe place with him.
Selah.
16 If somebody becomes rich
and he has more and more things,
do not be afraid![a]
17 He cannot take anything with him when he dies.
His riches cannot go with him into death.
18 While he lived, he was happy with his life.
He thought, ‘People will praise me,
because I am rich.’
19 But he will join his ancestors in death.
He will never see the light of day again.
20 Rich people do not always understand the truth.
They will die, just like the animals.
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