M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David wins more fights[a]
8 Some time later, David attacked the Philistines, and he won the fight against them. He now had power over them and over their towns.
2 David also won a battle against the Moabites. He made the Moabite prisoners lie down on the ground. Then he used a piece of rope to measure them into groups. When he had measured two groups, he would tell his men to kill all those prisoners. When he measured the next group, he would let those prisoners stay alive. So the Moabites were now under David's authority and they began to pay taxes to him.
3 David also won a battle against Rehob's son, Hadadezer, king of Zobah. This happened when Hadadezer took his army to the Euphrates river to show that he had authority there. 4 David took from Hadadezer 1,700 men who drove chariots. He also caught 20,000 of Hadadezer's other soldiers. David kept 100 of the horses that pulled chariots. But he cut the legs of the other horses so that they could not run.
5 The Syrians from Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer of Zobah. But David killed 22,000 soldiers of the Syrian army. 6 David put groups of his soldiers in Damascus to be guards over the Syrian people. So the Syrians were now under David's authority and they paid taxes to him. The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.
7 David took the gold shields that Hadadezer's officers had carried. He brought the shields to Jerusalem. 8 David also took a lot of bronze things from Tebah and Berothai, towns that had belonged to Hadadezer.
9 Toi, the king of Hamath, heard news that David had won the battle against the whole army of Hadadezer. 10 There had been a war between King Hadadezer and King Toi. So now Toi sent his son, Joram to say ‘hello’ to David. He wanted to thank David because he had won the battle against King Hadadezer. Joram brought gifts to David that were made of gold, silver and bronze.
11 David took these gifts and he offered them to the Lord. He also offered to the Lord all the silver and gold things that he had taken from other nations. Those were all the nations that David had won against in battle. 12 They included Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites. He also offered to the Lord things that he had taken from Rehob's son, King Hadadezer of Zobah.
13 After that, David's army won a battle in the Valley of Salt against 18,000 Edomites. David became very famous because of that. 14 He put groups of his soldiers in every part of Edom's land, so that David had authority over all the Edomites. The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.
David's officers
15 David ruled over all Israel. He did everything that was right and fair for all his people. 16 Zeruiah's son, Joab, was the leader of Israel's army. Ahilud's son, Jehoshaphat, wrote down the important things that happened. 17 Ahitub's son Zadok and Abiathar's son Ahimelech were priests. Seraiah was David's secretary. 18 Jehoiada's son Benaiah was the leader of David's personal guards.[b] David's sons served as priests.[c]
David helps Mephibosheth
9 David asked, ‘Is there anyone from Saul's family who is still alive? I want to be kind to them because Jonathan was my friend.’
2 Saul's family had a servant called Ziba. So they asked him to come to see David. The king said to him, ‘Are you Ziba?’
Ziba replied, ‘Yes, I am your servant.’
3 The king asked him, ‘Is there anyone from Saul's family who is still alive? I want to be kind to them because of God's faithful love for his people.’[d]
Ziba replied, ‘One of Jonathan's sons still lives. But both his feet are weak so that he cannot walk properly.’
4 The king asked Ziba, ‘Where is he?’
Ziba answered, ‘He lives in the house of Ammiel's son, Makir, in Lo-Debar.’
5 So David sent his men to bring him from the house of Ammiel's son, Makir, in Lo-Debar.
6 Then Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, grandson of Saul, came to David. He bent his body down to the ground to respect David.
David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’
Mephibosheth replied, ‘Yes, I am your servant.’
7 David said to him, ‘Do not be afraid. I will be kind to you because your father Jonathan was my friend. I will give back to you all the land which belonged to your grandfather, Saul. You will always be able to eat here with me.’
8 Mephibosheth bent his body low. He said, ‘I am your servant, no better than a dead dog. I do not deserve that you should be so kind to me.’
9 Then David sent his men to fetch Saul's servant, Ziba. David said to him, ‘I have given everything that belonged to Saul or his family to your master's grandson, Mephibosheth. 10 You, your sons and your servants must work on the land for him. You must grow crops that will be food for your master's grandson to eat. But Mephibosheth will always be able to eat with me.’ Ziba himself had 15 sons and 20 servants.
11 Ziba said to the king, ‘I am your servant. I will do everything that my lord the king has told me to do.’ So after that, Mephibosheth ate meals at the king's table. He was like one of the king's own sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son called Mica. Ziba and all his family and servants became servants to Mephibosheth. 13 That is how Mephibosheth came to live in Jerusalem. He could always eat his meals at the king's table. He had two weak feet, so he could not walk properly.
2 Because of that, I decided not to visit you again at that time. I did not want to make you sad. 2 You are the only people who can make me happy. So, if I make you sad, there will be nobody to make me happy. 3 That is why I did not visit you. I wrote that letter to you instead. You are the people who should make me happy. I did not want you to make me sad when I visited you. I felt sure about all of you. I knew that, if I was happy, then all of you would be happy too.
4 When I wrote that letter, I was very sad and upset. I cried a lot. I did not want to make you sad. Instead, I wanted you to know that I love you very much.
5 Someone among you has done things that have made other people sad. That person has made me sad. But really he has made all of you much more sad than me. I do not want to say more about this than is necessary. 6 Most of you have agreed to punish him. That should be enough. 7 Now, you should forgive him. You should comfort him. If you do not do that, he may become too sad. He may not be able to think properly. 8 So I tell you this: Please show him that you really do love him.
9 When I wrote that letter to you, I wanted to know what you would do. I wanted to see if you would do everything that I told you. 10 When you forgive anyone, I also forgive that person. Whatever bad thing somebody has done, I have Christ's authority to forgive them. And I do it to help you. 11 We do not want Satan to win against us. He is very clever. We know how he likes to cause us to have trouble.
The good news about Christ
12 I went to Troas city to tell people the good news about Christ.[a] When I arrived there, I discovered that the Lord had already prepared people to listen. 13 But I was not happy in my thoughts because I could not find my friend Titus there. So I said ‘goodbye’ to those people and I travelled on to Macedonia.
14 But I thank God! He has won against sin, because of what Christ has done. Christ is our leader and we show that he is the winner. We also help people to know about Christ. That knowledge is like a lovely smell that comes to people everywhere. 15 When we tell people about Christ, we are like a lovely smell that rises up to God. We are like that among the people that God is saving. We are also like that among the people who are dying because they are far from God. 16 For the people who are dying, we are like a bad smell that brings a message of death. But for the people that God is saving, we are like a lovely smell that brings a message of new life.
Nobody is really good enough to tell such an important message! 17 Some people even tell God's message because they want to get a lot of money for themselves. But we are not like them. No, God himself has sent us to do this work. And he sees what we are doing. So we are honest and we speak God's message clearly, as Christ's servants should do.
16 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, warn Jerusalem's people about the disgusting things that they do. 3 Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says to Jerusalem's people: You were born in the land of Canaan. That is where you came from. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.[a] 4 They did not take proper care of you on the day that you were born. They did not wash you properly. They did not cut your cord. They did not put salt or oil on your skin. They did not put cloths around you.[b] 5 Nobody was kind enough to do any of these things for you. Instead, they threw you out into a field. Nobody loved you on the day that you were born.
6 Then I saw you as I went that way. You were lying there on the ground in your blood. You were trying to move. While you lay there, I said to you, ‘Stay alive.’ 7 I made you grow well, like the plants in a field. You became tall and beautiful, like a bright jewel. Your breasts grew and your hair became long. But you still had no clothes to cover your bare body.
8 Later, I saw you again as I went that way. I saw that you had become a woman who was old enough to marry. So I covered your bare body with my coat. I promised to marry you. I made a covenant with you so that you became my wife. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
9 Then I washed your body with water. I washed away the blood and I put sweet oil on your body. 10 I put a beautiful dress on you. I put the best leather shoes on your feet. I dressed you with clothes made from linen and other expensive cloths. 11 I put beautiful jewels on you. I put rings on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 I put a gold ring in your nose. I put rings in your ears. And I put a beautiful crown on your head. 13 I used gold and silver to make you beautiful. I gave you expensive clothes that were made of linen and other pretty cloth. I gave you good food to eat, flour, honey and olive oil. You became a very beautiful woman. You even became a queen. 14 The people of other nations heard news about your beauty. That was because of all the good things that I had given you to make you very beautiful. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
15 But you trusted your beauty to give you what you wanted. Because you were famous, you lived like a prostitute. You had sex with any man that you liked. They all enjoyed your beautiful body. 16 You used some of your clothes to give honour to idols. You made their altars beautiful. You had sex with those men there on your beautiful cloths. Those things should never happen! 17 You took your beautiful gold and silver rings and your jewels. You used them to make images of male idols for yourself. You worshipped them instead of me. 18 You put your beautiful clothes on them. You gave them my oil and my incense as an offering. 19 You also offered to those idols the food that I had given to you, the good flour, the olive oil and the honey. You wanted to please your idols with sweet smells. Yes, that is what happened! That is what the Almighty Lord says.
20 You also offered your sons and your daughters as sacrifices to those idols. They were my children too! But you offered them as food to your idols. Like a prostitute, you were not faithful to me. 21 But you did an even worse thing. You killed my children. You offered them as sacrifices to idols! 22 You forgot what you were like when I first found you. At that time you had no clothes to cover your bare body. You lay on the ground in your own blood. You did not remember this. Instead, you chose to do disgusting things and live as a prostitute.
23 Terrible trouble will come to you! That is what the Almighty Lord says. You did even more wicked things than these. 24 In the public places of every town you built huts to worship your idols. 25 You built these high places at the end of every street. There you made your beauty a disgusting thing. You offered your body to anyone who went past. Everyone knew that you were a prostitute. 26 You had sex with the Egyptians, who lived near to you. They were ready to have sex with you at any time. So you lived as a prostitute more and more and you made me very angry.
27 So I decided to punish you. I took from you things that belonged to you. I gave your enemies, the Philistines, power over you. Even they were ashamed because of the disgusting things that you were doing. 28 You has sex with the Assyrians, too. You wanted more and more sex! You sold yourself to them, but you still wanted more 29 You also had sex with the traders from Babylon. Like a prostitute, you sold yourself to more and more people. But they could still not make you happy.[c]
30 The Almighty Lord says this: Your mind no longer knows what is right. You do disgusting things, like a prostitute who is not ashamed. 31 You built places to worship your idols on every street. You offered yourself to people, like a prostitute. But you did not want them to pay you anything, as a prostitute would do.
32 You are like a wife who is not faithful. You want to have sex with strangers more than with your own husband! 33 Prostitutes receive money when they have sex with someone. Instead, you give gifts to all the men who have sex with you. You pay them to come from many different places to have sex with you. 34 Those men did not come and ask you to have sex with them. So you are different from other prostitutes. You paid money to those men. They did not pay money to you. So you are very different from those other women!
35 So listen to Lord's message, you prostitute! 36 This is what the Almighty Lord says: You wanted to have sex with many men. You offered your bare body to them, like a prostitute. You have worshipped disgusting idols. You have killed your own children as sacrifices to those idols. 37 So listen to me! I will bring all those men that you had sex with. You liked some of them and you hated others. I will bring all of them to stand around you. Then I will remove all your clothes and they will all see your completely bare body. 38 I will punish you as you deserve, because you are an adulteress and a murderer. I am very angry with you because you have not been faithful to me. So my punishment will destroy you. 39 I will put you under the power of those men that you gave yourself to. They will destroy the places that you built for your idols. They will remove all your clothes. They will take your beautiful jewels. Then they will leave you with nothing, completely bare. 40 They will bring a crowd of people to attack you. They will throw stones at you. They will cut you in pieces with their swords. 41 They will use fire to destroy your houses. Many women will watch while those people punish you. I will stop you from having sex as a prostitute. You will no longer pay men to have sex with you. 42 I will continue to punish you until I am no longer angry with you. I will not be upset or angry any more.
43 The Almighty Lord says this: I am punishing you as you deserve for all the things that you have done. You have forgotten how I helped you when you were young. You have done many disgusting things and you have also lived like a prostitute.
44 Look! Everyone says that this proverb is true about you: A daughter will do the same things that her mother does. 45 Yes, you are a true daughter of your mother! Your mother hated her husband and her children. And you are the same as your sisters too. They also hated their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.[d] 46 Your older sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived north of you. Your younger sister was Sodom. She and her daughters lived south of you. 47 You lived like them and you did all the same disgusting things that they did. But you quickly became even worse than them. 48 Your sister Sodom and her daughters never did such wicked things as you and your daughters have done. That is true as surely as I live, says the Almighty Lord.[e]
49 Listen to me! This is the wicked thing that your sister Sodom did: She and her daughters were very proud. They had plenty of food to eat and they enjoyed life. But they did not help people who were poor and weak. 50 They were proud and they did whatever they wanted to do. When I saw the disgusting things that they were doing, I removed them.[f] 51 Samaria's people did less than half as many sins as you have done. You have done many more disgusting things than they did. The many wicked things that you have done make your sisters seem righteous!
52 So now you must accept that you are guilty. You have done such wicked things that your sisters think that they are good people. You have done much worse things than they ever did. I must punish you even more than I punished them. So you should be ashamed and you should accept your punishment. You have made your sisters seem to be righteous.
53 But one day I will cause Sodom and her daughters to enjoy life again. I will also cause Samaria and her daughters to enjoy life again. And I will also do that for you, Jerusalem. 54 You will be sorry and ashamed that you did such wicked things. Your sisters will be happy that their punishment was less than yours. 55 Sodom and her daughters will become as happy as they were before. Samaria and her daughters will become as happy as they were before. And you and your daughters will also become as happy as you were before.
56 In the days when you were proud of yourselves, you did not respect your sister Sodom. 57 But now everyone can see how wicked you are. So the other nations around you laugh at you. The people of Syria and Philistia and the nations near to them all insult you. 58 You must accept your punishment because of the disgusting things that you have done. You have not been faithful to me. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
59 This is what the Almighty Lord says: You have not done the things that you promised to do when I made a covenant with you. So I will punish you as you deserve. 60 But I will remember the covenant that I made with you when you were still young. I will make that covenant strong and it will continue for ever. 61 Then you will remember the wicked things that you have done and you will be ashamed. You will welcome again your sisters, Sodom and Samaria. I will make them like daughters for you. But they will not share in the same covenant that I make with you. 62 I will cause the covenant that I make with you to be strong. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 63 I will forgive you for your sins so that you are no longer guilty. Then you will remember your sins. You will be too ashamed to say anything. That is what the Almighty Lord says.” ’
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer.
God will judge all people[a]
58 Do you rulers really say what is right?
Do you judge people in a fair way?
2 No! You do not!
You like to think of evil things to do.
You make cruel things happen
everywhere in the land.
3 Wicked people do wrong things from their birth.
As soon as they are born,
they start telling lies.
4 Their words hurt people
like a snake's poison.
They listen to nobody,
like a deaf cobra.
5 It does not obey the voice of the magician,
even if he sings very well![b]
6 God, break the teeth of my enemies!
Yes, Lord, break into pieces
the teeth of those lions!
7 Cause them to run away like water and disappear.
Cause them to die like dry grass in hot weather.
8 Cause them to be like a worm that melts as it moves along.
Cause them to be like a child that is born dead
and never sees the light of day.
9 Remove them quickly,
more quickly than pots become hot over a fire of thorn bushes.[c]
10 When God punishes those wicked people,
righteous people will be very happy.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked people!
11 People who see it will say,
‘It is true! God helps good people!
There is a God who judges people on earth in a fair way.’
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer when King Saul sent men to catch David at his house and murder him.
A prayer[d]
59 My God, please save me from my enemies!
They are attacking me,
so please keep me safe from them.
2 Rescue me from those dangerous men,
who are doing evil things.
3 Look at them! They are waiting to kill me!
Cruel men are ready to attack me.
Lord, I have not done anything against them,
but they still want to kill me.
4 I have done nothing that is wrong,
but they are preparing to attack me.
Do something to help me!
Look at what they are doing!
5 For you are the Lord God Almighty,
the God that Israel serves.
Get up and punish all the foreign nations.
Do not forgive any wicked people
who have turned against us.
Selah.
6 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
7 They shout evil things,
and their words hurt like swords.
They think, ‘Nobody can hear what we say!’
8 But Lord, you laugh at them.
You laugh at all the foreign nations.
9 I will wait for you to help me,
because you are the one who gives me strength.
You, God, are the strong place
where I will be safe.
10 Yes God, you love me with a faithful love,
and you will come to help me.
God will let me see that he has won against my enemies.
11 Do not kill them yet,
or my people will soon forget.
Use your power to send them away without homes.
Then make them fall!
You are our Lord
who keeps us safe like a soldier's shield.
12 They speak bad words that are evil.
Let their own pride catch them in a trap,
because they curse people,
and they tell lies.
13 Because you are angry with them,
destroy them!
Destroy them completely,
so that they are no more.
Then everybody will know that God rules in Israel,
and he rules everywhere in the earth.
Selah.
14 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
15 They go from place to place
and they look for food to eat.
They will not rest until they are full.
16 But I will sing to praise you.
I will sing about your strength!
In the morning,
I will praise you for your faithful love.
Because you are the strong place where I can hide.
When I am in trouble,
you keep me safe.
17 You are the one who gives me strength.
I will sing songs to praise you.
You, God, are my strong, safe place.
You are the God who loves me with a faithful love.
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