M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David and the Ammonites

10 Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died.^[a] His son Hanun became the new king. ² David thought, ‘I will be kind to Hanun, because his father Nahash was kind to me.’

So David sent some of his officers to give a message to Hanun. David wanted to tell Hanun that he was sorry that Nahash had died. David's officers took his message to the land of the Ammonites.

³ The leaders of the Ammonites said to Hanun, the king, ‘David has sent his officers to you with a kind message about your father's death. But do not think that he really wants to give honour to your father. No, he has sent his officers to look at our city. They want to see how David's army can attack the city and take it for themselves.’

⁴ So Hanun took hold of David's officers. He cut off half the hair from their beards. He also cut off the lower half of their clothes up to their hips.^[b] Then he sent them away.

⁵ Some people told David what had happened. His officers were very ashamed, so David sent a message to them. King David said, ‘Stay in Jericho city until your beards have grown again. Then you can return here.’

⁶ The Ammonites realized that they had made David very angry. So they paid 20,000 Syrian soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah to come and fight for them. They also brought 1,000 soldiers from the king of Maakah and 12,000 soldiers from Tob.

⁷ David heard news about this. So he sent Joab with all the soldiers in his army to fight against them. ⁸ The Ammonite soldiers marched out from their city. They stood in front of the city's gates and they were ready to fight. The Syrian soldiers from Zobah and Rehob and the soldiers from Tob and Maakah stayed in the fields near the city.

⁹ Joab saw that there were two groups of the enemy's soldiers. They were ready to attack his army from different sides. So he chose some of Israel's best soldiers. Joab himself led them to attack the Syrian soldiers in the fields. ¹⁰ He told his brother Abishai to lead the rest of Israel's army to fight against the Ammonites. ¹¹ Joab said to Abishai, ‘If the Syrian soldiers are too strong for me, you must come to rescue me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come to rescue you. ¹² Be strong! We must be brave as we fight on behalf of our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is good.’

¹³ Then Joab and his group of soldiers went to fight against the Syrians. As they marched towards the Syrian soldiers, they ran away. ¹⁴ The Ammonites saw that the Syrians were running away from Joab. So they also ran away from his brother Abishai's men. They ran back into their city. So Joab stopped fighting the Ammonites. He returned to Jerusalem with his army.

¹⁵ The Syrian soldiers realized that Israel had won the battle against them. So they brought all their soldiers together. ¹⁶ King Hadadezer sent a message to fetch more Syrian soldiers from the other side of the Euphrates river. Shobach, the captain of his army, brought them all to Helam.

¹⁷ David heard about what was happening. So he took all Israel's soldiers across the Jordan River to Helam. The Syrian soldiers stood in their places ready to fight. When the battle started, ¹⁸ the Syrians ran away from the Israelites. David and his army killed 700 Syrians who drove chariots. They killed 40,000 other Syrian soldiers. David also knocked down Shobach, the captain of the Syrian army. Shobach died there.

¹⁹ All the other kings who were under Hadadezer's authority saw that Israel had won the battle. So they made an agreement with Israel that they would not fight against them any more. They agreed to serve the Israelites. After that, the Syrians were afraid to help the Ammonites any more.

God's Holy Spirit gives us new life

3 We do not need any more to show that our work is good. Some people need to have letters from other people to say that they do good work. We do not need to show you letters like that. Nor do we need you to write a letter like that for us. ² You yourselves show that we have done good work. You are like a letter that is written on our lives. Everybody can read that letter and they can understand it. ³ It is clear that you are a like a letter that Christ himself has written. We are the people who brought God's message to you. Now people see what God has done in your lives. That is like a letter that they read. But it is not a letter written on paper with ink. It is the Spirit of the living God who wrote it. He did not write it on pieces of stone. Instead, he wrote it deep inside you.^[a]

⁴ We know that these things are true. Because of what Christ has done, we trust God to help us. ⁵ We know that we cannot do this work by ourselves. We never think that. But God makes us able to do it. ⁶ God has made us his servants. So we are able to tell people the message of his new agreement. This new agreement is not about rules. Rules tell people what they must do and they bring death. But God's new agreement comes from his Spirit. And the Spirit brings new life to us, not death.^[b]

⁷ Moses wrote the words of the old agreement on pieces of stone. It showed how great and powerful God was. Moses' face shone brightly after God spoke to him. It did not stay bright, but the Israelite people still could not look at Moses' face. The old agreement that brought death was powerful. ⁸ So the new agreement, which comes from God's Spirit, will show the power of God even more. ⁹ The old agreement showed people that they were guilty. God's new agreement makes people right with him. So surely the new agreement shows God's power even more than the old one did!

¹⁰ The old agreement was great and powerful at one time. But now God's new agreement has come in its place. The great power of the new agreement shows that the old agreement is no longer powerful. ¹¹ The old agreement was powerful, but it came to an end. God's new agreement will continue always. So it surely shows the power of God even more!

¹² So, because we know all this, we speak God's message bravely. ¹³ We are not like Moses. His face did not continue to be bright with the light from God. So he covered his face with a cloth. He did not want the Israelite people to see that the light was coming to an end. ¹⁴ But those Israelite people could not think properly. Even today, they still do not understand the message of God's old agreement. When they read it, they are like people who have a cloth that covers their minds. It continues like that unless they believe in Christ. Then Christ removes the cloth so that they understand. ¹⁵ Even today, when the Israelite people read Moses' books, a cloth still covers their minds. ¹⁶ But when a person turns to trust the Lord, then God takes the cloth away.^[c]

¹⁷ The Lord is the same as the Spirit. And when the Lord's Spirit is with anyone, that person is free. ¹⁸ We show the power of the Lord to other people. It is like God has removed a cloth from over our faces. He is changing us so that we become more and more like him. We show how great God is more and more clearly. It is the Lord who does all this, by the work of his Spirit.

A story about two eagles and a vine

17 The Lord gave this message to me: ² ‘Son of man, I want you to tell a story to Israel's people. It tells about them.

³ Say to them, “The Almighty Lord says this: There was a great eagle that had strong wings. Its feathers were long and beautiful, with many colours. The eagle came to Lebanon and he took hold of the top of a cedar tree. ⁴ He broke off the top branch of the tree. He took it to a country where there were many traders who buy and sell things. He planted the branch in a city there.

⁵ The eagle also took a seed from Israel's land. He planted it in a good field, like a willow tree near to plenty of water. ⁶ The seed made a plant that grew well. It became a vine that grew near to the ground. The vine's branches turned up towards the eagle. Its roots went down into the ground. The vine grew with many new branches and leaves.

⁷ There was also another great eagle. It had strong wings and many feathers. Now the vine turned its roots and its branches towards this eagle. It wanted to get more water in the ground where it was growing. ⁸ But the vine was already growing in a good field where there was plenty of water. It could grow very well in that place, with new branches. It could become a beautiful vine and make grapesthere.”

⁹ Then say to Israel's people, “The Almighty Lord says this: Do you think that the vine will continue to grow well? No, the first eagle will surely pull its roots out of the ground! He will destroy its grapes. All its leaves and branches will become dry and die. It would be easy to pull it out of the ground. It would not need a strong man or a large army to do that. ¹⁰ Yes the plant is in the ground, but will it continue to grow? When the hot wind from the east blows on it, it will become completely dry. It will die in the same good field where it had been growing.” ’

¹¹ Then the Lord gave this message to me: ¹² ‘Israel's people have turned against me. Say to them, “Surely you must understand the meaning of this story.” Then say to them, “Listen! The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. He took away Israel's king and his officers. He took them with him as his prisoners to Babylon. ¹³ He made an agreement with one man from the king of Israel's family. He made that man promise to serve Babylon's king. Then he could rule as king in Jerusalem.^[a]

The king of Babylon also took away the leaders of Jerusalem as his prisoners. ¹⁴ He wanted to make their kingdom weak. He did not want it to become strong enough to fight against him. He wanted them to obey his agreement with him. ¹⁵ But the man from the king's family did turn against the king of Babylon. He sent his officers with a message to Egypt. He asked them to send a large army with horses to save Jerusalem. But that will not help him to be safe! He did not obey his agreement with the king of Babylon, so he will not escape!

¹⁶ I promise you this, as surely as I live, says the AlmightyLord. That man that the king of Babylon made king in Jerusalem will die! He will die in Babylon because he did not obey the agreement he had made with the king of Babylon. He thought that his promise was not important. ¹⁷ The king of Egypt has a great army and many soldiers. But he still will not be able to help him to fight against Babylon's army. Babylon's soldiers will build heaps of earth against Jerusalem's walls. They will attack the walls and go into the city. They will kill many people in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Judah's king did not obey his agreement with the king of Babylon. He had promised to serve Babylon's king but instead he turned against him. He did not do what he had promised to do, so he will not escape.

¹⁹ So this is what the Almighty Lord says: I promise you this, as surely as I live. I will certainly punish Judah's king for what he has done. He did not respect the promise that he made in my name. He did not obey the agreement that he made. ²⁰ I will throw a net over him and I will catch him in my trap. I will take him to Babylon and I will judge him there. I will punish him because he was not faithful to me. ²¹ All the brave soldiers in his army will die in the battle. The soldiers who escape will run away in all directions. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken this message.^[b]

²² The Almighty Lord says this: I myself will take a new branch from the top of a tall cedar tree. I will break off one of its small fresh branches. Then I will plant it on the top of a high mountain. ²³ I will plant it on a high mountain in Israel. There it will grow and make branches and fruit. It will become a beautiful cedar tree. Many kinds of birds will live under the tree's branches. They will be safe in its shadow. ²⁴ Then all the trees of the forest will know that I am the Lord. I cause tall trees to fall down. I cause small trees to grow tall. I cause green trees to become dry. I cause dry trees to make fresh leaves.

I, the Lord, have said this and I will surely do it.” ’

This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.

David wrote this prayer to teach people. He wrote it when he fought wars in north Syria. After the battle, Joab's army killed 12,000 of Edom's people in Salt Valley.

God, please help us!^[a]

David wrote this song. Tell the music leader to use stringed instruments.

God will keep me safe^[h]