M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

God Makes a Promise to David

17 David moved into his palace. Then he spoke to Nathan the prophet. He said, “Here I am, living in a house that has beautiful cedar walls. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”

² Nathan replied to David, “Do what you want to. God is with you.”

³ But that night a message came to Nathan from God. He said,

⁴ “Go and speak to my servant David. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “You are not the one who will build me a house to live in. ⁵ I have not lived in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until now. I have moved my tent from one place to another. I have moved my home from one place to another. ⁶ I have moved from place to place with all the Israelites. I commanded their leaders to be shepherds over my people. I never asked any of those leaders, ‘Why haven’t you built me a house that has beautiful cedar walls?’ ” ’

⁷ “So tell my servant David, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “I took you away from the grasslands. That is where you were taking care of your father’s sheep and goats. I appointed you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I destroyed all your enemies when you were attacking them. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be just as respected as the names of the most important people on earth. ⁹ I will provide a place where my people Israel can live. I will plant them in the land. Then they will have a home of their own. They will not be bothered anymore. Sinful people will no longer crush them, as they did at first. ¹⁰ That is what your enemies have done ever since I appointed leaders over my people Israel. But I will bring all your enemies under your control.

“ ‘ “I tell you that I, the Lord, will build a royal house for your family. ¹¹ Some day your life will come to an end. You will join the members of your family who have already died. Then I will give you one of your own sons to become the next king after you. I will make his kingdom secure. ¹² He is the one who will build me a house. I will set up his throne. It will last forever. ¹³ I will be his father. And he will be my son. I took my love away from the man who ruled before you. But I will never take my love away from your son. ¹⁴ I will place him over my house and my kingdom forever. His throne will last forever.” ’ ”

¹⁵ Nathan reported to David all the words that the Lord had spoken to him.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶ Then King David went into the holy tent. He sat down in front of the Lord. He said,

“Lord God, who am I? My family isn’t important. So why have you brought me this far? ¹⁷ I would have thought that you had already done more than enough for me. But now, my God, you have spoken about my royal house. You have said what will happen to it in days to come. Lord God, you have treated me as if I were the most honored man of all.

¹⁸ “What more can I say to you for honoring me? You know all about me. ¹⁹ Lord, you have done a wonderful thing. You have given me many great promises. All of them are for my good. They are exactly what you wanted to give me.

²⁰ “Lord, there isn’t anyone like you. There isn’t any God but you. We have heard about it with our own ears. ²¹ Who is like your people Israel? God, we are the one nation on earth you have saved. You have set us free for yourself. Your name has become famous. You have done great and wonderful things. You have driven out nations to make room for your people. You saved us when you set us free from Egypt. ²² You made Israel your very own people forever. Lord, you have become our God.

²³ “And now, Lord, let the promise you have made to me and my royal house stand forever. Do exactly as you promised. ²⁴ When your promise comes true, your name will be honored forever. People will say, ‘The Lord rules over all. He is the God over Israel. He is Israel’s God!’ My royal house will be made secure in your sight.

²⁵ “My God, you have shown me that you will build me a royal house. So I can pray to you boldly. ²⁶ You, Lord, are God! You have promised many good things to me. ²⁷ You have been pleased to bless my royal house. Now it will continue forever in your sight. Lord, you have blessed it. And it will be blessed forever.”

Obey God

4 Why do you fight and argue among yourselves? Isn’t it because of your sinful desires? They fight within you. ² You want something, but you don’t have it. So you kill. You want what others have, but you can’t get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t have what you want, because you don’t ask God. ³ When you do ask for something, you don’t receive it. That’s because you ask for the wrong reason. You want to spend your money on your sinful pleasures.

⁴ You are not faithful to God. Don’t you know that to be a friend of the world is to hate God? So anyone who chooses to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. ⁵ Don’t you know what Scripture says? God wants the spirit in us to belong only to him. God caused this spirit to live in us. Don’t you think Scripture has a reason for saying this? ⁶ But God continues to give us more grace. That’s why Scripture says,

⁷ So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. ⁸ Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Make your hearts pure, you who can’t make up your minds. ⁹ Be full of sorrow. Cry and weep. Change your laughter to mourning. Change your joy to sadness. ¹⁰ Be humble in front of the Lord. And he will lift you up.

¹¹ My brothers and sisters, don’t speak against one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister speaks against the law. And anyone who judges another believer judges the law. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it. Instead, you are acting as if you were its judge. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge. He is the God who is able to save life or destroy it. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Bragging About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city. We will spend a year there. We will buy and sell and make money.” ¹⁴ You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while. Then it disappears. ¹⁵ Instead, you should say, “If it pleases the Lord, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you brag. You brag about the evil plans your pride produces. This kind of bragging is evil. ¹⁷ So suppose someone knows the good deeds they should do. But suppose they don’t do them. By not doing these good deeds, they sin.

Jonah Runs Away From the Lord

1 A message from the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. The Lord said, ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh. Preach against it. The sins of its people have come to my attention.”

³ But Jonah ran away from the Lord. He headed for Tarshish. So he went down to the port of Joppa. There he found a ship that was going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board. Then he sailed for Tarshish. He was running away from the Lord.

⁴ But the Lord sent a strong wind over the Mediterranean Sea. A wild storm came up. It was so wild that the ship was in danger of breaking apart. ⁵ All the sailors were afraid. Each one cried out to his own god for help. They threw the ship’s contents into the sea. They were trying to make the ship lighter.

But Jonah had gone below deck. There he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶ The captain went down to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call out to your god for help! Maybe he’ll pay attention to what’s happening to us. Then we won’t die.”

⁷ Here is what the sailors said to one another. “Someone is to blame for getting us into all this trouble. Come. Let’s cast lots to find out who it is.” So they did. And Jonah was picked. ⁸ They asked him, “What terrible thing have you done to bring all this trouble on us? Tell us. What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What is your country? What people do you belong to?”

⁹ He answered, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord. He is the God of heaven. He made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ They found out he was running away from the Lord. That’s because he had told them. Then they became terrified. So they asked him, “How could you do a thing like that?”

¹¹ The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”

¹² “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied. “Then it will become calm. I know it’s my fault that this terrible storm has come on you.”

¹³ But the men didn’t do what he said. Instead, they did their best to row back to land. But they couldn’t. The sea got even rougher than before. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord. They prayed, “Please, Lord, don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. After all, he might not be guilty of doing anything wrong. So don’t hold us responsible for killing him. Lord, you always do what you want to.” ¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard. And the stormy sea became calm. ¹⁶ The men saw what had happened. Then they began to have great respect for the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to him. And they made promises to him.

Jonah Prays to the Lord

¹⁷ Now the Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath Day

6 One Sabbath day Jesus was walking through the grainfields. His disciples began to break off some heads of grain. They rubbed them in their hands and ate them. ² Some of the Pharisees said, “It is against the Law to do this on the Sabbath day. Why are you doing it?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you ever read about what David did? He and his men were hungry. ⁴ He entered the house of God and took the holy bread. He ate the bread that only priests were allowed to eat. David also gave some to his men.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”

⁶ On another Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man whose right hand was weak and twisted was there. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were trying to find fault with Jesus. So they watched him closely. They wanted to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He spoke to the man who had the weak and twisted hand. “Get up and stand in front of everyone,” he said. So the man got up and stood there.

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “What does the Law say we should do on the Sabbath day? Should we do good? Or should we do evil? Should we save life? Or should we destroy it?”

¹⁰ He looked around at all of them. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand had been made as good as new. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were very angry. They began to talk to one another about what they might do to Jesus.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

¹² On one of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray. He spent the night praying to God. ¹³ When morning came, he called for his disciples to come to him. He chose 12 of them and made them apostles. Here are their names.

Jesus Gives Blessings and Warnings

¹⁷ Jesus went down the mountain with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there. A large number of other people were there too. They came from all over Judea, including Jerusalem. They also came from the coastland around Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸ They had all come to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses. People who were troubled by evil spirits were made well. ¹⁹ Everyone tried to touch Jesus. Power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples. He said to them,

²³ “The prophets of long ago were treated the same way. When these things happen to you, be glad and jump for joy. You will receive many blessings in heaven.

Love Your Enemies

²⁷ “But here is what I tell you who are listening. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who call down curses on you. And pray for those who treat you badly. ²⁹ Suppose someone slaps you on one cheek. Let them slap you on the other cheek as well. Suppose someone takes your coat. Don’t stop them from taking your shirt as well. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, don’t ask to get it back. ³¹ Do to others as you want them to do to you.

³² “Suppose you love those who love you. Should anyone praise you for that? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And suppose you do good to those who are good to you. Should anyone praise you for that? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And suppose you lend money to those who can pay you back. Should anyone praise you for that? Even a sinner lends to sinners, expecting them to pay everything back. ³⁵ But love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then you will receive a lot in return. And you will be children of the Most High God. He is kind to people who are evil and are not thankful. ³⁶ So have mercy, just as your Father has mercy.

Be Fair When You Judge Other People

³⁷ “If you do not judge other people, then you will not be judged. If you do not find others guilty, then you will not be found guilty. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good amount will be poured into your lap. It will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The same amount you give will be measured out to you.”

³⁹ Jesus also gave them another example. He asked, “Can a blind person lead another blind person? Won’t they both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ The student is not better than the teacher. But everyone who is completely trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹ “You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend’s eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. ⁴² How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “A good tree doesn’t bear bad fruit. And a bad tree doesn’t bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ You can tell each tree by the kind of fruit it bears. People do not pick figs from thorns. And they don’t pick grapes from bushes. ⁴⁵ A good man says good things. These come from the good that is stored up in his heart. An evil man says evil things. These come from the evil that is stored up in his heart. A person’s mouth says everything that is in their heart.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and still don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ Some people come and listen to me and do what I say. I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man who builds a house. He digs down deep and sets it on solid rock. When a flood comes, the river rushes against the house. But the water can’t shake it. The house is well built. ⁴⁹ But here is what happens when people listen to my words and do not obey them. They are like a man who builds a house on soft ground instead of solid rock. The moment the river rushes against that house, it falls down. It is completely destroyed.”