M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

26 The people from Zif went to Sha’ul in Giv‘ah and said, “David is hiding himself on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon.” ² Then Sha’ul set out and went down to the Zif Desert with three thousand men chosen from Isra’el, to search for David in the Zif Desert. ³ Sha’ul pitched camp on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon, near the road. David was staying in the desert, and he saw that Sha’ul was coming into the desert after him. ⁴ So David dispatched spies and determined that Sha’ul had definitely come.

⁵ David set out and went to where Sha’ul had pitched his camp. He saw where Sha’ul and Avner the son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping. Sha’ul was lying inside the barricade with the troops asleep all around him. ⁶ David said to Achimelekh the Hitti and Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah, Yo’av’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Sha’ul in the camp?” Avishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Avishai went to the soldiers by night. Sha’ul was lying there asleep inside the barricade. His spear was stuck in the ground next to his head, with Avner and the troops asleep all around him. ⁸ Avishai said to David, “God has handed your enemy over to you today; so now, please, let me pin him to the ground with just one stroke of the spear. I won’t strike him a second time.” ⁹ But David said to Avishai, “Don’t destroy him! Nobody can raise his hand against Adonai’s anointed without becoming guilty!” ¹⁰ David then added, “As Adonai lives, Adonai will strike him down, or the day will come for him to die, or he will go down to battle and be swept away. ¹¹ Adonai forbid that I should raise my hand against Adonai’s anointed! But now, we’ll take the spear by his head and the jug of water, and get out of here.” ¹² So David took the spear and the water jug from Sha’ul’s head and got away. Nobody saw or knew about it, and no one awoke, because they were all asleep — a deep sleep from Adonai had fallen over them.

¹³ David crossed to the other side and climbed to the top of the distant ridge, leaving a considerable space between them. ¹⁴ Then David called out to the troops and to Avner the son of Ner. “Avner! Aren’t you going to answer?” Avner answered, “Who are you, calling to the king?” ¹⁵ David said to Avner, “Aren’t you the brave one! Who is there in Isra’el to compare with you? So why haven’t you kept watch over your lord the king? Someone came in to kill the king, your lord! ¹⁶ It’s not good, what you’ve done! As Adonai lives, you deserve to die; because you didn’t keep watch over your lord, Adonai’s anointed. And now, see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was next to his head!”

¹⁷ Sha’ul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord king!” ¹⁸ and continued, “Why is my lord chasing his servant? What have I done? What evil am I planning? ¹⁹ Please, now, may my lord the king hear what his servant is saying. If it is Adonai who has stirred you up against me, let him receive an offering. But if it’s human beings, then a curse on them before Adonai! — because, as things stand today, they have driven me out, so that I can no longer share in Adonai’s inheritance — they’ve said, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ ²⁰ Now don’t let my blood fall on the ground away from the presence of Adonai. The king of Isra’el has gone out in search of a single flea, as if he were hunting partridge in the mountains!”

²¹ Then Sha’ul said, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you any longer, because you regarded my life as precious today. Yes, I have behaved like a fool. I was altogether in the wrong.” ²² David answered, “Here is the king’s spear. Send one of the men over to bring it back. ²³ Adonai will give every person a reward suited to his uprightness and faithfulness. Adonai put you in my power today, but I would not raise my hand against Adonai’s anointed. ²⁴ Look: just as I put great value on your life today, so may my life be given great value by Adonai. May he deliver me from every kind of trouble!” ²⁵ Sha’ul answered David, “Blessings on you, my son David! No question that you will accomplish everything you set out to do!” So David went on his way, and Sha’ul returned to his place.

7 Now to deal with the questions you wrote about: “Is it good for a man to keep away from women?” ² Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³ The husband should give his wife what she is entitled to in the marriage relationship, and the wife should do the same for her husband. ⁴ The wife is not in charge of her own body, but her husband is; likewise, the husband is not in charge of his own body, but his wife is. ⁵ Do not deprive each other, except for a limited time, by mutual agreement, and then only so as to have extra time for prayer; but afterwards, come together again. Otherwise, because of your lack of self-control, you may succumb to the Adversary’s temptation. ⁶ I am giving you this as a suggestion, not as a command. ⁷ Actually, I wish everyone were like me; but each has his own gift from God, one this, another that.

⁸ Now to the single people and the widows I say that it is fine if they remain unmarried like me; ⁹ but if they can’t exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.

¹⁰ To those who are married I have a command, and it is not from me but from the Lord: a woman is not to separate herself from her husband ¹¹ But if she does separate herself, she is to remain single or be reconciled with her husband. Also, a husband is not to leave his wife.

¹² To the rest I say — I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her. ¹³ Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother — otherwise your children would be “unclean,” but as it is, they are set aside for God. ¹⁵ But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved — God has called you to a life of peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Only let each person live the life the Lord has assigned him and live it in the condition he was in when God called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations. ¹⁸ Was someone already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not try to remove the marks of his circumcision. Was someone uncircumcised when he was called? He shouldn’t undergo b’rit-milah. ¹⁹ Being circumcised means nothing, and being uncircumcised means nothing; what does mean something is keeping God’s commandments. ²⁰ Each person should remain in the condition he was in when he was called.

²¹ Were you a slave when you were called? Well, don’t let it bother you; although if you can gain your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity. ²² For a person who was a slave when he was called is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, someone who was a free man when he was called is a slave of the Messiah. ²³ You were bought at a price, so do not become slaves of other human beings. ²⁴ Brothers, let each one remain with God in the condition in which he was called.

²⁵ Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted. ²⁶ I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is. ²⁷ That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife. ²⁸ But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you. ²⁹ What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left: from now on a man with a wife should live as if he had none — ³⁰ and those who are sad should live as if they weren’t, those who are happy as if they weren’t, ³¹ and those who deal in worldly affairs as if not engrossed in them — because the present scheme of things in this world won’t last much longer. ³² What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s affairs, ³³ with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world’s affairs, with how to please his wife; ³⁴ and he finds himself split. Likewise the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world’s affairs, with how to please her husband. ³⁵ I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you — I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion.

³⁶ Now if a man thinks he is behaving dishonorably by treating his fiancée this way, and if there is strong sexual desire, so that marriage is what ought to happen; then let him do what he wants — he is not sinning: let them get married. ³⁷ But if a man has firmly made up his mind, being under no compulsion but having complete control over his will, if he has decided within himself to keep his fiancée a virgin, he will be doing well. ³⁸ So the man who marries his fiancée will do well, and the man who doesn’t marry will do better.

³⁹ A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer in the Lord. ⁴⁰ However, in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains unmarried, and in saying this I think I have God’s Spirit.

5 “Now you, human being, take a sharp sword; and use it like a barber’s razor to shave your head and beard. Then weigh the hair on a balance-scale, and divide it up. ² A third of it you are to burn in the city when the days of the siege are over. Take another third, and hit it with your sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will pursue them with drawn sword. ³ Also take a few hairs and tie them up in the folds of your garment. ⁴ Again, of these take some; throw them in the fire, and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against the entire house of Isra’el.

⁵ “Here is what Adonai Elohim, says:

⁷ “Therefore here is what Adonai Elohim, says: ‘Because you have outdone the nations around you by not living according to my laws or following my rulings or even following the rules of the nations around you,’ ⁸ therefore here is what Adonai Elohim, says: ‘I too am against you, yes, I; and I will execute judgments among you while all the nations look on. ⁹ Moreover, because of all your disgusting practices, I will do things to you that I have never done before; and I will never do such things again. ¹⁰ Parents among you will eat their children, and children will eat their parents! I will execute judgments among you and scatter to all the winds those of you who remain. ¹¹ For, as I live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and disgusting practices, therefore I swear that I will cut you off — my eye will not spare, I will have no pity. ¹² A third of you will die from plague or be consumed by famine inside [Yerushalayim]; a third will fall by the sword all around [Yerushalayim]; and a third I will scatter to all the winds and pursue with the sword.’ ¹³ In this way my anger will spend itself, my fury against them will die down, and I will be satisfied. Then, when I have spent my fury on them, they will know that I, Adonai, have spoken out of my zeal. ¹⁴ ‘I will make you a ruin and an object of reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all passing by. ¹⁵ When I execute judgments and furious punishments among you in anger and fury, [Yerushalayim] will be an object of reproach, derision and horror, and a lesson to warn the nations around you. I, Adonai, have announced it. ¹⁶ I will send upon them the deadly, destructive arrows of famine, which I will send to destroy you. I will make the famine worse for you by cutting off your food supply. ¹⁷ Yes, I will send famine and savage beasts upon you to leave you without children; plague and bloodshed will sweep through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Adonai, have spoken it.’”

Book II: Psalms 42–72