M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

8 Some time afterwards, David attacked the P’lishtim and subdued them; David took Meteg-Amah out of the hands of the P’lishtim. ² He also defeated Mo’av; making them lie down on the ground, he measured them with a length of cord; for every two lengths to be put to death he designated one length to be kept alive. The people of Mo’av became subjects of David and paid tribute.

³ David, on his way to establish his dominion as far as the Euphrates River, also defeated Hadad‘ezer the son of Rechov king of Tzovah. ⁴ David captured 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. He reserved enough horses for 100 chariots and disabled the rest. ⁵ When people of Aram from Dammesek came to the aid of Hadad‘ezer king of Tzovah, David killed 22,000 men of Aram. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the people of Aram in Dammesek; Aram became subject to David and paid tribute. Adonai gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the gold shields which Hadad‘ezer’s servants were wearing and brought them to Yerushalayim. ⁸ From Betach and Berotai, cities of Hadad‘ezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.

⁹ When To‘i king of Hamat heard that David had defeated Hadad‘ezer’s entire army, ¹⁰ To‘i sent Yoram his son to King David to greet and congratulate him on fighting and defeating Hadad‘ezer, for Hadad‘ezer had been at war with To‘i. Yoram brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold and articles of bronze, ¹¹ which King David dedicated to Adonai, along with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he conquered — ¹² Aram, Mo’av, the people of ‘Amon, the P’lishtim, ‘Amalek, and the spoil taken from Hadad‘ezer son of Rechov, king of Tzovah. ¹³ David gained more fame on returning from killing 18,000 men from Aram in the Salt Valley. ¹⁴ David stationed garrisons in Edom; he put garrisons throughout all of Edom, and all the people of Edom became subject to him. Adonai gave victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁵ David ruled over all Isra’el; David administered law and justice for all his people. ¹⁶ Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah was commander of the army, Y’hoshafat the son of Achilud was chief adviser, ¹⁷ Tzadok the son of Achituv and Achimelekh the son of Evyatar were cohanim, S’rayah was secretary, ¹⁸ B’nayahu the son of Y’hoyada was in charge of the K’reti and P’leti [serving as the king’s bodyguards], and David’s sons were cohanim.

9 David inquired, “Is there anyone still alive from the family of Sha’ul, to whom, for Y’honatan’s sake, I can show kindness?” ² In Sha’ul’s household there had been a servant named Tziva, and they summoned him to David. The king asked him, “Are you Tziva?” and he answered, “At your service.” ³ The king said, “Is there anyone still alive from the family of Sha’ul, to whom I can show God’s grace?” Tziva said to the king, “There is still Y’honatan’s son with the lame legs.” ⁴ The king said to him, “Where is he?” and Tziva answered, “He’s there in the house of Makhir the son of ‘Ammi’el, in Lo-D’var.” ⁵ King David sent and took him from the house of Makhir the son of ‘Ammi’el in Lo-D’var. ⁶ M’fivoshet the son of Y’honatan, the son of Sha’ul, came to David, fell on his face and prostrated himself. David said, “M’fivoshet!” and he answered, “Here is your servant!” ⁷ David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I am determined to be kind to you for the sake of Y’honatan your father. I will restore to you all the land of Sha’ul your [grand]father, and you will always eat at my table.” ⁸ He prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant that makes you pay such attention to a dead dog like me?” ⁹ The king called to Tziva, Sha’ul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given everything Sha’ul and his family owned to your master’s [grand]son. ¹⁰ You are to work the land for him, you, your sons and your slaves. Harvest the crops, so that your master’s [grand]son will have food to feed his family; but M’fivoshet your master’s [grand]son will always eat at my table.” Tziva had fifteen sons and twenty slaves. ¹¹ Tziva said to the king, “Your servant will do everything my lord the king commands his servant, although M’fivoshet has been eating at my table as one of the king’s descendants.” ¹² M’fivoshet had a young son whose name was Mikha. Everyone living in Tziva’s house was a servant of M’fivoshet. ¹³ But M’fivoshet lived in Yerushalayim; he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both legs.

2 So I made up my mind that I would not pay you another painful visit. ² For if I cause you pain, who is left to make me happy except the people I have pained? ³ Indeed, this is why I wrote as I did — so that when I came, I would not have to be pained by those who ought to be making me happy; for I had enough confidence in all of you to believe that unless I could be happy, none of you could be happy either. ⁴ I wrote to you with a greatly distressed and anguished heart, and with many tears, not in order to cause you pain, but to get you to realize how very much I love you.

⁵ Now if someone has been a cause of pain, it is not I whom he has pained, but, in some measure — I don’t want to overstate it — all of you. ⁶ For such a person the punishment already imposed on him by the majority is sufficient, ⁷ so that now you should do the opposite — forgive him, encourage him, comfort him. Otherwise such a person might be swallowed up in overwhelming depression. ⁸ So I urge you to show that you really do love him. ⁹ The reason I wrote you was to see if you would pass the test, to see if you would fully obey me. ¹⁰ Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah ¹¹ so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary — for we are quite aware of his schemes!

¹² Now when I went to Troas to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah, since a door had been opened for me by the Lord, ¹³ I could not rest, because I failed to find my brother Titus. So I left the people there and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know him! ¹⁵ For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost; ¹⁶ to the latter, we are the smell of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life. Who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷ For we are not like a lot of folks who go about huckstering God’s message for a fee; on the contrary, we speak out of a sincere heart, as people sent by God, standing in God’s presence, living in union with the Messiah.

16 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being, make Yerushalayim realize how disgusting her practices are. ³ Say that Adonai Elohim is telling Yerushalayim, ‘By origin and birth you are of the land of the Kena‘ani — your father was an Emori, and your mother was a Hitti. ⁴ As for your birth — on the day you were born nobody cut your umbilical cord, washed you in water to clean you off, rubbed salt on you or wrapped you in cloth. ⁵ No one seeing you had enough pity on you to do any of these things for you — no one had any compassion on you. Instead, you were thrown into an open field in your own filth on the day you were born.

⁶ “‘I passed by and saw you there, wallowing in your own blood; and as you lay in your blood I said to you, “Live!” Yes, I said to you, as you lay in your blood, “Live! ⁷ I will increase your numbers just like plants growing in the field.” And you did increase, you developed, you reached puberty, your breasts appeared, and your hair grew long; but you were naked and exposed.

⁸ “‘Again I passed by you, looked at you and saw that your time had come, the time for love. So I spread my cloak over you to cover your private parts and entered into a covenant with you,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I also clothed you with an embroidered gown, gave you fine leather sandals to wear, put a fine linen headband on your head and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I gave you jewelry to wear, bracelets for your hands, a necklace for your neck, ¹² a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears and a beautiful crown for your head. ¹³ Thus you were decked out in gold and silver; your clothing was of fine linen, silk and richly embroidered cloth; you ate the finest flour, honey and olive oil. You grew increasingly beautiful — you were fit to be queen. ¹⁴ Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, because it was perfect, due to my having bestowed my own splendor on you’ says Adonai Elohim.

¹⁵ “‘But you put your trust in your own beauty and began prostituting yourself because of your fame, soliciting everyone passing by and accepting all comers. ¹⁶ You took your clothes and used them to decorate with bright colors the high places you made for yourself, and there you continued prostituting yourself. Such things shouldn’t happen, and in the future they won’t. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful jewels made of my gold and my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images, with which you continued to prostitute yourself. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered clothing and covered them; you set my olive oil and my incense in front of them; ¹⁹ and you took my food, which I had given you — my fine flour, olive oil and honey, that I had given you to eat — and set it in front of them to give a pleasant aroma. That is how it was,’ says Adonai Elohim.

²⁰ “‘Moreover, your sons and daughters, whom you bore me, you took and sacrificed for them to devour. Were these fornications of yours a casual matter? — ²¹ killing my children, handing them over and setting them apart for [these idols]? ²² In all your disgusting practices and fornications you never remembered the condition you were in when you were young — naked, exposed and wallowing in your own blood.

²³ “‘So, after all this wickedness of yours — woe, woe to you!’ says Adonai Elohim — ²⁴ ‘you built platforms and made yourself high places in every open space. ²⁵ You built your high places at every streetcorner, turning your beauty into an abomination, spreading your legs for every passer-by, and multiplying your acts of fornication. ²⁶ You had sex with your big-membered Egyptian neighbors and engaged in fornication over and over, just to provoke me. ²⁷ So now I have stretched out my hand over you, diminished your ration of food and put you at the mercy of those who hate you, the daughters of the P’lishtim, who find your lewd behavior revolting.

²⁸ “‘Still unsatisfied, you acted like a whore also with the people of Ashur; yes, you fornicated with them and were still not satisfied. ²⁹ You multiplied your acts of fornication with the land of traders, the Kasdim, and still weren’t satisfied.

³⁰ “‘You are so weak-willed!’ says Adonai Elohim. ‘You do all these things, behaving like a shameless whore, ³¹ building your platforms on every streetcorner, making your high places in every open space — and yet you aren’t like a whore, because you scorn getting paid. ³² Here is a wife who commits adultery, who goes to bed with strangers instead of her husband; ³³ but also instead of receiving gifts like every other prostitute, you give gifts to all your lovers, you bribe them to come to you from all over the place and have sex with you! ³⁴ You are the opposite of other women — you solicit the fornication, you aren’t solicited; and you pay them, they don’t pay you — you’re the opposite!

³⁵ “‘All right, you whore, listen to the word of Adonai!’ ³⁶ Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because your filth has been poured out and your privates exposed through your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all the idols of your disgusting practices, and because of the blood of your children, which you gave them, ³⁷ therefore, look! I am going to gather all your lovers, to whom you have been so very nice, all the ones you hate right along with all the ones you love — I will gather them against you from all over the place and expose your private parts to them, so that they will see you completely naked. ³⁸ I will pronounce on you the sentence that applies to women who commit adultery and murder; I will bring on you the death [decreed for] furious jealousy. ³⁹ Yes, I will hand you over to them; and they will make a ruin of your platforms, tear down your high places, strip you of your clothes, take away your jewels, and leave you naked and exposed. ⁴⁰ They will also bring up a mob against you, who will stone you to death and hack you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn your houses to the ground and execute judgments against you in the presence of many women. I will make you stop fornicating, and you will never again pay for a lover.

⁴² “‘Yes, I will satisfy my fury against you. But after that, my jealousy will leave you; and I will calm down and no longer be angry.

⁴³ “‘Because you didn’t remember the condition you were in when you were young, but enraged me with all these things, therefore I will bring [the consequences of] your ways on your own head’ says Adonai Elohim.

“‘You committed these obscenities in addition to all your other disgusting practices! ⁴⁴ Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb against you, “Like mother, like daughter.” ⁴⁵ Yes, you are your mother’s daughter, who despises her husband and children; you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and children; your mother was a Hitti and your father an Emori. ⁴⁶ Moreover, your older sister is Shomron, who lives at your left, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, living at your right, is S’dom with her daughters. ⁴⁷ You didn’t merely live by their ways and act according to their disgusting practices, but in a very short time you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸ “‘As I live’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘your sister S’dom has not done, neither she nor her daughters, [as much evil] as you have done, you and your daughters. ⁴⁹ The crimes of your sister S’dom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me; so that when I saw it, I swept them away. ⁵¹ Shomron did not commit even half as many sins as you did. You committed many more disgusting acts than your sisters; in fact, in comparison with all the disgusting acts you have committed, they seem innocent! ⁵² But you too must bear your disgrace; for by your passing judgment that your sisters were innocent, through your having committed sins worse than theirs, they are shown to be more righteous than you. So be ashamed, and bear the disgrace you deserve for making your [guilty] sisters seem innocent!

⁵³ “‘I will end their exile — the exile of S’dom and her daughters, the exile of Shomron and her daughters, and the exile of your captives there among them; ⁵⁴ so that you can bear your own shame and experience the disgrace you deserve for all you have done to shield them from feeling their own guilt. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, S’dom with her daughters and Shomron with her daughters, will return to their previous condition; and you with your daughters will return to your previous condition. ⁵⁶ When you were so proud, you spoke with contempt about your sister S’dom, ⁵⁷ before your own wickedness was exposed. But now the daughters of Aram mock you, as do her neighbors; and the daughters of the P’lishtim on every side are repulsed by you. ⁵⁸ You have brought it all on yourself with your depravities and disgusting practices,’ says Adonai.

⁵⁹ “For here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will do to you as you have done — you treated the oath with contempt by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl and will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you will remember your behavior and be ashamed of it as you receive your older and younger sisters and make them your daughters, even though the covenant with you does not cover that; ⁶² and I will re-establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Adonai; ⁶³ so that you will remember and be so ashamed that you will never open your mouth again, so ashamed will you be when I have forgiven you all that you have done,’ says Adonai Elohim.”