M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

16 When David had gone a little past the summit, there was Tziva, the servant of M’fivoshet, who met him with a pair of donkeys saddled and on them 200 loaves of bread, 100 bunches of raisins, 100 pieces of summer fruit and a skin of wine. ² The king said to Tziva, “What do you mean by these?” Tziva replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat; and the wine is for those who collapse in the desert to drink.” ³ The king asked, “Where is your master’s [grand]son?” Tziva answered the king, “He’s staying in Yerushalayim, because he said, ‘Today the house of Isra’el will restore my father’s kingship to me.’” ⁴ The king said to Tziva, “Everything that belongs to M’fivoshet is now yours.” Tziva answered, “I bow down before you; may I find favor in your sight, my lord, king.”

⁵ When King David arrived at Bachurim, there came out from there a man from Sha’ul’s family named Shim‘i the son of Gera; and he came out pronouncing curses ⁶ and throwing stones at David and all King David’s servants; even though all the people, including his bodyguard, surrounded him right and left. ⁷ When Shim‘i cursed, he said, “Get out of here! Get out of here, you killer, you good-for-nothing! ⁸ Adonai has brought back on you all the blood of the house of Sha’ul. You usurped his kingship, but Adonai has handed over the kingdom to Avshalom your son. Now your own evil has overtaken you, because you are a man of blood!”

⁹ Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah said to the king, “Why allow this dead dog to curse my lord the king? Just let me go over and remove his head!” ¹⁰ The king said, “Do you sons of Tz’ruyah and I have anything in common? Let him curse. If Adonai tells him, ‘Curse David,’ who has the right to ask, ‘Why are you doing it?’” ¹¹ David then said to Avishai and all his servants, “Look, my own son, who came from my own body, seeks my life. So how much more now this Binyamini! Let him alone; and let him curse, if Adonai told him to. ¹² Maybe Adonai will notice how I’m treating him, and Adonai will reward me with good instead of his curses.” ¹³ So David and his men went on their way, while on the opposite hillside Shim‘i kept pace with him, cursing, throwing stones and flinging dust as he went. ¹⁴ The king and all the people with him arrived exhausted, so he rested there.

¹⁵ Meanwhile Avshalom and all the people, the men of Isra’el, came to Yerushalayim; Achitofel was with him. ¹⁶ Hushai the Arki, David’s friend, came to Avshalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” ¹⁷ Avshalom asked Hushai, “Is this how you show kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” ¹⁸ Hushai replied, “No, but whomever Adonai and this people and all the men of Isra’el choose, his I will be; and with him I will stay. ¹⁹ Moreover, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? Just as I have served in your father’s presence, so will I be in your presence.”

²⁰ Avshalom said to Achitofel, “Give your advice as to what we should do.” ²¹ Achitofel answered Avshalom, “Go in, and sleep with your father’s concubines, the ones he left to take care of the palace. All Isra’el will hear that your father utterly despises you, and this will strengthen the position of all those who are on your side.” ²² So they set up a tent for Avshalom on the roof of the palace; and Avshalom went in to sleep with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Isra’el. ²³ In those days Achitofel’s advice was regarded as highly as if someone had sought out the word of God; it was this way with Achitofel’s advice both to David and to Avshalom.

9 There is really no need for me to write you about this offering for God’s people — ² I know how eager you are, and I boast about you to the Macedonians. I tell them, “Achaia has been ready since last year,” and it was your zeal that stirred up most of them. ³ But now I am sending the brothers so that our boast about you in this regard will not prove hollow, so that you will be ready, as I said you would be. ⁴ For if some Macedonians were to come with me and find you unprepared, we would be humiliated at having been so confident — to say nothing of how you would feel. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go on to you ahead of me and prepare your promised gift in plenty of time; this way it will be ready when I come and will be a genuine gift, not something extracted by pressure.

⁶ Here’s the point: he who plants sparingly also harvests sparingly. ⁷ Each should give according to what he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.^{[a] 8} Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause — ⁹ as the Tanakh says,

¹⁰ He who provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your tzedakah. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything. And through us your generosity will cause people to thank God, ¹² because rendering this holy service not only provides for the needs of God’s people, but it also overflows in the many thanks people will be giving to God. ¹³ In offering this service you prove to these people that you glorify God by actually doing what your acknowledgement of the Good News of the Messiah requires, namely, sharing generously with them and with everyone. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you they will feel a strong affection for you because of how gracious God has been to you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

23 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being! There were two women, daughters of the same mother, ³ who were whores in Egypt — even as young girls they were whores. There they let their breasts be caressed, and there their virgin nipples were fondled. ⁴ Their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholivah, her sister. They belonged to me, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Shomron is Oholah, and Yerushalayim is Oholivah.

⁵ “Even when she belonged to me, Oholah prostituted herself; she lusted after her lovers from Ashur — warriors ⁶ dressed in blue, governors, rulers, all of them good-looking young men riding on horseback. ⁷ She gave herself as a whore to them, all of them the elite of Ashur; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. ⁸ She did not give up the whoring she had begun in Egypt, where men had sex with her, fondled her virgin nipples and flooded her with their fornication.

⁹ “So I handed her over to her lovers, the men of Ashur she lusted after. ¹⁰ They exposed her private parts, took her sons and daughters, and put her to death with the sword; so that she became notorious among women for the judgments executed against her.

¹¹ “Her sister Oholivah saw this; nevertheless she was worse than her sister in lusting and likewise in whoring. ¹² She lusted after the men from Ashur, governors and rulers, warriors dressed to perfection, skilled horsemen, all of them good-looking young men. ¹³ I saw that she had defiled herself; both sisters had gone down the same path. ¹⁴ She prostituted herself more than ever; because she saw wall-carvings of men, depicting the Kasdim in vermilion, ¹⁵ with sashes wrapped around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like military men, the very image of men of Bavel born in the land of the Kasdim. ¹⁶ The moment she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in the land of the Kasdim; ¹⁷ and the men of Bavel climbed into her “love bed” and defiled her with their lust. She was defiled by them, and then filled with revulsion at them. ¹⁸ Thus did she reveal her fornication and expose her private parts. When this happened, I was filled with revulsion at her, just as I had been filled with revulsion at her sister. ¹⁹ Still she kept increasing her whoring, remembering the days when she was young, fornicating in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ Yes, she lusted after their male prostitutes, whose members are like those of donkeys and who ejaculate like stallions. ²¹ You yearned for the lewdness of your girlhood, when the Egyptians used to fondle your nipples and caress your young breasts.

²² “Therefore, Oholivah, here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will raise up your lovers against you, the ones who fill you with revulsion, and bring them against you from every side — ²³ the men of Bavel and all the Kasdim, P’kod, Shoa and Koa, and with them all the men of Ashur, good-looking young men, all of them governors and rulers, commanders and officers, all on horseback. ²⁴ They will advance on you armed with chariots, wagons and with an army drawn from many peoples; they will array themselves against you from every side with breastplates, shields and helmets. I will give them the authority to judge, and they will judge you as they see fit. ²⁵ I will direct my jealousy against you, so that they will deal with you in fury — they will cut off your nose and ears, and what is left of you will die by the sword; they will seize your sons and daughters, and those who remain of you will be consumed by the fire. ²⁶ They will strip you of your clothes and seize your fine jewels. ²⁷ Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your fornication brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will no longer raise your eyes toward them or remember Egypt any more.’ ²⁸ For this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those who fill you with revulsion; ²⁹ and they will deal with you in hatred, seize everything you have worked for, and leave you naked and exposed — the full shame of your whoring will be exposed, your lewdness and your fornicating. ³⁰ These things will be done to you because you have gone fornicating with the Goyim, and because you are defiled with their idols. ³¹ You walked down your sister’s path, so I will put her cup in your hand.’ ³² Adonai Elohim says:

says Adonai Elohim.

³⁵ “Therefore this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because you forgot me and flung me behind your back, you will bear the guilt of your lewdness and whoring.’”

³⁶ Then Adonai said to me, “Human being, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholivah? Then confront them with their disgusting practices. ³⁷ For they committed adultery, and their hands are dripping with blood. They committed adultery with their idols; and they offered their sons, whom they bore to me, for these idols to eat. ³⁸ Moreover, they have done this to me as well: they defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they profaned my shabbats. ³⁹ For after killing their children for their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; this they did in my house.

⁴⁰ “Worse still, you sent a messenger summoning men to come from a distance; and they came. For them you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decked yourself with your finery, ⁴¹ and sat on a sumptuous bed, with a table arranged before it, on which you put my incense and my olive oil. ⁴² The noise of a carefree crowd could be heard there; many of the men were brought in drunk from the desert. They put bracelets on their hands and magnificent crowns on their heads. ⁴³ I thought, ‘That woman! She’s worn out from all her adulteries, but they still go to fornicate with her!’ ⁴⁴ For every one went in to her; just as men go in to a prostitute, so they went in to Oholah and Oholivah, those debauched women. ⁴⁵ Nevertheless, there are righteous men who will judge them as adulterers and murderers are supposed to be judged; because they are adulterers, and blood is dripping from their hands. ⁴⁶ For here is what Adonai Elohim says:

⁴⁸ “‘Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may be taught not to imitate your lewdness. ⁴⁹ You will receive the punishment your lewdness deserves, and you will pay the penalty for your idolatries. Then you will know that I am Adonai Elohim.’”