M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

17 Achitofel said to Avshalom, “Let me now choose 12,000 men, and I will pursue David tonight. ² I’ll fall on him unexpectedly when he’s tired and powerless. I’ll frighten him, all the people with him will flee, and I’ll attack only the king. ³ Then I will bring back to you all the people; and when they have all returned, except the one you are seeking, all the people will be at peace.” ⁴ What he said pleased Avshalom and all the leaders of Isra’el.

⁵ Then Avshalom said, “Now call also Hushai the Arki, and let’s give equal hearing to what he has to say.” ⁶ When Hushai appeared before Avshalom, Avshalom said to him, “Achitofel has said such-and-such. Should we do what he says? If not, you tell us.” ⁷ Hushai said to Avshalom, “The advice Achitofel has given this time is not good. ⁸ You know,” continued Hushai, “that your father and his men are powerful men, and that they are as bitter as a bear deprived of her cubs in the wild. Moreover, your father is a military man, and he won’t camp with the rest of the people — ⁹ right now he’s hidden in a pit or somewhere. So what will happen is this: when they begin their attack, and whoever hears about it says, ‘A slaughter is taking place among Avshalom’s followers,’ ¹⁰ then even the strongest among them, someone whose courage is that of a lion, will completely collapse! For all Isra’el knows that your father is a powerful man, and those with him are powerful men. ¹¹ Rather, I advise that you summon all Isra’el to come to you, from Dan to Be’er-Sheva, numbering as many as sand grains on the seashore; and then you go to battle, yourself. ¹² In this way we’ll come upon him wherever he is, and we’ll fall on him as the dew falls on the ground; of him and all the men with him we won’t leave even one alive. ¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Isra’el will bring up ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the riverbed until not even a pebble is left.” ¹⁴ Avshalom and all the men of Isra’el said, “The advice of Hushai the Arki is better than the advice of Achitofel” — for Adonai had determined to frustrate the good advice of Achitofel, so that Adonai could bring disaster on Avshalom.

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim, “Achitofel gave such-and-such advice to Avshalom and the leaders of Isra’el, but I advised so and so. ¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly and tell David, “Don’t stay tonight in the desert plains; but, whatever it takes, move on from there! Otherwise, the king and all the people with him will be engulfed.” ¹⁷ Y’honatan and Achima‘atz were staying at ‘Ein-Rogel; a female servant was to go and tell them, and they in turn were to go and tell King David — for it would not do to have them seen entering the city. ¹⁸ But a boy saw them and told Avshalom; so both of them took off quickly and came to the house of a man in Bachurim who had a cistern in his courtyard; and they went down into it. ¹⁹ His wife spread a covering over the cistern’s opening and scattered drying grain on it, so that nothing showed. ²⁰ Avshalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked, “Where are Achima‘atz and Y’honatan?” The woman answered them, “They’ve crossed the stream.” After searching and not finding them, they returned to Yerushalayim.

²¹ After they had left, the two climbed out of the cistern and went and told King David, “Get up and cross the river, because Achitofel has given such-and-such advice against you.” ²² David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Yarden; by dawn every one of them had crossed the Yarden. ²³ When Achitofel saw that his advice was not being followed, he saddled his donkey, set out, and went home to his own city. After setting his house in order, he hanged himself; he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

²⁴ David had reached Machanayim by the time Avshalom and all the men of Isra’el crossed the Yarden. ²⁵ Avshalom had put ‘Amasa in charge of the army in place of Yo’av. ‘Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Yitra the Isra’eli, who had had sexual relations with Avigal the daughter of Nachash, Tz’ruyah’s sister and Yo’av’s mother. ²⁶ Isra’el and Avshalom pitched camp in the land of Gil‘ad.

²⁷ After David had arrived in Machanayim, Shovi the son of Nachash, from Rabbah of the people of ‘Amon; Machir the son of ‘Ammi’el from Lo-D’var and Barzillai the Gil‘adi from Roglim ²⁸ brought beds, basins, clay pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, roasted millet, ²⁹ honey, curdled milk, sheep and cheese made of cow’s milk for David and the people with him to eat; because they said, “These people are hungry, tired and thirsty from the desert.”

10 Now it is I myself, Sha’ul, making an appeal to you with the meekness and forbearance that come from the Messiah, I who am considered timid when face-to-face with you but intimidating from a distance. ² But I beg you not to force me to be intimidating when I am with you, as I expect to be toward some who regard us as living in a worldly way. ³ For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way; ⁴ because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments ⁵ and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah. ⁶ And when you have become completely obedient, then we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience.

⁷ You are looking at the surface of things. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself that we belong to the Messiah as much as he does. ⁸ For even if I boast a little too much about the authority the Lord has given us — authority to build you up, not tear you down — I am not ashamed. ⁹ My object is not to seem as if I were trying to frighten you with these letters. ¹⁰ Someone says, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but when he appears in person he is weak, and as a speaker he is nothing.” ¹¹ Such a person should realize that what we say in our letters when absent, we will do when present.

¹² We don’t dare class or compare ourselves with some of the people who advertise themselves. In measuring themselves against each other and comparing themselves with each other, they are simply stupid. ¹³ We will not boast about what lies outside the area of work which God has given us; rather, we will boast within our assigned area, and that area does reach as far as you. ¹⁴ We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah. ¹⁵ We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more, ¹⁶ namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.

¹⁷ So, let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai;^{[a] 18} because it is not the one who recommends himself who is worthy of approval, but the one whom the Lord recommends.

24 The word of Adonai came to me on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year: ² “Human being, write down today’s date; because on this very day the king of Bavel has begun his attack on Yerushalayim. ³ And tell this allegory to these rebels; say that Adonai Elohim says:

⁶ “Therefore Adonai Elohim says:

¹⁴ “‘I, Adonai, have spoken it, and it will happen. I will do it, I will not turn back, I will not refrain or spare or relent. They will judge you as your ways and deeds deserve,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

¹⁵ The word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁶ “Human being, with a single blow I am about to deprive you of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, weep or let your tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh silently, don’t observe mourning for the dead, bind your turban on your head, put your sandals on your feet, don’t cover your upper lip, and don’t eat the food people prepare for mourners.” ¹⁸ I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died. So I did the following morning as I had been ordered. ¹⁹ The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these actions of yours mean for us?” ²⁰ I answered them, “The word of Adonai came to me, telling me ²¹ to speak to the house of Isra’el and say that this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes and your heart’s desire. Your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword. ²² But you are to do as I have done — not cover your upper lips, not eat the food people prepare for mourners, ²³ put your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet, and neither observe mourning nor cry. Rather, because of your crimes you will pine away and groan to one another. ²⁴ Thus Yechezk’el will be a sign for you; you will do just what he has done; and when this happens, you will know that I am Adonai Elohim.’

²⁵ “As for you, human being, on the day when I take away from them their stronghold, their crowning joy, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, their sons and daughters — ²⁶ on that day a fugitive will come and bring you the news; ²⁷ and on that day your mouth will be opened for you to speak to the survivor and no longer be silent. In this way you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am Adonai.”