M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
1 King David grew old, the years took their toll, and he couldn’t get warm even when they covered him with bedclothes. 2 His servants said to him, “Let us try to find a young virgin for my lord the king. She can wait on the king and be a companion for him, and she can lie next to you, so that my lord the king will get some heat.” 3 After looking through all of Isra’el’s territory for a beautiful girl, they found Avishag the Shunamit and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful and became a companion for the king. She took care of him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.
5 Adoniyah the son of Haggit was beginning to claim that he would be king; to this end he organized chariots and horsemen, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never in his life confronted him by asking, “Why are you behaving this way?” Moreover, he was a very handsome man; he was born next after Avshalom.) 7 He conferred with Yo’av the son of Tz’ruyah and Evyatar the cohen; and they both supported Adoniyah. 8 But Tzadok the cohen, B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, Natan the prophet, Shim‘i, Re‘i and David’s elite guard were not on Adoniyah’s side.
9 One day Adoniyah killed sheep, oxen and fattened calves at the Stone of Zochelet, by ‘Ein-Rogel. He summoned all his brothers the king’s sons, and all the men of Y’hudah the king’s servants; 10 but he did not summon Natan the prophet, B’nayah, the elite guard or Shlomo his brother.
11 Natan went to Bat-Sheva the mother of Shlomo and said, “Haven’t you heard that Adoniyah the son of Haggit has become king without the knowledge of David our lord? 12 Now, come, please let me give you advice, so that you can save both your own life and that of your son Shlomo. 13 Go, get in to see King David, and say to him, ‘My lord, king, didn’t you swear to your servant, “Your son Shlomo will be king after me; he will sit on my throne”? So why is Adoniyah king?’ 14 Right then, while you are still talking with the king, I will also come in after you and confirm what you are saying.”
15 Bat-Sheva went in to the king in his room. (The king was very old; Avishag the Shunamit was in attendance on the king.) 16 Bat-Sheva bowed, prostrating herself to the king. The king asked, “What do you want?” 17 She answered him, “My lord, you swore by Adonai your God to your servant, ‘Your son Shlomo will be king after me; he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now, here is Adoniyah ruling as king; and you, my lord the king, don’t know anything about it. 19 He has killed oxen, fattened calves and sheep in great numbers; and he has summoned all the sons of the king, Evyatar the cohen and Yo’av the commander of the army; but he didn’t summon Shlomo your servant. 20 As for you, my lord the king, all Isra’el is watching you; they are waiting for you to tell them who is to sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 If you don’t, then, when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Shlomo will be considered criminals.”
22 Right then, while she was still talking with the king, Natan the prophet entered. 23 They told the king, “Natan the prophet is here.” After coming into the king’s presence, he prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24 Natan said, “My lord king, did you say, ‘Adoniyah is to be king after me; he will sit on my throne’? 25 For he has gone down today and killed oxen, fattened calves and sheep in great numbers; and he has summoned all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Evyatar the cohen; right now they are eating and drinking in his presence and proclaiming, ‘Long live King Adoniyah!’ 26 But he didn’t summon me your servant, or Tzadok the cohen, or B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada or your servant Shlomo. 27 Is this authorized by my lord the king without your having told your servant who would sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
28 King David answered by saying, “Summon Bat-Sheva to me.” She entered the king’s presence and stood before the king. 29 Then the king swore an oath: “As Adonai lives, who has delivered me from all adversity, 30 as I swore to you by Adonai the God of Isra’el, ‘Your son Shlomo will be king after me; he will sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do today.” 31 Bat-Sheva bowed with her face to the ground, prostrating herself to the king, and said, “Let my lord King David live forever.”
32 King David said, “Summon Tzadok the cohen, Natan the prophet and B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada.” They came before the king. 33 The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, have Shlomo my son ride on my own mule and bring him down to Gichon. 34 There Tzadok the cohen and Natan the prophet are to anoint him king over Isra’el. Sound the shofar and say, “Long live King Shlomo!” 35 Then escort him back; he is to come and sit on my throne; for he is to take my place as king. I have appointed him to rule over Isra’el and Y’hudah.” 36 B’nayah responded to the king by saying, “Amen! May Adonai, the God of my lord the king, confirm it! 37 Just as Adonai has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Shlomo and make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!”
38 So Tzadok the cohen, Natan the prophet, B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada and the K’reti and P’leti went down, had Shlomo ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gichon. 39 Tzadok the cohen took the horn of olive oil out of the tent and anointed Shlomo. They sounded the shofar, and all the people shouted, “Long live King Shlomo!” 40 All the people escorted him back, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the earth shook with the sound.
41 Adoniyah and all his guests heard it while they were finishing their meal; but it was Yo’av who, when he heard the blast on the shofar, asked, “That noise — what’s the meaning of this uproar in the city?” 42 While he was still speaking, there came Yonatan the son of Evyatar the cohen. Adoniyah said, “Come in! You’re a worthy man, so you must be bringing good news!” 43 Yonatan answered Adoniyah, “The truth is, our lord King David has made Shlomo king. 44 Moreover, the king sent with him Tzadok the cohen, Natan the prophet, B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada and the K’reti and P’leti; they had him ride on the king’s mule; 45 and Tzadok the cohen and Natan the prophet anointed him king in Gichon. Then they escorted him back from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar; this is the noise you’ve been hearing. 46 Moreover, Shlomo is now sitting on the throne of the kingdom. 47 More than that, the king’s servants came and blessed our lord King David with these words: ‘May God make the name of Shlomo better than your name and his throne greater than your throne,’ after which the king bowed down on the bed. 48 Finally, the king said, ‘Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el, who has given someone to sit on my throne today, when my own eyes can see it.’”
49 At this all Adoniyah’s guests grew frightened; they got up, everyone going his own way. 50 Adoniyah too was afraid because of Shlomo; he got up, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Shlomo was told, “Here, Adoniyah is terrified of King Shlomo; he has grabbed hold of the horns of the altar and is saying, ‘First let King Shlomo swear to me that he will not have his servant executed.’” 52 Shlomo said, “If he will demonstrate that he is a worthy man, not a hair of his will fall to the earth. But if he is found making trouble, he will die.” 53 So King Shlomo sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and prostrated himself before King Shlomo; and Shlomo said to him, ‘Go on home.’”
5 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words — I, Sha’ul, tell you that if you undergo b’rit-milah the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all! 3 Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes b’rit-milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah! 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God’s grace! 5 For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled. 6 When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.
7 You were running the race well; who has stopped you from following the truth? 8 Whatever means of persuasion he used was not from the One who calls you. 9 “It takes only a little hametz to leaven the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident that since you are united with the Lord, you will take no other view; and I am confident that the one who has been disturbing you, whoever he may be, will have to bear his punishment.
11 And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever. 12 I wish the people who are bothering you would go the whole way and castrate themselves!
13 For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. 14 For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself”;[a] 15 but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!
16 What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. 17 For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
19 And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; 20 involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue 21 and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.
24 Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires. 25 Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
32 On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year, the word of Adonai came to me: 2 “Human being, raise a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt; say to him,
‘You compared yourself to a lion among the nations;
In fact, you are more like a crocodile in the lakes.
You burst out of your streams,
churn the water with your feet
and foul their streams.’
3 “So here is what Adonai Elohim says:
‘With many nations assembled,
I will spread my net over you,
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4 Then I will throw you on the shore,
hurl you into an open field,
make all the birds in the air settle on you
and let the animals of the whole earth eat their fill of you.
5 I will leave your flesh on the mountains
and fill the valleys with your rotting carcass.
6 I will drench the land in which you swim
with your blood, as far as the mountains;
the waterways will be full of you.
7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the sky
and make its stars black;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light.
8 All the shining lights in the sky
I will darken above you;
I will spread darkness over your land,’
says Adonai Elohim.
9 “‘I will anger many peoples
when I bring your destroyed ones
in among the nations,
into countries you have not known.
10 I will make many peoples aghast at you;
their kings will shudder in horror over you
when I brandish my sword before them.
On the day of your downfall
they will tremble continuously,
each man in fear of his life.’
11 “For Adonai Elohim says this:
‘The sword of the king of Bavel
will come against you.
12 With the swords of the warriors
I will cause your hordes to fall.
They are all the most barbarous of the nations,
and they will shatter the glory of Egypt —
all its hordes will be destroyed.
13 I will destroy all her cattle
beside her plentiful waters.
No human foot will trouble them again,
nor the hoof of any animal.
14 Then I will make their water clear
and cause their streams to flow like oil,’
says Adonai Elohim.
15 ‘When I make the land of Egypt a ruined waste,
a land stripped of all that filled it;
when I strike all those who live there;
they will know that I am Adonai.
16 This is the lament that they will raise;
the daughters of the nations will use it to mourn;
they will chant it for Egypt and all its hordes,’
says Adonai Elohim.”
17 On the fifteenth day of the month in the twelfth year, the word of Adonai came to me:
18 “Human being, wail for the hordes of Egypt;
send them with the daughters of mighty nations
down to the underworld,
with those who descend to the pit.
19 Are you more beautiful than the others?
Go down, lie with the uncircumcised dead!
20 They will fall among those killed by the sword;
she is given to the sword; pull her down with her hordes.
21 From the depths of Sh’ol the mightiest warriors
will speak of him with those who helped him.
They went down; they lie still,
the uncircumcised, killed by the sword.
22 “Ashur is there with her hordes;
their graves are all around them,
all of them slain, killed by the sword.
23 Their graves are in the deepest parts of the pit,
her hordes are all around her grave,
all of them slain, killed by the sword,
those who terrorized the land of the living.
24 “‘Eilam is there, with her hordes around her grave,
all of them slain, killed by the sword,
descended uncircumcised to the underworld,
those who terrorized the land of the living;
they bear their shame together with those
who descended to the pit.
25 They have given her a bed among the slain with her hordes;
her graves are all around them,
all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword,
because they terrorized the land of the living;
they bear their shame with those who descended to the pit;
they are put among those who were slain.
26 “Meshekh and Tuval with her horde is there,
her graves are all around them,
all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword,
because they terrorized the land of the living.
27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors
of the uncircumcised who descended to Sh’ol
with their weapons of war,
their swords laid under their heads,
and their crimes upon their bones;
because these warriors terrorized the land of the living.
28 But you will lie broken among the uncircumcised,
with those who were killed by the sword.
29 “There is Edom, her kings and all her princes,
who, despite all their power, are laid with those
who were killed by the sword, with the uncircumcised,
with those who descended to the pit.
30 “There are all the princes of the north, all of them,
and the Tzidoni, who descended with the slain,
ashamed of all the terror they caused by their power;
they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword,
bearing their shame with those who descended to the pit.
31 “All of these Pharaoh will see,
and he will be consoled about his hordes,
Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword,”
says Adonai Elohim.
32 “For I have put my terror in the land of the living,
and he will lie among the uncircumcised,
with those killed by the sword,
Pharaoh and all his hordes,”
says Adonai Elohim.
80 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” A testimony. A psalm of Asaf:
2 (1) Shepherd of Isra’el, listen!
You who lead Yosef like a flock,
you whose throne is on the k’ruvim,
shine out!
3 (2) Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M’nasheh,
rouse your power; and come to save us.
4 (3) God, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
5 (4) Adonai, God of armies, how long
will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
6 (5) You have fed them tears as their bread
and made them drink tears in abundance.
7 (6) You make our neighbors fight over us,
and our enemies mock us.
8 (7) God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
9 (8) You brought a vine out of Egypt,
you expelled the nations and planted it,
10 (9) you cleared a space for it;
then it took root firmly and filled the land.
11 (10) The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
12 (11) It put out branches as far as the sea
and shoots to the [Euphrates] River.
13 (12) Why did you break down [the vineyard’s] wall,
so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?
14 (13) The boar from the forest tears it apart;
wild creatures from the fields feed on it.
15 (14) God of armies, please come back!
Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine!
16 (15) Protect what your right hand planted,
the son you made strong for yourself.
17 (16) It is burned by fire, it is cut down;
they perish at your frown of rebuke.
18 (17) Help the man at your right hand,
the son of man you made strong for yourself.
19 (18) Then we won’t turn away from you —
if you revive us, we will call on your name.
20 (19) Adonai, God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.