M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Has the Ark Brought to Obed Edom’s House(A)
13 David consulted with every officer who commanded a regiment or battalion. 2 Then he told the whole assembly of Israel, “If you approve and if Yahweh our Elohim has consented,[a] we will send an invitation to the rest of our relatives in every region of Israel and to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands so that they may join us. 3 Then we’ll bring back our Elohim’s ark, which we ignored while Saul was king.”
4 The whole assembly agreed to this because the people considered it the right thing to do. 5 So David gathered all Israel from the Shihor River near Egypt to the border of Hamath in order to bring Elohim’s ark from Kiriath Jearim.
6 David and all Israel went to Baalah in Kiriath Jearim, which is in Judah, to bring Elohim’s ark to Jerusalem. (Yahweh is enthroned over the angels[b] on the ark where his name is used.) 7 David and his men put Elohim’s ark on a new cart from Abinadab’s home. Uzzah and Ahio guided the cart. 8 David and all Israel were celebrating in Elohim’s presence with all their might, with songs, with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
9 But when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor,[c] the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out to grab the ark. 10 Yahweh became angry with Uzzah and killed him for reaching for the ark. He died in Elohim’s presence.
11 David was angry because Yahweh had struck Uzzah so violently. (That place is still called Perez Uzzah [The Striking of Uzzah] today.) 12 David was afraid of Elohim that day. “How can I bring Elohim’s ark to my city?” he asked. 13 So he didn’t bring God’s ark to his home, the City of David. Instead, he rerouted it to the home of Obed Edom, who was from Gath. 14 Elohim’s ark stayed at the home of Obed Edom with his family for three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed Edom’s family and everything he owned.
David’s Palace, Wives, and Children in Jerusalem(B)
14 King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedarwood, masons, and carpenters to build a palace for David. 2 So David realized that Yahweh had established him as king of Israel and that his kingdom was made famous for the sake of Israel, Yahweh’s people.
3 David married more wives in Jerusalem and fathered more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of the children who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
David Defeats the Philistines(C)
8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, all of them came to attack David. But David heard about it and went out to meet them. 9 The Philistines had come and raided the valley of Rephaim.
10 David asked Elohim, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
Yahweh answered him, “Attack! I will hand them over to you.”
11 So David and his men attacked and defeated the Philistines at Baal Perazim. David said, “Using my power like an overwhelming flood, Elohim has overwhelmed my enemies.” That is why they call that place Baal Perazim [The Lord Overwhelms]. 12 The Philistines left their gods there, so David ordered that the gods be burned.
13 The Philistines again raided the valley. 14 Once more David asked Elohim.
Elohim answered him, “Don’t go after them. Circle around, and come at them in front of the balsam trees. 15 As you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out and fight because Elohim has gone ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army.”
16 David did as Elohim ordered him, and his men defeated the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer. 17 David’s fame spread through all lands, and Yahweh made all the nations fear him.
Greeting
1 From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Yeshua Christ.
To God’s faithful people[a] who have been scattered.
Greetings.
When You Are Tested, Turn to God
2 My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. 3 You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything.
5 If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. God is generous to everyone and doesn’t find fault with them. 6 When you ask for something, don’t have any doubts. A person who has doubts is like a wave that is blown by the wind and tossed by the sea. 7 A person who has doubts shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can’t make up his mind about anything.
9 Humble believers should be proud because being humble makes them important. 10 Rich believers should be proud because being rich should make them humble. Rich people will wither like flowers. 11 The sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up plants. The flowers drop off, and the beauty is gone. The same thing will happen to rich people. While they are busy, they will die.
12 Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 When someone is tempted, he shouldn’t say that God is tempting him. God can’t be tempted by evil, and God doesn’t tempt anyone. 14 Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. 15 Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death.
16 My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled. 17 Every good present and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father who made the sun, moon, and stars. The Father doesn’t change like the shifting shadows produced by the sun and the moon.
18 God decided to give us life through the word of truth to make us his most important creatures.
19 Remember this, my dear brothers and sisters: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and should not get angry easily. 20 An angry person doesn’t do what God approves of. 21 So get rid of all immoral behavior and all the wicked things you do. Humbly accept the word that God has placed in you. This word can save you.
22 Do what God’s word says. Don’t merely listen to it, or you will fool yourselves. 23 If someone listens to God’s word but doesn’t do what it says, he is like a person who looks at his face in a mirror, 24 studies his features, goes away, and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 However, the person who continues to study God’s perfect laws that make people free and who remains committed to them will be blessed. People like that don’t merely listen and forget; they actually do what God’s laws say.
26 If a person thinks that he is religious but can’t control his tongue, he is fooling himself. That person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans and widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world.
The End Has Come for Israel
8 This is what Adonay Yahweh showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit.
2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered.
Then Yahweh said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 3 On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares Adonay Yahweh. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!”
4 Listen to this, those who trample on the needy
and ruin those who are oppressed in the world.
5 You say to yourselves,
“When will the New Moon Festival be over
so that we can sell more grain?
When will the day of worship be over
so that we can sell more wheat?
We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets,
increase the cost,
and cheat with dishonest scales.
6 We can buy the poor with money
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat.”
7 Yahweh has sworn an oath by Jacob’s pride:
“I will never forget anything that they have done.”
8 The land will tremble because of this.
Everyone who lives in it will mourn.
The entire land will rise like the Nile,
be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt’s river.
9 On that day, declares Adonay Yahweh,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into funerals
and all your songs into funeral songs.
I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist
and shave everyone’s head.
I will make that day seem like a funeral for an only child,
and its end will be bitter.
11 The days are going to come, declares Adonay Yahweh,
when I will send a famine throughout the land.
It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought.
Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh.
12 People will wander from sea to sea
and roam from the north to the east,
searching for the word of Yahweh.
But they won’t find it.
13 On that day beautiful young women and strong young men
will faint because of their thirst.
14 How horrible it will be for those who swear by Ashimah,[a]
the idol of Samaria, and say,
“I solemnly swear, Dan, as your god lives. . . .”
“I solemnly swear as long as there is a road to Beersheba. . . .”
Those who say this will fall and never get up again.
John Prepares the Way(A)
3 It was the fifteenth year in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Herod ruled Galilee, and his brother Philip ruled Iturea and Trachonitis. Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. 2 It was at the time when Annas and Caiaphas were chief priests that God spoke to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert. 3 John traveled throughout the region around the Jordan River. He told people about a baptism of repentance[a] for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As the prophet Isaiah wrote in his book,
“A voice cries out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord!
Make his paths straight!
5 Every valley will be filled.
Every mountain and hill will be leveled.
The crooked ways will be made straight.
The rough roads will be made smooth.
6 All people will see the salvation that God gives.’”
7 Crowds of people were coming to be baptized by John. He would say to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who showed you how to flee from God’s coming anger? 8 Do those things that prove that you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. Don’t say, ‘Abraham is our ancestor.’ I guarantee that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones. 9 The ax is now ready to cut the roots of the trees. Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”
10 The crowds asked him, “What should we do?”
11 He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who doesn’t have any. Whoever has food should share it too.”
12 Some tax collectors came to be baptized. They asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Don’t collect more money than you are ordered to collect.”
14 Some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Be satisfied with your pay, and never use threats or blackmail to get money from anyone.”
15 People’s hopes were rising as they all wondered whether John was the Messiah. 16 John replied to all of them, “I baptize you with water. But the one who is more powerful than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie his sandal straps. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing[b] shovel is in his hand to clean up his threshing floor.[c] He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn the husks in a fire that can never be put out.”
18 With many other encouraging words, he told the Good News to the people.
19 John spoke out against the ruler Herod because Herod had married his own sister-in-law, Herodias. He also spoke out against Herod for all the evil things he had done. 20 So Herod added one more evil to all the others; he locked John in prison.
The Baptism of Jesus(B)
21 When all the people were baptized, Yeshua, too, was baptized. While he was praying, heaven opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit came down to him in the form of a dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with you.”
23 Yeshua was about 30 years old when he began his ministry.
The Ancestors of Jesus
Yeshua, so people thought, was the son of Joseph, son of Eli,
24 son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph,
25 son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai,
26 son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda,
27 son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri,
28 son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er,
29 son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi,
30 son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim,
31 son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David,
32 son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Salmon, son of Nahshon,
33 son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah,
34 son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor,
35 son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah,
36 son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech,
37 son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan,
38 son of Enos, son of Seth,
son of Adam,
son of God.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.