M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Mourns Saul and Jonathan

1 Now it came to pass after the death of Saul—when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites—that David stayed two days in Ziklag. ² On the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dust on his head. Now when he approached David, he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.

³ Then David asked him, “Where are you coming from?”

“I’ve escaped from the camp of Israel,” he answered.

⁴ “How did things go?” David asked him. “Please, tell me.”

He answered, “The troops fled the battlefield—also many of the troops fell and died. And even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

⁵ David asked the young man informing him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

⁶ The young man informing him answered, “I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, and look, Saul was leaning on his spear, while the chariots and the horsemen were closing in on him. ⁷ When he turned around and saw me, he called me. So I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ⁸ Then he asked me, ‘Who are you?’

“So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ ⁹ So he said to me, ‘Stand now over me and kill me! For I’m in agony, yet I’m still alive.’ ¹⁰ So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew he couldn’t survive after he had fallen. Then I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and brought them here—to my lord.”

¹¹ Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men that were with him, ¹² and they mourned, wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, for the troops of Adonai and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. ¹³ Then David said to the young man who informed him, “Where are you from?”

“I am a son of an Amalekite outsider,” he replied.

¹⁴ Then David said to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Adonai’s anointed one?” ¹⁵ Then David called one of the young men and said, “Come and strike him down.” And he struck him down and he died. ¹⁶ David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your mouth testified against you saying, ‘I killed Adonai’s anointed.’”

¹⁷ Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸ and ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the “Song of the Bow.” (Behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar):

Spiritual Gifts for the Body

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant. ² You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed by idols that cannot speak, and you got led astray. ^{[a] 3} Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Ruach Elohim says, “Yeshua be cursed,” and no one can say, “Yeshua is Lord,” except by the Ruach ha-Kodesh.

⁴ Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Ruach. ⁵ There are various kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are various kinds of working, but the same God who works all things in all people. ⁷ But to each person is given the manifestation of the Ruach for the benefit of all. ⁸ For to one is given through the Ruach a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Ruach, ⁹ to another faith by the same Ruach, to another gifts of healings by the one Ruach, ¹⁰ to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Ruach activates all these things, distributing to each person individually as He wills.

¹² For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body—though many—are one body, so also is Messiah. ¹³ For in one Ruach we were all immersed into one body—whether Jewish or Greek, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Ruach.

¹⁴ For the body is not one part, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” is it therefore not part of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” is it for this reason any less part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has placed the parts—each one of them—in the body just as He desired. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now there are many parts, yet one body.

²¹ The eye cannot tell the hand, “I don’t need you!” or in turn the head to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be less important are indispensable. ²³ Those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe with greater honor; and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty; ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no such need. Rather God assembled the body, giving more honor to those who are lacking, ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but so that the parts may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer together. If one part is honored, all the parts rejoice together.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually. ²⁸ God has put into His community first emissaries, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then healings, helps, leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not emissaries, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not work miracles, do they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? ³¹ But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And still I show you a far better way:

The Glory Arises

10 Then I looked, and behold, above the expanse over the heads of the cheruvim, there appeared above them something like a sapphire stone, resembling a throne. ² He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels underneath the cheruvim. Fill your hands with glowing coals from between the cheruvim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in before my eyes.

³ Now the cheruvim stood on the right side of the House when the man went in. The cloud filled the inner court. ⁴ Then the glory of Adonai rose up from above the cheruv to the threshold of the House. The House was filled with the cloud and the court was full of the brilliance of Adonai’s glory. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the cheruvim was heard as far as the outer court, as the voice of El Shaddai when He speaks.

⁶ After He commanded the man clothed in linen saying: “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cheruvim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. ⁷ The cheruv reached out his hand from between the cheruvim into the fire that was between the cheruvim and took some of it. He put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. ⁸ The cheruvim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cheruvim, one wheel beside one cheruv, and another wheel beside another cheruv. The appearance of the wheels was like the sparkling of a beryl stone. ¹⁰ As for their appearance, the four had one form—like a wheel within a wheel. ¹¹ When they went, they would go in any of their four directions, without pivoting as they went. So to whatever place the head faced, they followed, without turning as they went. ¹² Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and their wheels, the wheels of the four of them, were full of eyes all around. ^{[a] 13} As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the whirling wheels.” ¹⁴ Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cheruv, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle.^[b]

¹⁵ The cheruvim arose—these were the living creatures that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶ As the cheruvim went, the wheels would go beside them. When the cheruvim lifted up their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels would not turn from beside them. ¹⁷ When they stood still, these stood still. When they rose up, these rose up with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

¹⁸ Then the glory of Adonai went forth from above the threshold of the House and stood above the cheruvim. ¹⁹ The cheruvim lifted up their wings and arose from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels went with them. They stood still at the door of the east gate of Adonai’s House. The glory of the God of Israel was over them from above. ²⁰ They were the living creatures that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar. I knew that they were cheruvim. ²¹ Each of them had four faces and each one four wings. The appearance of human hands was under their wings. ²² As for the appearance of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I saw by the river Chebar. Each could move in the direction of any of its faces.

Rich and Poor Alike

Psalm 49