M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hannah Gives Thanks

2 Hannah said:

Eli’s Evil Sons

¹¹ Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. But the boy continued to serve the Lord under Eli the priest.

¹² Now Eli’s sons were evil men. They did not care about the Lord. ¹³ This is what the priests would do to the people: Every time someone brought a sacrifice, the meat would be cooked in a pot. The priest’s servant would then come with a fork in his hand. The fork had three prongs. ¹⁴ He would plunge the fork into the pot or the kettle. Whatever the fork brought out of the pot belonged to the priest. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices. ¹⁵ But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come to the person offering sacrifices. The servant would say, “Give the priest some meat to roast. The priest won’t accept boiled meat from you. He will only accept raw meat.”

¹⁶ But the man who offered the sacrifice might say, “Let the fat be burned up first as usual. Then you may take anything you want.”

If so, the priest’s servant would answer, “No, give me the meat now. If you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

¹⁷ The Lord saw that the sin of the servants was very great. They did not show respect for the offerings made to the Lord.

Samuel Grows Up

¹⁸ But Samuel obeyed the Lord. He wore a linen holy vest. ¹⁹ Every year Samuel’s mother would make a little coat for him. She would take it to him when she went to Shiloh. She went there with her husband for the sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife. Eli would say, “May the Lord repay you with children through Hannah. They will take the place of the boy Hannah prayed for and gave back to the Lord.” Then Elkanah and Hannah would go home. ²¹ The Lord was kind to Hannah. She became the mother of three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up serving the Lord.

²² Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all the Israelites. He also heard about how his sons had physical relations with the women who served at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ²³ Eli said to his sons, “The people here tell me about the evil you do. Why do you do these evil things? ²⁴ No, my sons. The Lord’s people are saying bad things about you. ²⁵ If someone sins against another person, God can help him. But if he sins against the Lord himself, no one can help him!” But Eli’s sons would not listen to him. This was because the Lord had decided to put them to death.

²⁶ The boy Samuel kept growing. He pleased God and the people.

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli. He said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I clearly showed myself to the family of your ancestor Aaron. This was when they were slaves to the king of Egypt. ²⁸ I chose them from all the tribes of Israel to be my priests. I wanted them to go up to my altar, to burn incense and to wear the holy vest. I also let the family of your ancestor have part of all the offerings sacrificed by the Israelites. ²⁹ So why don’t you respect the sacrifices and gifts? You honor your sons more than me. You become fat on the best parts of the meat the Israelites bring to me.’

³⁰ “Here’s what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I promised that your family and your ancestor’s family would serve me forever.’ But now the Lord says this: ‘That will never be! I will honor those who honor me. But I will take honor away from those who do not honor me. ³¹ The time is coming when I will destroy the descendants of both you and your ancestors. No man will grow old in your family. ³² You will see trouble in my house. Good things will be done to Israel. But there will never be an old man in your family. ³³ I will save one man to serve as priest at my altar. He will wear out his eyes and use up his strength. The rest of your descendants will die by the sword.

³⁴ “‘I will give you a sign. Both your sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will die on the same day. ³⁵ I will choose a loyal priest for myself. He will listen to me and do what I want. I will make his family strong. He will always serve before my appointed king. ³⁶ Then everyone left in your family will come and bow down before him. They will beg for a little money or a little food. They will say, “Please give me a job as priest so I can have food to eat.”’”

You People Also Are Sinful

2 If you think that you can judge others, then you are wrong. You too are guilty of sin. You judge people, but you do the same bad things they do. So when you judge them, you are really judging yourself guilty. ² God judges those who do wrong things. And we know that God’s judging is right. ³ You judge those who do wrong, but you do wrong yourselves. Do you think you will be able to escape the judgment of God? ⁴ God has been very kind to you, and he has been patient with you. God has been waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so that you will change your hearts and lives. ⁵ But you are hard and stubborn and refuse to change. So you are making your own punishment greater and greater on the day God shows his anger. On that day all people will see God’s right judgments. ⁶ God will reward or punish every person for what he has done. ⁷ Some people live for God’s glory, for honor, and for life that has no end. They live for those things by always continuing to do good. God will give life forever to them. ⁸ But other people are selfish and refuse to follow truth. They follow evil. God will give them his punishment and anger. ⁹ He will give trouble and suffering to everyone who does evil—to the Jews first and also to the non-Jews. ¹⁰ But God will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good—to the Jews first and also to the non-Jews. ¹¹ For God judges all people in the same way.

¹² People who have God’s law and those who have never heard of the law are all the same when they sin. Those who do not have the law and are sinners will be lost. And, in the same way, people who have the law and are sinners will be judged by the law. ¹³ Hearing the law does not make people right with God. The law makes people right with God only if they obey what the law says. ¹⁴ (The non-Jews do not have the law. But when they freely do things that the law commands, then they are the law for themselves. This is true even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that in their hearts they know what is right and wrong, just as the law commands. And they also show this by the way they feel about right and wrong. Sometimes their thoughts tell them they did wrong. And sometimes their thoughts tell them they did right.) ¹⁶ All these things will happen on the day when God will judge the secret thoughts of people’s hearts. The Good News that I preach says that God will judge everyone through Christ Jesus.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ What about you? You call yourself a Jew. You trust in the law of Moses and brag that you are close to God. ¹⁸ You know what God wants you to do. And you know the things that are important because you have learned the law. ¹⁹ You think you are a guide for the blind and a light for those who are in darkness. ²⁰ You think you can show foolish people what is right and teach those who know nothing. You have the law; so you think you know everything and have all truth. ²¹ You teach other people. So why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal. But you yourselves steal. ²² You say that others must not take part in adultery. But you yourselves are guilty of that sin. You hate idols. But you steal from temples. ²³ You brag about having God’s law. But you bring shame to God by breaking his law. ²⁴ It is written in the Scriptures: “The non-Jews speak against God’s name because of you Jews.”^[a]

²⁵ If you follow the law, then your circumcision has meaning. But if you break the law, then it is as if you were never circumcised. ²⁶ The non-Jews are not circumcised. But if they do what the law says, then it is as if they were circumcised. ²⁷ You Jews have the written law and circumcision, but you break the law. So those who are not circumcised in their bodies, but still obey the law, will show that you are guilty.

²⁸ A person is not a true Jew if he is only a Jew in his physical body. True circumcision is not only on the outside of the body. ²⁹ A person is a true Jew only if he is a Jew inside. True circumcision is done in the heart by the Spirit, not by the written law. Such a person gets praise from God, not from other people.

Jeremiah Is Set Free

40 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. This was after Nebuzaradan, commander of the guards, had set Jeremiah free at the city of Ramah. He had found Jeremiah in Ramah bound in chains. He was with all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah. They were being taken away to Babylon. ² When commander Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan said to him, “The Lord your God announced this disaster would come to this place. ³ And now the Lord has done everything he said he would do. This disaster happened because the people of Judah sinned against the Lord. You people did not obey the Lord. ⁴ But now I will set you free. I am taking the chains off your wrists. If you want to, come with me to Babylon. And I will take good care of you. But if you don’t want to come, then don’t. Look, the whole country is open to you.” ⁵ Before Jeremiah turned to leave, Nebuzaradan said, “Or go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. The king of Babylon has chosen Gedaliah to be governor over the towns of Judah. Go and live with Gedaliah among the people. Or go anywhere you want.”

Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. ⁶ So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And Jeremiah stayed with him there. He lived among the people who were left behind in Judah.

The Short Rule of Gedaliah

⁷ There were some officers and their men from the army of Judah. These men were still out in the open country. They heard that the king of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge. He was put in charge of the people who were left in the land: the men, women and children who were very poor. They were the ones who were not carried off to Babylon as captives. ⁸ So these soldiers came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah. Also Seraiah son of Tanhumeth and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite came. And Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite and their men came.

⁹ Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise to them. Gedaliah said, “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then everything will go well for you. ¹⁰ I myself will live in Mizpah. I will speak for you before the Babylonians who come here. You harvest the wine, the summer fruit and the oil. Put what you harvest in your storage jars. Live in the towns you control.”

¹¹ Some Jews were in Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries. They heard that the king of Babylon had left a few Jews alive in the land. And they heard the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah as governor over them. (Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.) ¹² When the people of Judah heard this news, they came back to Judah. They came back to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They came from all the countries where they had been scattered. They gathered a large harvest of wine and summer fruit.

¹³ Johanan son of Kareah came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. All the army officers of Judah still in the open country also came. ¹⁴ Johanan and the officers with him said to Gedaliah, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonite people wants you dead? He has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you.” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah. He said to Gedaliah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know anything about it. We should not let Ishmael kill you. All the Jews gathered around you would be scattered to different countries again. Then the few people of Judah who are left alive would be lost.”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not kill Ishmael! The things you are saying about Ishmael are not true!”

What God Demands

A song of David.

The Lord Takes Care of His People

A miktam of David.