M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 3
Revelation to Samuel. 1 During the time young Samuel was minister to the Lord under Eli, the word of the Lord was scarce and vision infrequent. 2 [a]One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see. 3 The lamp of God was not yet extinguished,[b] and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.(A) 4 The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep. 6 Again the Lord called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “You called me.” But he answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”
7 Samuel did not yet recognize the Lord, since the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the youth. 9 So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, 10 the Lord came and stood there, calling out as before: Samuel, Samuel! Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 The Lord said to Samuel: I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears it ring.(B) 12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I have said about his house, beginning to end. 13 I announce to him that I am condemning his house once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them.(C) 14 Therefore, I swear to Eli’s house: No sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime.[c] 15 Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called to him, “Samuel, my son!” He replied, “Here I am.” 17 Then Eli asked, “What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus to you, and more,[d] if you hide from me a single thing he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, “It is the Lord. What is pleasing in the Lord’s sight, the Lord will do.”
Samuel Acknowledged as Prophet. 19 Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to go unfulfilled.(D) 20 (E)Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, manifesting himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word. Samuel’s word spread throughout Israel.
Chapter 3
Answers to Objections. 1 [a]What advantage is there then in being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much, in every respect. [For] in the first place, they were entrusted with the utterances of God.(A) 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their infidelity nullify the fidelity of God?(B) 4 Of course not! God must be true, though every human being is a liar,[b] as it is written:
“That you may be justified in your words,
and conquer when you are judged.”(C)
5 But if our wickedness provides proof of God’s righteousness, what can we say? Is God unjust, humanly speaking, to inflict his wrath?(D) 6 Of course not! For how else is God to judge the world? 7 But if God’s truth redounds to his glory through my falsehood, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not say—as we are accused and as some claim we say—that we should do evil that good may come of it? Their penalty is what they deserve.(E)
Universal Bondage to Sin.[c] 9 Well, then, are we better off? Not entirely, for we have already brought the charge against Jews and Greeks alike that they are all under the domination of sin,(F) 10 as it is written:(G)
“There is no one just, not one,
11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have gone astray; all alike are worthless;
there is not one who does good,
[there is not] even one.
13 Their throats are open graves;
they deceive with their tongues;
the venom of asps is on their lips;(H)
14 their mouths are full of bitter cursing.(I)
15 Their feet are quick to shed blood;(J)
16 ruin and misery are in their ways,
17 and the way of peace they know not.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.”(K)
19 Now we know that what the law[d] says is addressed to those under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world stand accountable to God,(L) 20 since no human being will be justified in his sight[e] by observing the law; for through the law comes consciousness of sin.(M)
III. Justification Through Faith in Christ
Justification Apart from the Law.[f] 21 But now[g] the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets,(N) 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;(O) 23 all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.(P) 24 They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus,(Q) 25 whom God set forth as an expiation,[h] through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,(R) 26 through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 (S)What occasion is there then for boasting?[i] It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith.[j] 28 For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.(T) 29 Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles,(U) 30 for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.(V) 31 Are we then annulling the law by this faith? Of course not!(W) On the contrary, we are supporting the law.[k]
Chapter 41
1 In the seventh month, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, one of the king’s nobles, came with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah.(A) While they were together at table in Mizpah, 2 Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten with him, stood up and struck down Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with swords. They killed him, since the king of Babylon had set him over the land; 3 Ishmael also killed all the Judahites of military age who were with Gedaliah and the Chaldean soldiers stationed there.
4 The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone learned about it, 5 eighty men, in ragged clothes, with beards shaved off and gashes on their bodies, came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense for the house of the Lord. 6 Weeping as he went, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, set out from Mizpah to meet them. “Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam,” he said as he met them. 7 Once they were inside the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. 8 Ten of them said to Ishmael: “Do not kill us! We have stores of wheat and barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he spared them and did not kill them as he had killed their companions. 9 The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the large one King Asa made to defend himself against Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled this cistern with the slain.(B)
10 Ishmael led away the rest of the people left in Mizpah, including the princesses,[a] whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had consigned to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. With these captives, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
Flight to Egypt. 11 But when Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders with him heard about the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had committed, 12 they took all their men and set out to attack Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. They overtook him at the great pool in Gibeon.[b] 13 At the sight of Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders, the people with Ishmael rejoiced; 14 all of those whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah went back to Johanan, son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan with eight men and fled to the Ammonites. 16 Then Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the military leaders took charge of all the rest of the people whom Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had taken away from Mizpah after he killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam—the soldiers, the women with children, and court officials, whom he brought back from Gibeon. 17 They set out and stopped at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go into Egypt. 18 They were afraid of the Chaldeans, because Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had set over the land.
Psalm 17[a]
Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors
1 A prayer of David.
I
Hear, Lord, my plea for justice;
pay heed to my cry;
Listen to my prayer
from lips without guile.
2 From you let my vindication come;
your eyes see what is right.
3 You have tested my heart,
searched it in the night.(A)
You have tried me by fire,
but find no malice in me.
My mouth has not transgressed
4 as others often do.
As your lips have instructed me,
I have kept from the way of the lawless.
5 My steps have kept to your paths;
my feet have not faltered.(B)
II
6 I call upon you; answer me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my speech.
7 Show your wonderful mercy,
you who deliver with your right arm
those who seek refuge from their foes.
8 [b]Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who despoil me.(C)
III
My ravenous enemies press upon me;(D)
10 [c]they close their hearts,
they fill their mouths with proud roaring.
11 Their steps even now encircle me;
they watch closely, keeping low to the ground,
12 Like lions eager for prey,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.
13 Rise, O Lord, confront and cast them down;
rescue my soul from the wicked.
14 Slay them with your sword;
with your hand, Lord, slay them;
snatch them from the world in their prime.
Their bellies are being filled with your friends;
their children are satisfied too,
for they share what is left with their young.
15 I am just—let me see your face;
when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.(E)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.