M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
4 So the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
Israel and the Philistines
⎣Eli was very old, and his sons kept getting worse in their wickedness in the presence of the Lord. In those days the Philistines gathered themselves together for war against Israel.⎦ [a]
Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle. The Israelites camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines formed battle lines to confront the Israelites. As the battle developed, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of the Israelites lined up on the battlefield.
3 When the people had come back into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord allowed us to be defeated today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that it[b] may come into our midst and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
4 So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Armies, who sits above the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a shout so loud that the earth shook.[c]
6 When the Philistines heard the noise of all the shouting, they asked, “Why is there this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” They learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 7 The Philistines were afraid, so they said, “A god has come into the camp.” They said, “We’re doomed! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 We are doomed! Who can deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, so that you will not become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Act like men and fight!”
10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. A very great slaughter took place, in which thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 God’s ark was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, died.
12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and came to Shiloh that same day. His clothing was torn, and his face was dirty. 13 When he arrived, Eli was there, sitting on his chair beside the road. He was watching, because his heart was trembling with fear for God’s ark. When the man came into the city and told them what had happened, the whole city was in an uproar. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the uproar, he said, “What does this noisy commotion mean?”
The man came quickly and told Eli what had happened. 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes stared straight ahead[d] because he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battlefield. Today I fled from the battlefield.”
Eli said, “What was the outcome, my son?”
17 The man who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. In addition, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
18 When the man mentioned God’s ark, Eli fell backwards off his seat, which was by the city gate. He broke his neck, and he died, because he was an old man, and he was overweight. He had judged Israel[e] for forty years.
19 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, ready to give birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, because labor pains had come upon her. 20 As her death approached, the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay attention. 21 She named the boy Ichabod and said, “The glory has departed from Israel.”[f] Because God’s ark had been taken, and because of the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, 22 she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because God’s ark has been taken.”
Abraham, an Example of Justification by Faith
4 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered according to the flesh? 2 If indeed Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast—but not before God. 3 For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to a person who works, his pay is not counted as a gift but as something owed. 5 But to the person who does not work but believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.
6 This is exactly what David says about the blessed state of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.[b]
Abraham Was Justified Before His Circumcision
9 Now then, does this blessing apply only to the circumcised or also to the uncircumcised? To be sure, we maintain that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 10 So then, under what circumstances was it credited to him? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised at that time? He was not circumcised but uncircumcised, 11 and he received the mark of circumcision as the seal of the righteousness by faith that was already his while he was uncircumcised. So Abraham is the father of all the uncircumcised people who believe, so that righteousness would also be credited to them. 12 He is also the father of the circumcised people who are not merely circumcised but also walk in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Abraham Received What God Promised by Faith, Not by Law
13 Indeed, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness that is by faith. 14 To be sure, if people are heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For law brings wrath. (Where there is no law, there is no transgression.) 16 For this reason, the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants—not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”[c]
Abraham’s Faith Was a Firm Trust in God’s Promise
In the presence of God, Abraham believed him who makes the dead alive and calls non-existing things so that they exist.[d] 18 Hoping beyond what he could expect, he believed that he would become the father of many nations, just as he was told: “This is how many your descendants will be.”[e] 19 He did not weaken in faith, even though he considered his own body as good as dead (because he was about one hundred years old), and even though he considered Sarah’s womb to be dead. 20 He did not waver in unbelief with respect to God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God 21 and being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”[f]
23 Now the statement “it was credited to him” was not written for him alone, 24 but also for us to whom it would be credited, namely, to us who believe in the one who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. 25 He was handed over to death because of our trespasses and was raised to life because of our justification.
The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray for Them
42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah. 2 They said to him, “Please hear our request and pray to the Lord your God for us, for this group of survivors. As you can see, only a few of us are left, though once there were many. 3 Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Certainly, I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you whatever the Lord answers. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do everything the Lord your God directs you to tell us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, of whom you are inquiring for us. May it go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 Ten days later, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, along with all of the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and he reported this to them:
The Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your request, says this: 10 If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieving over the disaster I brought upon you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will be merciful to you so that he will be merciful to you and will send you back to your own land.
13 But if you say, “We will not remain in this land,” and if you disobey the voice of the Lord your God, 14 and if you say, “No, we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no battle signal from the ram’s horn, and experience no hunger for bread, and we will live there,” 15 then hear the word of the Lord, you survivors from Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16 then the sword you fear will overtake you in Egypt, the famine you dread will follow you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 This is what will happen to everyone who is determined to go into Egypt. All of them will die by the sword, famine, and plague. None of them will survive or escape from the disaster I am going to bring on them. 18 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. As my anger and my wrath have been poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of horror and derision, an object of cursing and ridicule. You will never see this place again.
19 This is what the Lord says concerning you, you remaining survivors from Judah: Do not go to Egypt. You can be certain about this. I am warning you today 20 that you have put your own souls[a] in danger by sending me to the Lord your God and saying, “Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.” 21 I have told you this today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything he sent me to tell you. 22 Therefore, be certain about this. You will die by the sword, famine, and plague in the place where you want to go and live.
Psalm 18
Unfailing Kindness to David
And to His Descendant Forever
(2 Samuel 22)
Heading
For the choir director.
By David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the grasp of all his enemies, even from the grasp of Saul.
Praise to the Rock of Salvation
1 Then he said:
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rocky cliff, my stronghold, and my deliverer.
My God is my rock. I take refuge in him.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high fortress.
3 I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
Deliverance From Death
4 The ropes of death entangled me.
Floodwaters of destruction[a] rolled over me.
5 The ropes of the grave wrapped around me.
The traps of death threatened me.
6 In my distress I called to the Lord.
To my God I cried out.
He heard my voice from his temple.
My cry came before him. It reached his ears.
The Greatness of the Deliverance
7 Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains[b] trembled.
They shook because the Lord was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils,
and fire from his mouth devoured.
Coals were set on fire by it.
9 Then he tore open the heavens and came down.
A dark cloud was under his feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub,[c] and he flew.
He soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made the darkness around him his hiding place.
Dark rain clouds[d] surrounded him like a canopy.
12 Emerging from the brightness in front of him
his clouds passed by with hail and coals of fire.
13 Then the Lord thundered in the heavens.
The Most High raised his voice with hail and coals of fire.[e]
14 Then he shot his arrows and scattered the enemy.
He shot great lightning bolts and routed them.
15 Then the sources of water[f] were revealed,
and the foundations of the world were uncovered
by your rebuke, O Lord,
by the breath of wind from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me.
He drew me out of deep waters.
17 Because they were too strong for me,
he rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hate me.
18 They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
but the Lord supported me.
19 Then he brought me out into a wide-open space.
He rescued me because he delighted in me.
David’s Uprightness as a Basis for God’s Judgment
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness.
According to the cleanness of my hands he has repaid me,
21 for I have kept the ways of the Lord.
I have not done evil and departed from my God.
22 So all his just decrees remain before me,
and I have not turned his statutes away from me.
23 I have been blameless with him.
I have kept myself from guilt.
24 The Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
God’s Uprightness as a Basis for His Judgment
25 To the merciful you reveal yourself as merciful.
To the blameless person you reveal yourself as blameless.
26 To the pure you reveal yourself as pure,
but to the crooked you reveal yourself as crafty.
27 For you save humble people,
but you bring low the eyes of the arrogant.
28 Yes, you light my lamp, O Lord.
My God turns my darkness to light.
29 For with you I can charge against a battalion,
and with my God I can jump over a wall.
God Equips David for Victory
30 This God—his way is blameless.
The speech of the Lord is pure.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 This God wraps me with strength
and makes my way perfect.[g]
33 By making my feet like those of a deer
he enables me to stand on high places.
34 Because he trains my hands for battle,
my arms can draw a bronze bow.
35 Then you give me the shield of your salvation.
Your right hand sustains me,
and you stoop down to lift me up.
36 You widen the path under my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.
David’s Victories
37 I pursued my enemies, and I overtook them.
So I did not turn back until they were wiped out.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise again.
They fell beneath my feet.
39 You wrapped me with strength for battle.
You made those who rose up against me bow down to me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs and flee.
I destroyed those who hate me.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them.
They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 So I grind them as fine as dust blown by the wind.
I dump them out like mud in the streets.
43 You delivered me from the accusations of the people.
You made me the head of nations.
A people I did not know serve me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
Foreigners cower before me.
45 Foreigners fall exhausted.
They come trembling from their strongholds.
Closing Words of Faith
46 The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock!
May the God who saves me be exalted!
47 The God who avenges me subdues peoples under me.
48 You delivered me from my enemies.
Yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me.
You rescued me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, Lord.
To your name I will make music.
50 By providing great salvation for his King,
he shows mercy to his Anointed One,
to David and to his Descendant[h] forever.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.