M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Travels of the Ark
5 After the Philistines had captured God’s ark, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 The Philistines took God’s ark and brought it into the house of Dagon[a] and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod got up early the next day, there was Dagon—fallen facedown to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4 When they got up early the following morning, it had happened again! There was Dagon, fallen facedown in front of the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both of his hands were broken off and were lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso[b] was intact. 5 That is why the priests of Dagon and any people who enter Dagon’s temple in Ashdod do not step on the threshold of Dagon to this day.
6 Then the Lord’s hand was heavy against the people of Ashdod. He devastated them and struck them with tumors.[c] He struck Ashdod and its surrounding territory. 7 When the men of Ashdod saw what was taking place, they said, “The Ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.” 8 They called together a meeting of all the serens[d] of the Philistines and asked, “What shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”
They answered, “Let the Ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” So they carried the Ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had carried it there, the Lord’s hand was against that city, and there was great panic. He struck the men of the city, both young and old,[e] so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent God’s ark to Ekron.
When God’s ark came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us and our people.” 11 They called a meeting of all the serens of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.” Indeed, the threat of death caused panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the outcry from the city went up to heaven.
6 The Lord’s ark remained in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners[f] and asked, “What should we do with the Lord’s ark? Advise us how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They said, “If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but, by all means, send it to him with a restitution offering. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been removed from you.”[g]
4 Then they said, “What restitution offering should we send to him?”
They said, “There are five serens of the Philistines, so five gold tumors and five gold mice should be sent, because the same plague was on all of you and on your serens. 5 Therefore you should make replicas of your tumors and figurines of the mice that are ruining your land, and you will give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand on you, on your gods, and on your land. 6 Why harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After the Lord had dealt ruthlessly with them, didn’t the Egyptians let the people go, and they departed?
7 “So make a new cart and take two cows that are nursing their calves, cows that have never had a yoke on them. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take their calves away from them and send them home. 8 Then take the Ark of the Lord and place it on the cart. Place the gold objects, which you are sending to him as a restitution offering, into a box beside the ark. Then send it on its way, and let it go on its own. 9 Watch it. If it goes up on the road toward the border of Israel, to Beth Shemesh, then it is their god who has inflicted this disaster on us. But if not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us. It was a coincidence that this happened to us.”
10 So that is what the men did. They took two cows that were nursing calves, hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 Then they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the replicas of their tumors. 12 The cows headed straight up the road toward Beth Shemesh. They went straight along the highway without stopping, lowing as they went. They did not turn aside to the right or to the left. The serens of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They looked up and saw the Ark, and they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there, near the large stone that was there. Then the people split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took the Lord’s ark and the box with it, which contained the gold objects, and they put them on the large stone. On that same day, the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
16 When the five serens of the Philistines had seen this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
17 This is the number of gold tumors that the Philistines sent back as a restitution offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18 The gold mice also corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines that belonged to the five serens, the fortified cities along with the rural villages. The objects were placed on the large stone[h] on which they had placed the Ark of the Lord. That stone remains in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh to this day. 19 The Lord struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men.[i] Then the people mourned, because the Lord had struck the people with such a heavy blow. 20 The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy God, the Lord? To whom can we send it[j] to get it away from here?”
21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim. They said, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up for yourselves.”
Justification Brings Peace and Joy
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace[a] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we also have obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory[c] of God.
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, 4 and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. 5 And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.
God’s Love Is Evident in Christ’s Death for the Ungodly
6 For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. 8 But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, it is even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. 11 And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.
Both Adam and Christ Had an Effect on All People
12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. 13 For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one’s account if there is no law, 14 and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern[d] of the one who was to come.
15 But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many!
16 And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification.
17 Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!
18 So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification[e] for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.
20 The law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace overflowed much more, 21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jeremiah Is Taken to Egypt
43 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God (everything the Lord had sent him to tell them), 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying. The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, ‘Do not go to Egypt to settle there.’ 3 Baruch son of Neriah has turned you against us, in order to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so that they may kill us or carry us away to Babylon as captives.”
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers disobeyed the voice of the Lord, who was commanding them to remain in the land of Judah. 5 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers took away everyone who remained in Judah, everyone who had returned to live in the land of Judah from the nations where they had been driven: 6 the men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, and everyone else that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 They entered the land of Egypt, disobeying the voice of the Lord, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.
8 In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, 9 “Take some large stones in your hand while the men of Judah are watching, and bury them in the mudbrick pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace at Tahpanhes. 10 Tell them that this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. Be sure of this. I will send for my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I[a] will set his throne on these stones that I[b] have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those doomed to death, captivity to those doomed to captivity, and the sword to those doomed to the sword. 12 I[c] will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them—or carry them away to captivity. He will wrap Egypt around himself as a shepherd wraps a cloak around himself.[d] Then he will go away in peace. 13 He will smash the sacred obelisks in the temple of the sun[e] in the land of Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”
Psalm 19
The Glory of God Is Revealed
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
The Glory of God Revealed by Creation
1 The heavens tell about the glory of God.
The expanse of the sky proclaims the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour out speech.
Night after night they display knowledge.
3 They do not speak. They say no words.
Their voice is not heard.[a]
4 Their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
and their word reaches the end of the world.
God has pitched a tent for the sun in the heavens.
5 It comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy.
It celebrates like a champion who has run his race.
6 It sets out from one end of the heavens.
It runs until it reaches the other end.
There is nowhere to hide from its heat.
The Glory of God Revealed in His Word
7 The law[c] of the Lord is perfect.
It revives the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy.
It gives wisdom to the inexperienced.[d]
8 The precepts of the Lord are right.
They give joy to the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is bright.
It gives light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure.
It stands forever.
The just decrees of the Lord are truth.
They are altogether righteous.
10 They are more desirable than gold,
even better than much pure gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the honeycomb.
The Glory of God Revealed in the Believer’s Life
11 Yes, by them your servant is warned.
In keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can recognize his own errors?
Declare me innocent of hidden sins.
13 Restrain your servant also from deliberate sins.
Do not let them rule over me.
Then I will be blameless.
Then I will be innocent of great rebellion.
14 May the speech from my mouth
and the thoughts in my heart be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.