M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Trouble for the Philistines
5 After the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 They carried it into Dagon’s temple and put it next to Dagon. 3 The people of Ashdod rose early the next morning. They found that Dagon had fallen on his face on the ground. He was lying before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. So the people of Ashdod put Dagon back in his place. 4 The next morning the people of Ashdod rose from sleep. And again they found Dagon on the ground! He had fallen down before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. His head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only his body was still in one piece. 5 So, even today, Dagon’s priests and others who enter his temple at Ashdod refuse to step on the doorsill.
6 The Lord punished the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He gave them much trouble. He gave them growths on their skin. 7 The people of Ashdod saw what was happening. They said, “The Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel can’t stay with us. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.” 8 The people of Ashdod called all five Philistine kings together. They asked them, “What should we do with the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel?”
The rulers answered, “Move the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved it to Gath.
9 But after they had moved it to Gath, the Lord punished that city also. He made the people very afraid. God troubled both old and young people in Gath. He caused them to have growths on their skin. 10 Then the Philistines sent the Ark of the Covenant of God to Ekron.
But when it came into Ekron, the people of Ekron yelled. They said, “Why are you bringing the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel to our city? Do you want to kill us and our people?” 11 The people of Ekron called all the kings of the Philistines together. They said to the kings, “Send the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel back to its place. Do it before it kills us and our people!” They were very afraid. God’s punishment was very terrible there. 12 The people who did not die were troubled with growths on their skin. So the people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven.
The Ark of the Covenant of God Is Sent Home
6 The Philistines kept the Ark of the Covenant of God in their land seven months. 2 Then they called for their priests and magicians. They said, “What should we do with the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back home!”
3 The priests and magicians answered them. They said, “If you send back the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty. You must offer a penalty offering so the God of Israel will forgive your sins. Then you will be healed. When God has forgiven you, he will stop punishing you.”
4 The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”
The priests and magicians answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin. Also make five gold models of rats. The number of models must be the same as the number of Philistine kings. This is because the same sickness has come on you and your kings. 5 Make models of the growths and the rats that are ruining the country. Give them to Israel’s God and honor him. Then maybe Israel’s God will stop punishing you, your gods and your land. 6 Don’t be stubborn like the king of Egypt and the Egyptians. God punished them terribly. That is why the Egyptians let the Israelites leave Egypt.
7 “You must build a new cart. And get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never had yokes on their necks. Then hitch the cows to the cart. Take the calves home. Don’t let them follow their mothers. 8 Put the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord on the cart. And put the gold models in a box beside the Ark of the Covenant. They are your penalty offerings for God to forgive your sins. Send the cart straight on its way. 9 Watch the cart. It may go toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land. If so, the Lord has given us this great sickness. But it may not go toward Beth Shemesh. Then we will know that Israel’s God has not punished us. We will know that our sickness just happened by chance.”
10 The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They took two cows that had just had calves. They hitched them to the cart. But they kept their calves at home. 11 They put the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord on the cart. And they put the box with the gold rats and models of growths on the cart. 12 Then the cows went straight toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road, mooing all the way. They did not turn right or left. The Philistine kings followed the cows as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. They looked up and saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. They were very happy to see it again. 14 The cart came to the field belonging to Joshua of Beth Shemesh. The cart stopped in this field near a large rock. The people of Beth Shemesh chopped up the wood of the cart. Then they killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. They also took down the box that had the gold models. They put both on the large rock. That day the people of Beth Shemesh offered whole burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16 The five Philistine kings watched them do all these things. Then they went back to Ekron the same day.
17 The Philistines sent these gold models of the growths. They were penalty offerings to the Lord for their sins. They sent one model for each Philistine town. These towns were Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18 And the Philistines also sent gold models of rats. The number of rats was the same as the number of towns belonging to the Philistine kings. These towns included strong, walled cities and country villages. The large rock on which they put the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is still there. It is in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 But some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. So God killed 70 of them. The people of Beth Shemesh cried because the Lord had punished them so terribly. 20 They said, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? Where can the Ark of the Covenant go from here?”
21 Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim. The messengers said, “The Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Come down and take it to your city.”
Right with God
5 We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through our faith,[b] Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory. 3 And we also have joy with our troubles because we know that these troubles produce patience. 4 And patience produces character, and character produces hope. 5 And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. God gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.
6 Christ died for us while we were still weak. We were living against God, but at the right time, Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good man someone might possibly die. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners. In this way God shows his great love for us.
9 We have been made right with God by the blood of Christ’s death. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. 10 I mean that while we were God’s enemies, God made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are God’s friends, God will save us through his Son’s life. 11 And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are now God’s friends again.
Adam and Christ
12 Sin came into the world because of what one man did. And with sin came death. And this is why all men must die—because all men sinned. 13 Sin was in the world before the law of Moses. But God does not judge people guilty of sin if there is no law. 14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, everyone had to die. Adam died because he sinned by not obeying God’s command. But even those who did not sin in the same way had to die.
Adam was like the One who was coming in the future. 15 But God’s free gift is not like Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But the grace that they received from God was much greater. Many people received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. 16 After Adam sinned once, he was judged guilty. But the gift of God is different. God’s free gift came after many sins. And the gift makes people right with God. 17 One man sinned, and so death ruled all people because of that one man. But now some people accept God’s full grace and the great gift of being made right with him. They will surely have true life and rule through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 So one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people. But in the same way, one good act that Christ did makes all people right with God. And that brings true life for all. 19 One man disobeyed God, and many became sinners. But in the same way, one man obeyed God, and many will be made right. 20 The law came to make people have more sin. But when people had more sin, God gave them more of his grace. 21 Sin once used death to rule us. But God gave people more of his grace so that grace could rule by making people right with him. And this brings life forever through Jesus Christ our Lord.
43 So Jeremiah finished telling the people the message from the Lord their God. He told them everything the Lord their God had sent him to tell them.
2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah and some other men were too proud. They said to Jeremiah, “Jeremiah, you are lying! The Lord our God did not send you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to live there.’ 3 Baruch son of Neriah is causing you to be against us. He wants you to hand us over to the Babylonians. Then they will kill us. Or they will capture us and take us to Babylon.”
4 So Johanan, the army officers and all the people disobeyed the Lord’s command. He had commanded them to stay in Judah. 5 But Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers took those who were left alive from Judah to Egypt. These were the people who had run away from the Babylonians to other countries. But they had come back to Judah. 6 Now Johanan and the army officers took the men, women and children. Among those people were the king’s daughters. And they led them to Egypt. Nebuzaradan commander of the guard had put Gedaliah in charge of those people. (Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.) Johanan also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7 These people did not listen to the Lord. So they all went to Egypt to the town of Tahpanhes.
8 In Tahpanhes the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah: 9 “Take some large stones. Bury them in the clay in the brick pavement. This is in front of the king of Egypt’s palace in Tahpanhes. Do this while the Jews are watching you. 10 Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And I will set his throne over these stones I have buried. He will spread his covering for shade above these stones. 11 He will come here and attack Egypt. He will bring death to those who are supposed to die. He will make prisoners of those who are to be taken captive. And he will bring war to those who are to be killed with a sword. 12 Nebuchadnezzar will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn those temples. And he will take the idols away. A shepherd wraps himself in his clothes. In the same way Nebuchadnezzar will wrap Egypt around him. Then he will safely leave Egypt. 13 He will destroy the stone pillars in the temple of the sun god in Egypt. And he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”
God’s Works and Word
For the director of music. A song of David.
19 The heavens tell the glory of God.
And the skies announce what his hands have made.
2 Day after day they tell the story.
Night after night they tell it again.
3 They have no speech or words.
They don’t make any sound to be heard.
4 But their message goes out through all the world.
It goes everywhere on earth.
The sky is like a home for the sun.
5 The sun comes out like a bridegroom from his bedroom.
It rejoices like an athlete eager to run a race.
6 The sun rises at one end of the sky,
and it follows its path to the other end.
Nothing hides from its heat.
7 The Lord’s teachings are perfect.
They give new strength.
The Lord’s rules can be trusted.
They make plain people wise.
8 The Lord’s orders are right.
They make people happy.
The Lord’s commands are pure.
They light up the way.
9 It is good to respect the Lord.
That respect will last forever.
The Lord’s judgments are true.
They are completely right.
10 They are worth more than gold,
even the purest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even the finest honey.
11 They tell your servant what to do.
Keeping them brings great reward.
12 No one can see all his own mistakes.
Forgive me for my secret sins.
13 Keep me from the sins that I want to do.
Don’t let them rule me.
Then I can be pure
and free from the greatest of sins.
14 I hope my words and thoughts please you.
Lord, you are my Rock, the one who saves me.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.