M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
In the law of Moses, people are commanded to love their neighbors as themselves; and Jonathan does just that, loving David as he does himself. David’s love for Jonathan is also clear. When they are parted here, David is filled with sadness. Although both of them weep, David weeps more; and when Saul and Jonathan are later killed in battle, David celebrates and remembers their friendship in one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible. These two demonstrate exactly what it means to follow the command of the law and love unselfishly.
21 David went to a place called Nob, where he visited the priest Ahimelech, who came forward fearfully to meet him.
Ahimelech: Why are you here alone, without anyone else?
David: 2 The king has given me a mission that is not to be revealed to anyone else, and my servants are waiting for me at a place where I have sent them. 3 Now what do you have here to eat? Let me have five loaves of bread or whatever you have.
Ahimelech: 4 I have no ordinary bread—only the holy bread. You may take it, if your men have not recently had sexual intercourse.
David: 5 Of course. They have stayed away from women since we have been on the road, three days now. If their bodies must be kept pure even when we go on a typical journey, how much more must they be kept pure when we are on a mission like this one?
6 The priest gave him consecrated bread since the bread of the Presence was replaced when other fresh, hot bread was brought before the Eternal One and no other bread was available.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants, Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds, was waiting before the Eternal that day.
David (to Ahimelech): 8 Isn’t there a sword or spear here? I left so swiftly on my errand for the king that I did not bring my sword or weapons with me.
Ahimelech: 9 We have no weapons here except the sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed in the valley of Elah. Look, you’ll find it wrapped in a cloth behind the sacred vest. You may take that, if you like, for that is the only weapon here.
David: It is one of a kind. Let me take it.
10 So David left and fled that same day from Saul and went to Saul’s enemy, King Achish of Gath. 11 The king’s servants reminded the king,
Servants: Isn’t this David who some claim to be the very ruler of the land? Didn’t they sing about him while they celebrated and danced?
Saul has slain his thousands
and David, his tens of thousands.
12 When David heard that these were the kinds of things people were saying about him, he was afraid of what Achish, the king of Gath, might do, 13 so he acted differently when they were around and even pretended to be insane. He scarred the doors at the city’s gates with his fingernails and drooled into his beard.
Achish (to his servants): 14 Look at him. Can’t you see this man is crazy? Why have you brought him to me here in my house? 15 Don’t I have enough crazy people around here already, or did you think I might need yet another?
22 That is how David escaped, and from there, he went to the cave of Adullam to hide. When his brothers and the rest of his family heard he was there, they went down to be with him. 2 A group gathered around him, composed of those who were in debt or who were not content with Saul or who were in trouble. Soon David was captain of about 400 such men.
3 David traveled then to Mizpah in Moab, the homeland of his great-grandmother, Ruth, to address the king of Moab.
David: Please allow my mother and father to remain here until I can see what it is that the True God has in store for me.
4 So David left his parents there, and they remained with the king of Moab as long as David remained in the stronghold.
5 David was visited later by Gad the prophet.
Gad (to David): Do not stay here in the stronghold. Leave here, and go to the land of the tribe of Judah.
So David left that place and went into the forest of Hereth.
6 Meanwhile Saul was sitting, spear in hand, under a gnarled and bushy tamarisk tree on the crest of a high hill in Gibeah. His servants were standing around him when he heard the news that David and his followers had been located.
Saul (to his servants): 7 Listen up, all you men of Benjamin. Will Jesse’s son, David, do for you what I have? Will he give each of you fields and vineyards? Will he make each of you commander over thousands or over hundreds? 8 Is that why all of you have betrayed me? None of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you are sorry for me or let me know that my son had stirred up my servant to challenge me, to lie in ambush, just as he is doing at this moment.
9 Doeg the Edomite stood among Saul’s servants.
Doeg: I saw the son of Jesse when he came to Nob to speak with the priest, Ahimelech son of Ahitub. 10 Ahimelech asked the Eternal One questions on David’s behalf, gave him provisions, and even gave him the legendary sword of Goliath the Philistine.
11 So the king sent for the priest Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, and for all his family who were the priests at Nob, and they came before Saul.
Saul: 12 Pay attention, son of Ahitub.
Ahimelech: I am listening, my lord.
Saul: 13 Why have you plotted against me with the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and speaking to the True God on his behalf, so that he should rise up to fight against me? At this moment he must be lying in ambush.
Ahimelech: 14 Which of your servants, good king, is so faithful as David? Isn’t he the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your guard? Hasn’t he always been quick to do the king’s bidding and honored in the king’s household? 15 Is this the first time I have inquired of God for David? Of course not! Do not, O king, imagine that I, your servant, or anyone in my family has intended wrong against the king, for we know next to nothing about your affairs.
Saul (to Ahimelech): 16 You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all of your family.
Saul may be truly at his worst. He fails to have reverence for God’s priests and orders them to be killed for harboring David. Not even Saul’s servants can support this horrid behavior, and they refuse to come under God’s curse by striking down His priests.
The king turned to his guards.
Saul: 17 Kill them, kill all of these priests of the Eternal because they have given their support to David. They knew he was running away, and they did not tell me.
But the servants of the king refused to attack the priests of the Eternal. Saul was furious, so he turned to one he could trust.
Saul (to Doeg): 18 Carry out my orders. Turn around, and kill these priests.
So Doeg the Edomite attacked them. That day he turned and killed 85 men who wore the priestly linen garment. 19 Then he went after Nob, the city of the priests, with his sword and utterly destroyed everything he found there—all the men, women, children, and infants. Doeg even turned his blade against the oxen, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, escaped, and he fled to David for protection. 21 He informed David that Saul had massacred the priests of the Eternal.
David (to Abiathar): 22 I knew, when I saw Doeg the Edomite that day, that he would certainly tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of every person in your family. 23 Stay here with me, and don’t be afraid. The one who seeks my life also seeks yours; you will certainly be safe with me.
3 My brothers and sisters, I cannot address you as people who walk by the Spirit; I have to speak to you as people who tend to think in merely human terms, as spiritual infants in the Anointed One. 2 I nursed you with milk, as a mother would feed her baby, because you were not, and still are not, developed enough to digest complex spiritual food. 3 And here’s why: you are still living in the flesh, not in the Spirit. How do I know? Are you fighting with one another? Are you comparing yourselves to others and becoming consumed with jealousy? Then it sounds like you are living in the flesh, no different from the rest who live by the standards of this rebellious and broken world. 4 If one of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” and the other says, “I am with Apollos,” aren’t you like everybody else? 5 So who is Apollos really? Or Paul for that matter? We are only servants, agents who led you to faith, and the Lord commissioned each of us to do a particular job.
Paul’s test for spiritually immaturity: Do you argue? Do you compare yourself to others? Are you jealous? Answer “yes” to any of these, then you are spiritually immature.
6 My job was to plant the seed, and Apollos was called to water it. Any growth comes from God, 7 so the ones who water and plant have nothing to brag about. God, who causes the growth, is the only One who matters. 8 The one who plants is no greater than the one who waters; both will be rewarded based on their work. 9 We are gardeners and field workers laboring with God. You are the vineyard, the garden, the house where God dwells. 10 Like a skilled architect and master builder, I laid a foundation based upon God’s grace given to me. Now others will come along to build on the foundation. Each serves in a different way and is to build upon it with great care. 11 There is, in fact, only one foundation, and no one can lay any foundation other than Jesus the Anointed. 12 As others build on the foundation (whether with gold, silver, gemstones, wood, hay, or straw), 13 the quality of each person’s work will be revealed in time as it is tested by fire. 14 If a man’s work stands the test of fire, he will be rewarded. 15 If a man’s work is consumed by the fire, his reward will be lost but he will be spared, rescued from the fire. 16 Don’t you understand that together you form a temple to the living God and His Spirit lives among you? 17 If someone comes along to corrupt, vandalize, and destroy the temple of God, you can be sure that God will see to it that he meets destruction because the temple of God is sacred. You, together, are His temple.
18 Don’t let anyone deceive himself. If any one of you thinks he is wise in matters pertaining to this world, he is going to be really disappointed. In fact, one must be deemed a fool by worldly standards in order to become truly wise 19 because the wisdom of this rebellious and broken world looks like foolishness when put next to God. So it stands in Scripture, “He catches the wise in their deceitful plotting.”[a] 20 And the Scriptures add, “The Lord knows the highest thoughts of the wise, and they are worthless.”[b] 21 So there is no reason for anyone to boast in human leaders. You already have it all. 22 So whether it is Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life or death, the present or the future—it all belongs to you. 23 You belong to the Anointed One, and the Anointed One belongs to God.
1 1-2 When I was thirty years old, I was living near the Chebar Canal off the Euphrates River among the exiles. On the fifth day of the fourth month (during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile), the windows of the heavens were thrown open and I saw visions of the True God.
The literary structure of Ezekiel is arranged by how long the exiles have been in Babylonia after the 597 b.c. deportation of Jehoiachin and those with him (8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 26:1; 29:1; 31:1; 32:1; 40:1). The expatriates are counting the days until they can return to their ancestral lands in order to rebuild the temple. If Ezekiel is 30 years old when he has his initial vision, he is about 50 years old when he has the temple vision (chapters 40–48).
3 The word of the Eternal One came to Ezekiel the priest (Buzi’s son) near the Chebar Canal in the land of the Chaldeans. It was there that the hand of the Eternal settled on him.
4 I looked up, and I saw a ferocious and stormy wind coming from the north—a monstrous cloud filled with the constant dance of lightning, surrounded by a glowing, all-encompassing light. At the center of the lightning flashes was something that looked like gleaming metal, 5 and within that otherworldly scene were what looked like four living creatures. The creatures had a form that resembled humans, 6 but they each had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight like the pillars of a temple, and their feet looked like the hoofs of a calf and shimmered in the firelight like polished bronze. 8 They had human hands on all four sides under each wing. All four of these living creatures had faces and wings, 9 and their wings touched one another. As they moved, they did not turn to the right or left; they all went straight ahead. 10 Each of the four creatures had four faces: a human face in front, the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle in the back. 11 The features of their faces were similar. Two of the creatures’ wings stretched upward, and one wing on each side of each creature was touching the wing of the creature on either side of it. The other two wings covered each creature’s body. 12 All of the living creatures went straight ahead wherever the spirit directed them; the creatures moved without turning to the right or left. 13 The living creatures had an appearance of something that looked like burning charcoal. Untamed ribbons of fire darted back and forth among them. It was all very bright, and lightning bolted out of the glowing fire. 14 The living creatures ran back and forth like flashes of lightning.
15 As I observed the living creatures with their four faces, I saw a wheel on the ground next to each of them. 16 The wheels glittered like sun-kissed jewels. All four wheels looked exactly alike, each appearing to have another wheel inside it. 17 As the wheels moved, they were able to go in the four directions the living creatures faced. They rolled straight ahead, never swerving off to the side. 18 The rims of the four wheels were tall and inspired fear, filled with eyes all around. 19 The wheels went wherever the living creatures went: when the living creatures moved, the wheels stayed right beside them; when the living creatures rose up from the ground, the wheels rose with them. 20 The living creatures went wherever the spirit directed, and the wheels stayed right beside them; for the spirit of the creatures directed the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, so did the wheels; when the creatures stood still, so did the wheels; when the creatures rose up from the ground, so did the wheels, because the spirit of the four living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Suspended above the living creatures was something like a broad expanse; it had an awesome gleam like a crystal ceiling and stretched wide over them. 23 Beneath the expanse, the creatures stretched out their wings toward each other, and each creature had another pair of wings it used to cover both sides of its body. 24-25 Whenever the creatures moved, I heard the violent fluttering of their wings, like roaring rapids, like the voice of God Almighty, like the sound of an army besieging a city. Whenever the creatures stopped, they lowered their wings to their sides. As they stood silent, with their wings lowered, a thunderous voice sounded high above the expanse over their heads.
26 And above that expanse over their heads was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire. Sitting on that throne high above the earth was a humanlike figure. 27 From his waist up, I saw what looked to be glowing metal surrounded by an all-encompassing fire. Below his waist, I looked and saw something like a blazing fire. A glorious radiance was all around Him. 28 The glorious radiance resembled a rainbow that lights up the clouds on a rainy day. This was nothing less than the glory of the Eternal that appeared to me. When I saw the vision of the Eternal and His glory, I fell upon my face and heard a voice speaking to me.
Psalm 37[a]
A song of David.
1 Don’t be worried with evil workers
or envy the gains of people with all-wrong-upside-down ways.
2 Soon enough they will wither like grass,
like green herbs fading in summer’s heat.
3 Believe in the Eternal, and do what is good—
live in the land He provides; roam, and rest in God’s faithfulness.
4 Take great joy in the Eternal!
His gifts are coming, and they are all your heart desires!
5 Commit your path to the Eternal; let Him direct you.
Put your confidence in Him, and He will follow through with you.
6 He will spread out righteousness for you
as a sunrise spreads radiance over the land;
He will deliver justice for you into the light of the high sun.
7 Be still. Be patient. Expect the Eternal to arrive and set things right.
Don’t get upset when you see the worldly ones rising up the ladder.
Don’t be bothered by those who are anchored in wicked ways.
8 So turn from anger. Don’t rage,
and don’t worry—these ways frame the doorway to evil.
9 Besides, those who act from evil motives will be cut off from the land;
but those who wait, hoping in the Eternal, will enjoy its riches.
10 You’ll see . . . the wicked won’t know what hit them;
you’ll blink, and they’ll be gone;
you’ll go out looking for them, but you won’t find them.
11 But the humble-hearted will inherit the land;
they will take pleasure in its peace and enjoy its abundance.
12 How that wicked man devises evil against God’s righteous ones!
He grits his teeth, consumed by hate for the upright.
13 But oh, how the Lord laughs at him!
He knows the wicked man will get his; the day is coming.
14 The wicked unsheathe their swords, pull taut their bows;
the poor and needy are their victims,
and evil is on the prowl to kill those with integrity, God’s beloved.
15 But their swords will bend back to pierce their own hearts—
yes, their bows will snap in two.
16 The righteous are better off with the little God blessed them with
than living under the curse of the wealth of the wicked.
17 Their time is short, their arms will be broken,
but the Eternal will hold His righteous children high.
18 All their days are measured and known by the Eternal;
their inheritance is kept safe forever.
19 When calamity comes, they will escape with their dignity.
When famine invades the nations, they will be fed to their fill.
20 But immoral ones will find their lives cut short;
they’ll vanish as quickly as wildflowers in the fields.
Yes, enemies of the Eternal will vanish
like smoke into the cool night air.
21 Evil people borrow and never repay their debts,
while the good give generously from their hearts.
22 For God’s blessed children will inherit the land,
but those cursed by Him stand to gain nothing.
23 If you are right with God, He strengthens you for the journey;
the Eternal will be pleased with your life.
24 And even though you trip up, you will not fall on your face
because He holds you by the hand.
25 Through my whole life (young and old),
I have never witnessed God forsaking those who do right,
nor have I seen their children begging for crumbs,
26 Because they are always giving and sharing;
truly, their children are a joyful blessing.
27 Walk away from evil. Do good
so you, too, will enjoy never-ending life
28 Because the Eternal cherishes justice
and will not abandon those loyal to Him.
He will guard and care for them forever,
but any child born of evil will be rooted out, cut down, and destroyed.
29 Those leading God-pleasing lives will inherit His land
and settle there forever.
30 Wisdom fills the mouth of the right-living;
justice and truth roll from their tongues.
31 The True God’s law is imprinted upon their hearts,
and they do not stumble.
32 The wicked stalk God’s good ones,
looking to kill them,
33 But the Eternal will never leave them to the dogs of evil,
nor will they be found guilty when the verdict is read.
34 Wait for the Eternal. Keep to His path. Mind His will.
He will come for you, exalt you; you will inherit the land.
Before your very eyes you will see the end of the wicked.
35 I passed by a wicked man with a cold-blooded nature;
I looked, and he seemed as large as a cedar of Lebanon.
36 But then again, I passed that same way and there was nothing left of him.
I went out looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found.
37 Keep your eye on the innocent. Model your life after the blameless.
Everyone who loves peace has a future.
38 But sinners will be doomed.
The forecast for the wicked: utter destruction.
There will be none left, not one child of darkness.
39 The Eternal saves His faithful;
He lends His strength in hard times;
40 The Eternal comes and frees them—
frees them from evildoers and saves them for eternity—
simply because they seek shelter in Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.