M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Philistines Go to Fight Saul
28 In those days, the Philistines brought together their armies to prepare for war against Israel. Achish said to David, “You certainly understand that you must go along with me in the army, you and your men.”
2 David said to Achish, “When I do, you will know what your servant can do.”
Achish said to David, “When you do, I will make you my bodyguard permanently.”
Saul and the Witch of Endor
3 At this time, Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, which was his hometown.
Saul had banished the mediums and spiritists[a] from the land.
4 The Philistines joined forces and set up camp at Shunem. Saul brought all Israel together, and they set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was terrified and trembled with fear. 6 Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him through dreams, or through Urim, or through prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his attendants, “Find a woman who consults the spirits of the dead for me, so that I can go to her and inquire of her.”
His servants said to him, “As a matter of fact, there is a woman at Endor who consults the spirits of the dead.”
8 So Saul disguised himself and put on different clothing. Then he went with two men, and they visited the woman at night. He said, “Please consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the person I name to you.”
9 The woman said to him, “Look, you must know what Saul has done. He has cut off mediums and spiritists from the land. Why then are you setting a death trap for me, to make me die?”
10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”
11 Then the woman said, “Who is it that you want me to bring up for you?”
He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid! What do you see?”
The woman said to Saul, “I see a powerful spirit[b] coming up out of the earth.”
14 He said to her, “What does he look like?”
She said, “An old man is coming up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul recognized that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground to show respect.
15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
Saul answered, “I am in dire straits because the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me through prophets or through dreams. That is why I have called you, so that you can let me know what I should do.”
16 Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17 The Lord has done exactly what he told you through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord’s voice and did not execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 What’s more, the Lord will deliver Israel into the hands of the Philistines, along with you. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
20 Saul immediately fell full-length on the ground. Not only was he terrified because of Samuel’s words, but he also had no strength left because he had eaten no food all that day and all that night.
21 The woman came to Saul and saw that he was terrified. So she said to him, “Look, your servant has obeyed you, and I have taken my life in my hands. I have listened to the words you spoke to me. 22 Now please listen to your servant, and allow me to set some food in front of you. Eat, so that you will have strength when you go on your way.”
23 Saul refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his attendants, together with the woman, strongly urged him, and he listened to them. So he got up off the ground and sat on the bed. 24 The woman had a fattened calf at the house. She quickly butchered it. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread with it. 25 She set it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and left during the night.
What Paul Does With His Rights and Freedom
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who examine me. 4 Do we not have a right to eat and to drink? 5 Do we not have a right to take along a wife who is a believer, as the rest of the apostles do, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?[a] 6 Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have no right to be spared from manual labor? 7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat some of its fruit? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink milk from the flock? 8 Am I saying this just from a human point of view? Doesn’t the law also say this? 9 Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain.”[b] Is God really concerned about oxen, 10 or does he say this entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of getting a share. 11 If we sowed spiritual seed for your good, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? 12 If others have some right to make this claim on you, don’t we even more? But we did not use this right. Instead, we endure everything so as not to cause any hindrance for the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who do the work in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who attend to the altar receive a portion from what is on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel are to receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have used none of these things.
I am not writing this to have it done this way in my case, because it is better for me to die than to let anyone deprive me of my boast. 16 You see, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, because an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I do this as a volunteer, I receive compensation. But if not, I have been entrusted with a responsibility as a steward. 18 What then is my compensation? To present the gospel of Christ[c] free of charge when I preach it, instead of making use of the right I have when I preach the gospel.
19 In fact, although I am free from all, I enslaved myself to all so that I might gain many more. 20 To the Jews, I became like a Jew so that I might gain Jews. To those who are under the law, I became like a person under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might gain those who are under the law. 21 To those who are without the law, I became like a person without the law (though I am not without God’s law but am within the law of Christ) so that I might gain those who are without the law. 22 To the weak, I became weak so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people so that I may save at least some. 23 And I do everything for the sake of the gospel so that I may share in it along with others.
Christian Effort and Self-Discipline
24 Do you not know that when runners compete in the stadium, they all run, but only one receives the prize? Run like that—to win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable victor’s wreath, but we do it for an imperishable one. 26 That is why there is nothing aimless about the way I run. There is no pummeling of the air in the way I box. 27 Instead I hit my body hard and make it my slave so that, after preaching to others, I myself will not be rejected.
The End Has Come
7 The word of the Lord came to me.
2 And to you, son of man, this is what the Lord God says about the soil of Israel. An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now that the end is upon you, I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will place on you the penalty for all your abominations.[a] 4 My eye will not have pity on you, and I will have no compassion, for I will place on you the penalty for your ways, and the punishment for your abominations will be in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord!
5 This is what the Lord God says. Disaster! An unparalleled disaster![b] Watch, it is coming! 6 An end has come! The end has come! It has begun against you. Look, it is coming! 7 Doom[c] has come upon you, you inhabitants of the land. The time has come, the day is near. A day of panic, not joy, is on the mountains. 8 Now very soon I will pour out my wrath upon you, and I will exhaust my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will place on you the penalty for all your abominations. 9 My eye will not show pity, and I will have no compassion. According to your ways I will place the penalty on you, and the punishment for your abominations will be in your midst. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am the one who strikes you!
10 Look, the day is coming. It is here. Doom has broken out. The rod has budded. Insolence has blossomed. 11 Violence has grown into a rod against wickedness. None of them will remain—none of their noisy crowd,[d] none of their wealth, not a thing of value among them. 12 The time has come; the day has arrived.
The buyer should not rejoice. The seller should not grieve, because wrath is coming upon the whole noisy crowd. 13 So sellers will not return to what they have sold, even if they survive. Yes, the vision concerning the whole noisy crowd will not be reversed, and each man, because of the guilt in his life, will have no strength. 14 They will blow a blast on the ram’s horn and make everything ready, but no one will go to battle, because my wrath is upon the whole noisy crowd. 15 The sword is outside, and plague and famine are inside. Anyone in the countryside will die by the sword, and anyone in the city—plague and famine will devour him. 16 Any who escape will flee to the mountains, mourning like doves from the valley, each of them in his guilt. 17 All hands will hang limp, and water will run down every knee.[e] 18 They will put on sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Every face will be ashamed, and all their heads will be shaved bald.
19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be polluted by blood.[f] Their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s fury. The silver and gold will not satisfy their appetites[g] or fill their stomachs, because it was the cause of their guilt and their downfall. 20 From the silver and gold of the Lord’s beautiful ornaments, which were their pride, they made their abominations and their disgusting images.
Therefore, for them I will make it a place polluted by blood. 21 I will hand it over to foreigners as loot. I will give it to the most wicked people on earth as plunder, and they will desecrate it. 22 I will turn my face away from my people so that the enemy may desecrate my treasured place, and so that robbers may enter it and desecrate it. 23 Prepare the chain, because the earth is full of judicial murder,[h] and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their so-called sanctuaries[i] will be desecrated.
25 Terror is coming. They will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 Disaster after disaster will come, and one report will follow another. They will seek a vision from the prophet, but sound instruction will vanish from the priest and the ability to give advice from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. On the basis of their own conduct I will deal with them, and by the standard they used to judge others I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Psalm 45
The Wedding of the Victorious King
Heading
For the choir director. According to “Lilies.”[a]
By the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A love song.
Introduction
1 My heart is bubbling over with a beautiful theme.
I am reciting my works for the King.
My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.
The Glory of the Royal Groom
2 You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam.
Grace is poured out on your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Strap your sword on your thigh, you mighty warrior,
in your splendor and your majesty.
4 In your majesty advance successfully.
Ride forward in the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharpened.
Let peoples fall beneath you.
Your arrows are in the heart of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy
more than any of your companions.
8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad.
9 Daughters of kings are among your honored attendants.
The royal wife[b] stands at your right hand in gold from Ophir.
The Beauty of the Bride
10 Hear, O daughter, look and listen.
Forget your people and your father’s house,
11 because the king desires your beauty.
Because he is your lord, bow down to him.
12 Then the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.
The richest people will seek your favor.
13 The princess, who waits inside, is all glorious.
Her dress is interwoven with gold.
14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king.
Virgins who follow her as attendants are brought to you.
15 They are brought with joyful celebration.
They enter the palace of the king.
The Glory of the King’s Children
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers.
You will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will preserve the memory of your name through all generations.
Therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.