M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David Reigns in Hebron
2 After this, David asked the Lord, “Should I go up into one of the cities of Judah?”
The Lord said to him, “Go up.”
David said, “Where shall I go up?”
The Lord said, “To Hebron.”
2 So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezre’el and Abigail of Carmel, who was Nabal’s widow. 3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each man together with his household, and they settled in the towns around Hebron.
4 The men of Judah came there and anointed David to be king over the house of Judah.
David was told, “The men of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, “You are blessed by the Lord because you performed this act of mercy and faithfulness for your master Saul by burying him. 6 Now may the Lord deal with you with mercy and faithfulness. I also will treat you well because you have done this. 7 Now let your hands be strong and courageous, for your master Saul is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me to be king over them.”
8 However, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbosheth,[a] the son of Saul, to Mahanaim 9 and made him king over Gilead, Ashuri,[b] and Jezre’el, and over Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. 10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years.
But the house of Judah followed David. 11 David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah for seven years and six months.
12 Abner son of Ner and the followers of Ishbosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the followers of David went out and confronted them at the pool[c] of Gibeon. They took up positions on the opposite sides of the pool.
14 Abner said to Joab, “The young men should get up and compete in front of us.”
Joab said, “Yes, let them do so.”
15 So twelve representatives for Benjamin and Ishbosheth son of Saul got up and crossed over to confront twelve representatives for David. 16 Each one grabbed his opponent’s head and thrust his sword into his side. Together, they all fell. So that place, which is near Gibeon, was called Helkath Hatsurim.[d] 17 A fierce battle took place that day. Abner and the men of Israel were beaten by the followers of David.
18 Three sons of Zeruiah were there, namely, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the gazelles out in the fields. 19 Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn aside to the right or to the left from his pursuit.
20 Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”
He said, “Yes, it is.”
21 Abner said to him, “Turn to your right hand or to your left and capture one of the young men for yourself and strip off his equipment for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside.
22 So Abner warned him again, “Turn aside. Stop following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I face Joab your brother?” 23 But Asahel refused to turn aside, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the pointed butt of his spear. The spear came out his back, and he fell down and died right there. Everyone stopped and just stood there when they came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 But Joab and Abishai keep pursuing Abner. The sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah in front of Giah, on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The Benjaminites rallied together behind Abner, joined in one formation, and took their stand on the top of one hill.
26 Abner called to Joab, “Will the sword continue to devour? Do you not know that it will be bitter when all this is over? How long will you delay telling the people to stop pursuing their brothers?”
27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely it would have been morning before the people would have given up pursuing their brothers.” 28 So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the people stopped pursuing Israel. They did not continue to fight.
29 Abner and his men traveled through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched through the entire region of Bithron,[e] and came to Mahanaim.
30 Joab returned from pursuing Abner and gathered together all his troops. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were missing. 31 The followers of David had struck dead three hundred sixty of Abner’s men from the tribe of Benjamin. 32 The men of Judah picked up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father at Bethlehem.
Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron as it was becoming light.
Love Matters More Than the Other Gifts
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. 5 It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears[c] all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.[d]
8 Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, 10 but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known.
13 So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Warning of Judgment
11 Then the Spirit[a] lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the temple of the Lord, which faces east. There, at the entrance to the gateway, were twenty-five men, and among them I saw Ja’azaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. 2 He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city, 3 who are saying, ‘We will not have to build houses anytime soon.[b] The city is the pot, and we are the meat.’ 4 Therefore, prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man.”
5 Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he told me to say this.
This is what the Lord says. This is what you are saying, house of Israel. I know what you have in mind. 6 You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the slain. 7 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Your slain, which you have placed within the city, are the meat, and the city is the pot. But I will drive you out of it. 8 The sword is what you have feared, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. 9 I[c] will drive you out from it, hand you over to foreigners, and execute judgments on you. 10 By the sword you will fall, and at the border of Israel I will judge you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not be a pot for you, and you will not be the meat inside it. At the border of Israel I will judge you. 12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, in whose statutes you have not walked and whose ordinances you have not obeyed, but instead you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.
13 While I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice. I said, “Oh no, Lord God, you are making a complete destruction of the remaining survivors of Israel!”
Promise of One Heart and a New Spirit
14 Then the word of the Lord came to me.
15 Son of man, your brothers, your brothers who have the right to redeem your property,[d] and the whole house of Israel—all of it—to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem are saying, “Stay far away from the Lord! This land has been given to us as a possession.” 16 Tell them that this is what the Lord God says.
Although I have removed them far away among the nations, and I have indeed scattered them among the lands, I will be a sanctuary for them for a little while in the lands to which they have gone.
17 Therefore say, “This is what the Lord God says.” I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 When they arrive back there, they will remove from it all its loathsome things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from their body and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they will walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and carry them out. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their disgusting things and their abominations, I will bring down their conduct on their own heads, declares the Lord God.
The Glory Departs
22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings. The wheels were beside them, and the Glory of the God of Israel was positioned above them. 23 The Glory of the Lord went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain east of the city. 24 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea, in the vision from the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen departed from me, and I told the exiles all the things from the Lord that he had shown to me.
Psalm 50
The Folly of Formalistic Worship
Heading
A psalm by Asaph.[a]
The Summons
1 God, God the Lord, has spoken.
He calls to the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.
3 Our God comes and he will not be silent.
Fire devours in front of him.
Around him a storm rages.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth
to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my favored ones,
who make a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 So the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
because God himself is judge. Interlude
The Lord’s Charges Against Them
7 Listen, my people, and let me speak, O Israel.
Then I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
Hypocritical Sacrifices Are Useless
8 It is not because of your sacrifices that I rebuke you
or because of your burnt offerings that are always in front of me.
9 I do not need to take a bull from your barn
or goats from your pens,
10 because every animal in the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand mountains.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and everything that moves in the field is with me.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
because the world is mine, and all that fills it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or do I drink the blood of goats?
Sincere Sacrifices Bring Blessing
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God,
and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of distress.
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Treacherous Deeds Bring Destruction
16 But to the wicked, God says:
What right do you have to recite my statutes
or to take up my covenant with your mouth?
17 As for you—you hate discipline,
and you throw my words behind your back.
18 If you see a thief, you approve of him,
and you cast your lot with adulterers.
19 You devote your mouth to evil,
and your tongue weaves deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother.
You slander your own mother’s son.
The Verdict
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent.
You thought I was just like you.
I will indict you and accuse you to your face.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces,
and there will be no one to rescue you.
The Way to Escape
23 The one who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,
and he sets up the way by which I will show him the salvation of God.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.