M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
David’s Wars
8 After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ha’ammah[a] from the control of the Philistines.
2 He defeated Moab and measured the men with a length of rope after making them lie down on the ground. He measured two lengths to be put to death and one full length to live. The Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute.
3 David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his control[b] at the river Euphrates. 4 David captured seventeen hundred charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers[c] from him. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but he left enough horses for a hundred chariots. 5 Arameans from Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David killed twenty-two thousand men in Aram. 6 Then David put garrisons in Damascus in the land of Aram,[d] and the Arameans became subject to David and brought tribute.
The Lord gave victory to David everywhere he went.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officials of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Betah and Berothai,[e] cities of Hadadezer, King David took large amounts of bronze.
9 Toi[f] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer. 10 So Toi sent his son Joram[g] to King David to petition him for peace and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, because Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. In his hand he brought items made of silver and items of gold and items of bronze.
11 King David dedicated these things to the Lord along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued: 12 from Aram, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoils of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 David made a name for himself when he returned from striking eighteen thousand Edomites[h] in the Valley of Salt. 14 He put garrisons in Edom, in all of it, and all the Edomites became subject to David.
The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. 15 David was king over all Israel, and he treated all his people with justice and fairness.
David’s Officials
16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the record keeper.[i] 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelek son of Abiathar were priests. Seraiah was the secretary. 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the Kerethites and the Pelethites. The sons of David were government ministers.[j]
David and Mephibosheth
9 David said, “Is there anyone still left from the house of Saul, to whom I may show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”
2 There was a servant of Saul’s house named Ziba, so they summoned him to come to David.
The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” He said, “I am.”
3 The king said, “Isn’t there still a man left who belongs to the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?”
Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan. He has crippled feet.”
4 The king said to him, “Where is he?”
Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”
5 So King David sent and brought him from the house of Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar.
6 When Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, came to David, he bowed facedown to the ground.
David said, “Mephibosheth?” He said, “I am.”
7 David said to him, “Do not be afraid. I will certainly show kindness to you because of Jonathan, your father. I will return to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat bread at my table.”
8 He bowed down and said, “What is your servant that you have paid attention to a dead dog like me?”
9 The king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I am giving to your master’s son. 10 You are to work the soil for him, you and your sons and your servants. You are to bring in the crops, so your master’s son will have food to eat. Mephibosheth, your master’s son, will always eat bread at my table.”
(Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Ziba said to the king, “Everything that my lord the king commands his servant, your servant will do.”
So Mephibosheth began eating at the king’s table[k] like one of the king’s sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. Everyone living in Ziba’s house became servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth took up residence in Jerusalem because he was always to eat at the table of the king. He was crippled in both his feet.
2 That is why I made up my mind that I would not make another sad visit to you. 2 For if I make you sad, then who is there to make me glad, other than those I made sad? 3 I am writing[a] for this very purpose: That when I arrive, I will not be made sad by those who should make me glad. I am confident about all of you—that what gives me joy is what gives joy to all of you. 4 In fact, out of much trouble and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears. My goal was not to make you sad, but that you would know how very much I love you.
Forgive and Comfort the Repentant Sinner
5 Now if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not done it to me, but to all of you to some extent (not to overstate it). 6 This punishment inflicted on such a person by the majority is enough, 7 so that instead you should rather forgive and comfort him, or else such a person could be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 For that reason, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 In fact, this was also the purpose of my writing: I wanted to know the result of your being tested, that is, if you are obedient in all things.
10 If you forgive anyone anything, I do too. To be sure, if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake, 11 so that Satan would not take advantage of us. We are certainly not unaware of his schemes.
The Fragrance of Christ
12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me by the Lord, 13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ and reveals the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place. 15 Yes, we are the fragrance of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To some we are the odor of death that is a prelude to death, to the others the fragrance of life that is a prelude to life. And who is qualified for these things? 17 To be sure, we are not like many who peddle the word of God for profit. Instead, in Christ we speak with sincerity in the sight of God, as men from God.
Jerusalem, the Prostitute[a]
16 The word of the Lord came to me.
2 Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations. 3 Tell them this is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem.
Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 This is the way it was at your birth. On the day you were born, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water to clean you up.[b] You were not rubbed down with salt, nor were you tightly wrapped with cloths. 5 No eye looked at you with pity to do any of these things for you or to show compassion to you. On the day you were born, you were thrown out in the open field without regard for your life.
6 I passed by, and I saw you squirming in your blood. I said to you, “You there, lying there in your blood, live!” and I said to you, “You there, lying there in your blood, live!”[c] 7 I made you grow like a sprout in the field. You grew up, you developed, and you became very beautiful.[d] Your breasts were formed and your hair had appeared, but you were completely naked. 8 I passed by and saw you, and I noticed that you were old enough for love.[e] So I spread the skirt of my robe over you and covered your nakedness. I swore an oath to you to enter into a covenant of marriage with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. 9 I washed you with water. I washed your blood off you. I anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you with the finest embroidered material and gave you sandals of luxurious leather.[f] I wrapped your head in the best linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck. 12 I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears, and a glorious crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of the best linen, with silk and the finest embroidered material. You ate fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You were extraordinarily beautiful, and you attained the status of a queen. 14 Your fame spread throughout the nations because of your beauty. In fact, it was perfect because of my splendor, which I had bestowed upon you, declares the Lord God.
15 But you trusted in your beauty, and, relying on your fame, you acted like a prostitute. You lavished your lust on every man passing by—you became his. 16 You took some of your clothing and made colorful high places for yourself and acted like a prostitute on them. Such things should not happen. They should not be! 17 You took your glorious articles made from my gold and my silver, which I had given to you, and you made male idols for yourself, and you acted like a prostitute with them. 18 You took your clothing made of the finest embroidered material and covered the idols, and you set my oil and my incense in front of them. 19 Also my food which I gave you—the fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set in front of them as a fragrant sacrifice. This is what happened, declares the Lord God.
20 You even took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore for me, and sacrificed them as food for the idols. Was your continual prostitution not enough? 21 Did you have to slaughter my children and offer them to the idols by making them pass through the fire? 22 With all your abominations and your prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were completely naked, when you were squirming about in your blood. 23 So after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you, says the Lord God!— 24 you built for yourself a platform,[g] and you made a pavilion[h] for yourself in every public square. 25 At the corner of every street you set up your pavilion and made your beauty into a disgusting thing. You spread your legs for every man passing by, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution. 26 You acted like a whore with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors with their enlarged flesh,[i] and you multiplied your acts of prostitution to enrage me!
27 Look at how I stretched out my hand against you. I reduced your territory. I gave you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were embarrassed by your lewd ways. 28 You acted like a whore with the sons of the Assyrians because you were insatiable. Even after your acts of prostitution with them, you were not satisfied. 29 So you extended your whoring ways to the land of merchants, to Chaldea, but even with this you were not satisfied. 30 How sick your heart is, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the behavior of a woman who is a domineering whore! 31 When you built your platform at the corner of every street and you made your pavilion in every public square, you were not like an ordinary prostitute, because you refused payment. 32 You adulterous wife, who procures strange men instead of her husband, 33 to all prostitutes men pay a fee, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from all around to join your whoring ways. 34 You were the opposite of the other women in your whoring ways. You were not solicited for prostitution, but you gave payment to your lovers. Instead of payment being given to you, you were the very opposite.
35 Therefore, you whore, hear the word of the Lord! 36 This is what the Lord God says. Because your moisture[j] was poured out, and your nakedness was exposed during your whoring ways with your lovers, because of all your disgusting, filthy idols, and because of the blood of your children, whom you gave to them, 37 for all this, I am about to gather all your lovers to whom you were giving pleasure—all those you loved, as well as all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around. I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see your nakedness. 38 I will judge you with the judgments deserved by women who commit adultery and who shed blood. I will make you bloody in my wrath and jealousy.[k] 39 I will deliver you into their hands, and they will tear down your platform, demolish your pavilion, strip you of your clothing, take away your glorious jewelry, and leave you completely naked. 40 They will bring up a mob against you, and they will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses with fire and carry out judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop being a whore, and you will never again give a payment. 42 Then I will lay to rest my wrath against you, and my jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and no longer be angry.
43 Because you[l] did not remember the days of your youth, and you made me angry during all these actions, I myself will certainly bring your conduct down upon your head. That is the declaration of the Lord God! Haven’t you added lewdness to all your abominations? 44 Hear this! Everyone will speak this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despises her husband and her children, and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their children. The mother of all of you was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. 46 Your older sister is Samaria, who along with her daughters[m] lives north of you, and your younger sister, who lives south of you along with her daughters, is Sodom. 47 You did not merely walk in their ways or act according to their abominations, since in a very short time you became more depraved in all your ways than they were. 48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom along with her daughters has not done what you have done along with your daughters. 49 Look, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: Pride, overindulgence in food, and complacent ease were the way for her and her daughters, and she failed to strengthen the hands[n] of the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty, and they committed abominations in my presence, and so I removed them when I saw it. 51 Samaria did not sin half as much as you did. You multiplied your abominations more than they did. You made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you committed. 52 So you must bear your disgrace, because by your sins you appeared to plead your sisters’ case for them. Because of your sins—you acted more repulsively than they did—they appear more righteous than you. So you must be ashamed and bear your disgrace, because you made your sisters appear righteous. 53 I will bring about their restoration—the restoration of Sodom and her daughters, and the restoration of Samaria and her daughters, as well as your complete restoration in their midst, 54 so that you will bear your disgrace, and you will be ashamed of everything you did when you appeared to give them comfort. 55 Your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their former state, and your sister Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 Wasn’t your sister Sodom a subject for gossip in your mouth during the days when you were so proud, 57 in the days before your own wickedness was exposed? So now in the same way you are subjected to scorn by the daughters of Edom[o] and by all those around her and by the daughters of the Philistines, who scorn you from all sides. 58 Your lewdness and your abominations, you must now bear, declares the Lord.
59 So this is what the Lord God says. Shall I do with you just as you have done, you who despised your oath, thereby breaking the covenant? 60 No, just the opposite, I myself will remember my covenant I made with you during the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant for you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters who are older than you, in addition to those who are younger than you, and I will give them to you as daughters, and not outside your covenant.[p] 62 I myself will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the Lord, 63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I make atonement for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.
Psalm 58
Do You Rulers Speak Justly?
Heading
For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[a] By David. A miktam.
Unjust Rulers
1 Do you “gods” really speak righteously?[b]
Do you sons of Adam judge rightly?
2 No, in your heart you commit injustices.
On the earth your hands distribute violence.
3 The wicked go off course already from the womb.
From the belly they go astray. They speak lies.
4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like a deaf cobra that has stopped its ears,
5 that will not listen to the sound of the charmers,
however skillful the spellbinder may be.
The Curse on Unjust Rulers
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouths.
Tear out the fangs of the young lions, Lord!
7 Let them vanish like water that flows away.
When he draws his bow, let his arrows be cut off.[c]
8 As a slug melts away as it crawls along, so let him disappear.
Like a stillborn child may they not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
whether the thorns are green or dry—they will be swept away.[d]
The Joy of the Righteous
10 The righteous one will be glad when he sees vengeance.
He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then people will say, “Surely there is fruit for the righteous.
Surely there is a God judging on the earth.”
Psalm 59
They Lie in Wait
Heading
For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[e] By David. A miktam.
When Saul had sent men, and they watched the house to kill David.[f]
Opening Plea
1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
You set me high above those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers.
Save me from bloodthirsty men.
The Viciousness of the Enemy
3 Yes, look how they lie in ambush to take my life!
Strong men gather against me,
but it is not because I have rebelled,
not because I have sinned, O Lord.
4 I am not guilty,
yet they run to take up their positions against me.
Rise up to meet me and see!
5 You, O Lord, God of Armies, the God of Israel,
wake up and confront all the nations. Interlude
Do not show mercy to all the wicked traitors.
6 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
7 Look, they gush from their mouths.
Their lips are swords,
so they say, “Who hears?”
Conclusion and Refrain
8 But you laugh at them, Lord.
You scoff at all those nations.
9 O my Strength, I watch for you,
because God is my high fortress.
Confidence
10 My merciful God will go ahead of me.
God will make me look down on those who slander me.
The Judgment on the Enemies
11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget.
In your might make them wander about.
Bring them down, O Lord, our shield.
12 The sin of their mouth is the words of their lips,
so let them be caught in their pride,
because of the curses and lies they proclaim.
13 Consume them in wrath.
Consume them till they are no more.
Then they will know to the ends of the earth Interlude
that God rules over Jacob.
14 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
15 They wander about for food.
If not satisfied, they howl.
Conclusion and Refrain
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will shout about your mercy,
because you are a high fortress for me,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, to you I make music,
because God is my high fortress, my merciful God.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.