M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Adonijah’s Conspiracy
1 When King David was old and advanced in years, his servants covered him with blankets, but he could not get warm. 2 So they said to him, “Let your servants search for a young woman, a virgin, for my lord the king. She will attend to the king and be his nurse. She will lie close to him and keep my lord the king warm.”
3 So they searched the whole territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman. They found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king. 4 The young woman was very beautiful, and she served as the king’s nurse, but the king was not intimate with her.
5 Adonijah son of Haggith[a] was pushing himself forward, saying, “I will become king.” He obtained a chariot and charioteers and fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 His father had never rebuked him by saying, “Why are you acting like this?”
Adonijah also was very handsome and had been born next in line after Absalom. 7 Joab son of Zeruiah and Abiathar the priest conspired with Adonijah and gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, along with Shimei, Rei, and David’s elite warriors, did not join with Adonijah.
9 Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and specially fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth, which was near En Rogel Spring. He invited all of his brothers, the king’s sons, and all of the king’s officials from Judah. 10 But he did not invite the prophet Nathan, Benaiah, the elite warriors, or his brother Solomon.
Nathan and Bathsheba Support Solomon
11 Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Haven’t you heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know about it? 12 Now let me give you some advice on how to save your life and the life of your son Solomon: 13 Go to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, didn’t you swear to me your servant and promise me, “Your son Solomon will be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Then why has Adonijah become king?’ 14 Then, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”
15 So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber. The king was very old, and Abishag from Shunem was taking care of him. 16 Bathsheba knelt and bowed down before the king. The king said, “Why have you come?”
17 She said, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God and promised, ‘Your son Solomon will be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now, look, Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, did not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed cattle, specially fattened calves, and sheep in abundance. He has invited all the king’s sons, as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army. But he has not invited your servant Solomon. 20 Now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, waiting for you to tell them who will sit on my lord the king’s throne after him. 21 If you do not, when my lord the king rests with[b] his fathers, then I and my son Solomon will be treated like traitors.”
22 Just then, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. 23 The king was told, “The prophet Nathan is here.” Nathan went in and bowed down to the ground before the king.
24 Nathan said, “Did you, my lord the king, say, ‘Adonijah will be king after me, and he will sit on my throne’? 25 Today he has gone out and sacrificed a great many cattle, specially fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. They are even eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But he has not invited me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, or your servant Solomon. 27 Has this command about who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him really come from my lord the king, even though you have not made this known to your servants?”
28 Then King David responded, “Call Bathsheba for me.” She came in and stood before the king. 29 The king swore, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every tight spot, 30 just as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, that Solomon your son will be king after me and he will sit on my throne in my place, I will indeed make it happen this very day.”
31 Bathsheba knelt down on the ground and bowed before the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
David Makes Solomon King
32 King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” So they came in before the king.
33 The king said to them, “Take your lord’s servants with you. Have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon Spring. 34 There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him as king over Israel. Then you are to blow the ram’s horn and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you are to follow him, as he goes in and sits on my throne, and he will be king in my place. I decree that he will be leader over Israel and Judah.”
36 Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada responded to the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, confirm this! 37 Just as the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he also be with Solomon. May he make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”
38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went out. They had Solomon ride on the mule that belonged to King David and brought him down to Gihon Spring. 39 Then Zadok the priest took the horn of olive oil from the Tent and anointed Solomon. After that they blew the ram’s horn, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
40 All the people followed Solomon. The people were playing flutes and rejoicing so greatly that the ground shook from the sound. 41 When Adonijah and all his guests heard it, they stopped eating. Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn and asked, “Why is the noise from the city so loud?”
42 Just then, while he was still speaking, Jonathan, son of Abiathar the priest, came in. Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man, and you must be bringing good news.”
43 Jonathan responded to Adonijah:
Not at all! Our lord King David has made Solomon king! 44 The king sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites with Solomon, and they placed him on the king’s mule. 45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they went up from there rejoicing. The city is in an uproar. That is the noise you have been hearing. 46 Also, Solomon has taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. 47 The king’s servants have come to bless our lord King David, saying, “May your God treat the name of Solomon even more favorably than your name, and may his throne be greater than your throne.”
The king bowed in worship on his bed, 48 and the king spoke the following words: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who today has provided someone to sit upon my throne and has permitted my eyes to see it.”
49 Then all of Adonijah’s guests quickly got up, and each one went his own way.
50 Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he went and held on to the horns of the altar.[c] 51 Solomon was told, “Adonijah is so afraid of King Solomon that he has grabbed the horns of the altar, and he is saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me this day that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”
52 Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, but if he is caught planning evil, he will die.” 53 Then King Solomon had Adonijah brought down from the altar. He came in and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, “Go to your house.”
Christ Set Us Free
5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. 2 Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.
5 Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters. 7 You were running well! Who cut in on you, so that you are no longer persuaded by the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast works through the whole batch. 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will have no other opinion than this. But the one who is trying to disturb you will pay the penalty, whoever he is.
11 Brothers,[a] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Then the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 If only those who are upsetting you would also cut themselves off![b]
13 After all, brothers, you were called to freedom. Only do not use your freedom as a starting point for your sinful flesh. Rather, serve one another through love. 14 In fact, the whole law is summed up in this one statement: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[c] 15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Flesh Opposes Spirit
16 What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit,[d] and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. 17 For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh. In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the control of the law.
19 Now the works of the sinful flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[e] drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these. I warn you, just as I also warned you before, that those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the spirit[f] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with it. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.
Pharaoh Too Will Descend to the Grave
32 In the twelfth year,[a] in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. 2 Son of man, raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say this to him.
You consider yourself a young lion among the nations, but you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash around in your rivers. You churn up the water with your feet and make the rivers muddy.
3 This is what the Lord God says. I will cast my net over you by an array of mighty nations, and they will haul you up in my fishing net. 4 I will haul you up and leave you on dry land and throw you into an open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you. I will let all the wild animals of the earth feed on you till they are filled. 5 I will dump your flesh on the mountains and fill the ravines with your carcass. 6 I will drench the land with the overflow of your blood, up to the mountains, and the streambeds will be filled with your remains.[b]
7 When you are snuffed out, I will cover the sky and darken its stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. 8 I will black out all the bright lights in the sky because of you. I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Lord God. 9 I will disturb the hearts of mighty peoples when I bring word about your downfall[c] to the nations, to countries you do not know. 10 I will make many peoples appalled by you, and their kings’ hair will stand on end because of you, when I brandish my sword in front of them. They will tremble every minute, each for his own life, on the day when you fall.
11 For this is what the Lord God says. The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. 12 I will cut down your horde by the swords of his warriors, all of them from the most ruthless of nations. They will devastate the pride of Egypt, and its whole horde will be exterminated. 13 I will kill all its livestock beside many waters. No human foot will ever muddy the waters again, nor will the hoofs of cattle ever muddy them. 14 Then I will let their waters settle and become clear and will make their channels flow like oil, declares the Lord God. 15 When I cause the land of Egypt to be deserted, when the land is emptied of everything that filled it, when I have struck down all its inhabitants, then they will know that I am the Lord.
16 This is a lament, which they will wail. The daughters of the nations will wail it. Over Egypt and all its horde they will wail it, declares the Lord God.
17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me.
18 Son of man, mourn over the horde of Egypt and send her down below the earth with the daughters of majestic nations, to be with those who have descended to the pit. 19 Are you more favored than others? Go on down and lie down among the uncircumcised. 20 They will fall among those who were run through by the sword. A sword has been appointed. Egypt and all its hordes will be carried off. 21 The elite warriors will speak to him and to his allies from the midst of the grave. The uncircumcised, those run through by the sword, have come down and lie there.
22 Assyria is there with her whole crowd. Their graves are around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword. 23 Her graves are set in the deepest part of the pit, and her crowd is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, all those who once spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam[d] is there, with her whole horde around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, those who went down below the earth uncircumcised, those who once spread terror in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who have descended to the pit. 25 A bed is made for Elam among the slain, with its whole horde around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, run through by the sword. Because they once spread terror in the land of the living, they will bear their shame with those who have descended to the pit. They are placed among the slain.
26 Meshek Tubal[e] is there with its whole horde around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, run through by the sword because they had spread terror in the land of the living. 27 Do they not lie with other fallen, uncircumcised warriors,[f] who went down to the grave with their weapons of war, with their swords placed under their heads, with evidence of their guilt on their bones, because of the terror these warriors had once spread in the land of the living?
28 Pharaoh, you too will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and will lie with those run through by the sword.
29 Edom is there, with its kings and all its chiefs, who, despite their strength, are placed with those run through by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who have descended to the pit.
30 The princes of the north are there, all of them, and every Sidonian, who went down with the slain despite the terror they had caused. Their strength failed them. They lie uncircumcised with those run through by the sword, and they bear their shame along with those who have descended to the pit.
31 Pharaoh will see them all and will console himself concerning his whole horde. Pharaoh is run through by the sword with his whole army, declares the Lord God. 32 For I have set my terror in the land of the living, and he will be forced[g] to lie down among the uncircumcised, with those run through by the sword, that is, Pharaoh and his whole horde, declares the Lord God.
Psalm 80
Hear, O Shepherd of Israel
Heading
For the choir director. To “Lilies.”[a] A Testimony.[b] By Asaph. A psalm.
Opening Plea
1 O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are seated above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might.
Come with salvation for us.
Refrain
3 God, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
The Problem
4 Lord God of Armies, how long will your anger smoke
against the prayer of your people?
5 You make them eat bread with tears,
and you make them drink tears by the quart.[c]
6 You create strife between us and our neighbors,
so our enemies join together in mocking us.
Refrain
7 God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Past Blessing
8 You brought a vine out from Egypt.
You drove out the nations, and you planted it.
9 You cleared a place for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
the cedars of God with its branches.
11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea,[d]
its shoots as far as the River.[e]
Present Judgment
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
13 A wild boar from the forest tears it up,
and the wild animals[f] feed on it.
Prayer for the King
14 God of Armies, return now!
Look down from heaven and see,
and take care of this vine,
15 the shoot that your right hand has planted,
the son that you made strong for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire like garbage.[g]
Because of the rebuke from your face they perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
on the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself.[h]
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Cause us to live, and we will call on your name.
Refrain
19 Lord God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.