Day 184 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Psalm 30 (31)

1 For the end, a Psalm of David, [an utterance] of extreme fear. 2 O Lord, I have hoped in thee; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness and rescue me. 3 Incline thine ear to me; make haste to rescue me: be thou to me for a protecting God, and for a house of refuge to save me. 4 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and thou shalt guide me for thy name's sake, and maintain me. 5 Thou shalt bring me out of the snare which they have hidden for me; for thou, O Lord, art my defender. 6 Into thine hands I will commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. 7 Thou hast hated them that idly persist in vanities: but I have hoped in the Lord. 8 I will exult and be glad in thy mercy: for thou hast looked upon mine affliction; thou hast saved my soul from distresses. 9 And thou hast not shut me up into the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a wide place. 10 Pity me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with indignation, my soul and my belly. 11 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with groanings: my strength has been weakened through poverty, and my bones are troubled. 12 I became a reproach among all mine enemies, but exceedingly so to my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that saw me without fled from me. 13 I have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become as a broken vessel. 14 For I heard the slander of many that dwelt round about: when they were gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life. 15 But I hoped in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. 16 My lots are in thy hands: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, 17 and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me in thy mercy. 18 O Lord, let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be ashamed, and brought down to Hades. 19 Let the deceitful lips become dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous with pride and scorn. 20 How abundant is the multitude of thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! thou hast wrought [it] out for them that hope on thee, in the presence of the sons of men. 21 Thou wilt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the vexation of man: thou wilt screen them in a tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues. 22 Blessed be the Lord: for he has magnified his mercy in a fortified city. 23 But I said in my extreme fear, I am cast out from the sight of thine eyes: therefore thou didst hearken, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication when I cried to thee. 24 Love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord seeks for truth, and renders [a reward] to them that deal very proudly. 25 Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31 (32)

1 [A Psalm] of instruction by David. Blessed [are they] whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose mouth there is no guile. 3 Because I kept silence, my bones waxed old, from my crying all the day. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I became thoroughly miserable while a thorn was fastened in [me]. Pause. 5 I acknowledged my sin, and hid not mine iniquity: I said, I will confess mine iniquity to the Lord against myself; and thou forgavest the ungodliness of my heart. Pause. 6 Therefore shall every holy one pray to thee in a fit time: only in the deluge of many waters they shall not come nigh to him. 7 Thou art my refuge from the affliction that encompasses me; my joy, to deliver me from them that have compassed me. Pause. 8 I will instruct thee and guide thee in this way wherein thou shalt go: I will fix mine eyes upon thee. 9 Be ye not as horse and mule, which have no understanding: [but thou must] constrain their jaws with bit and curb, lest they should come nigh to thee. 10 Many are the scourges of the sinner: but him that hopes in the Lord mercy shall compass about. 11 Be glad in the Lord, and exult, ye righteous: and glory, all ye that are upright in heart.

Psalm 32 (33)

1 [A Psalm] of David. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; praise becomes the upright. 2 Praise the Lord on the harp; play to him on a psaltery of ten strings. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. 4 For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are faithful. 5 He loves mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the host of them by the breath of his [mouth]. 7 Who gathers the waters of the sea as [in] a bottle; who lays up the deeps in treasuries. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; and let all that dwell in the world be moved because of him. 9 For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. 10 The Lord frustrates the counsels of the nations; he brings to nought also the reasonings of the peoples, and brings to nought the counsels of princes. 11 But the counsel of the Lord endures for ever, the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. 13 The Lord looks out of heaven; he beholds all the sons of men. 14 He looks from his prepared habitation on all the dwellers on the earth; 15 who fashioned their hearts alone; who understands all their works. 16 A king is not saved by reason of a great host; and a giant shall not be delivered by the greatness of his strength. 17 A horse is vain for safety; neither shall he be delivered by the greatness of his power. 18 Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him, those that hope in his mercy; 19 to deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits on the Lord; for he is our helper and defender. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, and we have hoped in his holy name. 22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in thee.

1 John 2

1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. 2 And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. 4 One who says, “I know him,” and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him. 5 But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him: 6 he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked. 7 Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines. 9 He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness even until now. 10 He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. 17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever. 18 Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour. 19 They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us. 20 You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who would lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him. 28 Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.