Day 186 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Psalm 36 (37)

1 [A Psalm] of David. Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be envious of them that do iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be withered as the grass, and shall soon fall away as the green herbs. 3 Hope in the Lord, and do good; and dwell on the land, and thou shalt be fed with the wealth of it. 4 Delight [thyself] in the Lord; and he shall grant thee the requests of thine heart. 5 Disclose thy way to the Lord, and hope in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day. 7 Submit thyself to the Lord, and supplicate him: fret not thyself because of him that prospers in his way, at the man that does unlawful deeds. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself so as to do evil. 9 For evil-doers shall be destroyed: but they that wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the land. 10 And yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be, and thou shalt seek for his place, and shalt not find [it]. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight [themselves] in the abundance of peace. 12 The sinner will watch for the righteous, and gnash his teeth upon him. 13 But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foresees that his day will come. 14 Sinners have drawn their swords, they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy one, [and] to slay the upright in heart. 15 Let their sword enter into their [own] heart, and their bows be broken. 16 A little is better to the righteous than abundant wealth of sinners. 17 For the arms of sinners shall be broken; but the Lord supports the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the ways of the perfect; and their inheritance shall be for ever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in an evil time; and in days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 For the sinners shall perish; and the enemies of the Lord at the moment of their being honoured and exalted have utterly vanished like smoke. 21 The sinner borrows, and will not pay again: but the righteous has compassion, and gives. 22 For they that bless him shall inherit the earth; and they that curse him shall be utterly destroyed. 23 The steps of a man are rightly ordered by the Lord: and he will take pleasure in his way. 24 When he falls, he shall not be ruined: for the Lord supports his hand. 25 I was [once] young, indeed I am now old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. 26 He is merciful, and lends continually; and his seed shall be blessed. 27 Turn aside from evil, and do good; and dwell for ever. 28 For the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints; they shall be preserved for ever: the blameless shall be avenged, but the seed of the ungodly shall be utterly destroyed. 29 But the righteous shall inherit the earth, and dwell upon it for ever. 30 The mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom, and his tongue will speak of judgment. 31 The law of his God is in his heart; and his steps shall not slide. 32 The sinner watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. 33 But the Lord will not leave him in his hands, nor by any means condemn him when he is judged. 34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are destroyed, thou shalt see [it]. 35 I saw the ungodly very highly exalting himself, and lifting himself up like the cedars of Libanus. 36 Yet I passed by, and lo! he was not: and I sought him, but his place was not found. 37 Maintain innocence, and behold uprightness: for there is a remnant to the peaceable man. 38 But the transgressors shall be utterly destroyed together: the remnants of the ungodly shall be utterly destroyed. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; and he is their defender in the time of affliction. 40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: and he shall rescue them from sinners, and save them, because they have hoped in him.

Psalm 37 (38)

1 A Psalm of David for remembrance concerning the Sabbath-day. 2 O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thine anger. 3 For thy weapons are fixed in me, and thou hast pressed thy hand heavily upon me. 4 For there is no health in my flesh because of thine anger; there is no peace to my bones because of my sins. 5 For my transgressions have gone over mine head: they have pressed heavily upon me like a weighty burden. 6 My bruises have become noisome and corrupt, because of my foolishness. 7 I have been wretched and bowed down continually: I went with a mourning countenance all the day. 8 For my soul is filled with mockings; and there is no health in my flesh. 9 I have been afflicted and brought down exceedingly: I have roared for the groaning of my heart. 10 But all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hidden from thee. 11 My heart is troubled, my strength has failed me; and the light of mine eyes is not with me. 12 My friends and my neighbours drew near before me, and stood still; and my nearest of kin stood afar off. 13 While they pressed hard upon me that sought my soul: and they that sought my hurt spoke vanities, and devised deceits all the day. 14 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and was as a dumb man not opening his mouth. 15 And I was as a man that hears not, and who has no reproofs in his mouth. 16 For I hoped in thee, O Lord: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. 17 For I said, Lest mine enemies rejoice against me: for when my feet were moved, they spoke boastingly against me. 18 For I am ready for plagues, and my grief is continually before me. 19 For I will declare mine iniquity, and be distressed for my sin. 20 But mine enemies live, and are mightier than I: and they that hate me unjustly are multiplied. 21 They that reward evil for good slandered me; because I followed righteousness. 22 Forsake me not, O Lord my God: depart not from me. 23 Draw nigh to my help, O Lord of my salvation.

Psalm 38 (39)

1 For the end, a Song of David, to Idithun. 2 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I set a guard on my mouth, while the sinner stood in my presence. 3 I was dumb, and humbled myself, and kept silence from good [words]; and my grief was renewed. 4 My heart grew hot within me, and a fire would kindle in my meditation: I spoke with my tongue, 5 O Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, what it is; that I may know what I lack. 6 Behold, thou hast made my days old; and my existence [is] as nothing before thee: nay, every man living [is] altogether vanity. Pause. 7 Surely man walks in a shadow; nay, he is disquieted in vain: he lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them. 8 And now what [is] my expectation? [is it] not the Lord? and my ground [of hope] is with thee. Pause. 9 Deliver me from all my transgressions: thou hast made me a reproach to the foolish. 10 I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou art he that made me. 11 Remove thy scourges from me: I have fainted by reason of the strength of thine hand. 12 Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity, and thou makest his life to consume away like a spider's web: nay, every man is disquieted in vain. Pause. 13 O Lord, hearken to my prayer and my supplication: attend to my tears: be not silent, for I am a sojourner in the land, and a stranger, as all my fathers [were]. 14 Spare me, that I may be refreshed, before I depart, and be no more.

1 John 3

1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 4 Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him. 6 Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him. 7 Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another— 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13 Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? 18 My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth and persuade our hearts before him, 20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; 22 so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. 24 He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.