Day 187 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Psalm 39 (40)

1 For the end, a Psalm of David. 2 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he attended to me, and hearkened to my supplication. 3 And he brought me up out of a pit of misery, and from miry clay: and he set my feet on a rock, and ordered my goings aright. 4 And he put a new song into my mouth, [even] a hymn to our God: many shall see [it], and fear, and shall hope in the Lord. 5 Blessed [is] the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and [who] has not regarded vanities and false frenzies. 6 O Lord my God, thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, and in thy thoughts there is none who shall be likened to thee: I declared and spoke [of them]: they exceeded number. 7 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me: whole-burnt-offering and [sacrifice] for sin thou didst not require. 8 Then I said, Behold, I come: in the volume of the book it is written concerning me, 9 I desired to do thy will, O my God, and thy law in the midst of mine heart. 10 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo! I will not refrain my lips; O Lord, thou knowest my righteousness. 11 I have not hid thy truth within my heart, and I have declared thy salvation; I have not hid thy mercy and thy truth from the great congregation. 12 But thou, Lord, remove not thy compassion far from me; thy mercy and thy truth have helped me continually. 13 For innumerable evils have encompassed me; my transgressions have taken hold of me, and I could not see; they are multiplied more than the hairs of my head; and my heart has failed me. 14 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, draw nigh to help me. 15 Let those that seek my soul, to destroy it, be ashamed and confounded together; let those that wish me evil be turned backward and put to shame. 16 Let those that say to me, Aha, aha, quickly receive shame for their reward. 17 Let all those that seek thee, O Lord, exult and rejoice in thee; and let them that love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. 18 But I am poor and needy; the Lord will take care of me; thou art my helper, and my defender, O my God, delay not.

Psalm 40 (41)

1 For the end, a Psalm of David. 2 Blessed [is the man] who thinks on the poor and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in an evil day. 3 May the Lord preserve him and keep him alive, and bless him on the earth, and not deliver him into the hands of his enemy. 4 May the Lord help him upon the bed of his pain; thou hast made all his bed in his sickness. 5 I said, O Lord, have mercy upon me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. 6 Mine enemies have spoken evil against me, [saying], When shall he die, and his name perish? 7 And if he came to see [me], his heart spoke vainly; he gathered iniquity to himself; he went forth and spoke in like manner. 8 All my enemies whispered against me; against me they devised my hurt. 9 They denounced a wicked word against me, [saying], Now that he lies, shall he not rise up again? 10 For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, lifted up [his] heel against me. 11 But thou, O Lord, have compassion upon me, and raise me up, and I shall requite them. 12 By this I know that thou hast delighted in me, because mine enemy shall not rejoice over me. 13 But thou didst help me because of [mine] innocence, and hast established me before thee for ever. 14 Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. So be it, so be it.

Psalm 41 (42)

1 For the end, [a Psalm] for instruction, for the sons of Core. 2 As the hart earnestly desires the fountains of water, so my soul earnestly longs for thee, O God. 3 My soul has thirsted for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 4 My tears have been bread to me day and night, while they daily said to me, Where is thy God? 5 I remembered these things, and poured out my soul in me, for I will go to the place of thy wondrous tabernacle, [even] to the house of God, with a voice of exultation and thanksgiving and of the sound of those who keep festival. 6 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; [he is] the salvation of my countenance. 7 O my God, my soul has been troubled within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Ermonites, from the little hill. 8 Deep calls to deep at the voice of thy cataracts: all thy billows and thy waves have gone over me. 9 By day the Lord will command his mercy, and manifest [it] by night: with me [is] prayer to the God of my life. 10 I will say to God, Thou art my helper; why hast thou forgotten me? wherefore do I go sad of countenance, while the enemy oppresses [me]? 11 While my bones were breaking, they that afflicted me reproached me; while they said to me daily, Where is thy God? 12 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; [he is] the health of my countenance, and my God.

1 John 4

1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.