Day 221 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Psalm 141 (142)

1 [A Psalm] of instruction for David, when he was in the cave,—a Prayer. 2 I cried to the Lord with my voice; with my voice I made supplication to the Lord. 3 I will pour out before him my supplication: I will declare before him mine affliction. 4 When my spirit was fainting within me, then thou knewest my paths; in the very way wherein I was walking, they hid a snare for me. 5 I looked on [my] right hand, and behold, for there was none that noticed me; refuge failed me; and there was none that cared for my soul. 6 I cried unto thee, O Lord, and said, Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living. 7 Attend to my supplication, for I am brought very low; deliver me from them that persecute me; for they are stronger than I. 8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to thy name, O Lord; the righteous shall wait for me, until thou recompense me.

Psalm 142 (143)

1 A Psalm of David, when his son pursued him. O Lord, attend to my prayer: hearken to my supplication in thy truth; hear me in thy righteousness. 2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no [man] living be justified. 3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has brought my life down to the ground; he has made me to dwell in a dark [place], as those that have been long dead. 4 Therefore my spirit was grieved in me; my heart was troubled within me. 5 I remembered the days of old; and I meditated on all thy doings: [yea], I meditated on the works of thine hands. 6 I spread forth my hands to thee; my soul [thirsts] for thee, as a dry land. Pause. 7 Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit has failed; turn not away thy face from me, else I shall be like to them that go down to the pit. 8 Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for I have hoped in thee; make known to me, O Lord, the way wherein I should walk; for I have lifted up my soul to thee. 9 Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord; for I have fled to thee for refuge. 10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God; thy good Spirit shall guide me in the straight [way]. 11 Thou shalt quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake; in thy righteousness thou shalt bring my soul out of affliction. 12 And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy mine enemies, and wilt destroy all those that afflict my soul; for I am thy servant.

Psalm 143 (144)

1 [A Psalm] of David concerning Goliad. Blessed [be] the Lord my God, who instructs my hands for battle, [and] my fingers for war. 2 My mercy, and my refuge; my helper, and my deliverer; my protector, in whom I have trusted; who subdues my people under me. 3 Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou takest account of him? 4 Man is like to vanity: his days pass as a shadow. 5 O Lord, bow thy heavens, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 6 Send lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: send forth thine arrows, and thou shalt discomfit them. 7 Send forth thine hand from on high; rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hand of strange children; 8 whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity. 9 O God, I will sing a new song to thee: I will play to thee on a psaltery of ten strings. 10 [Even] to him who gives salvation to kings: who redeems his servant David from the hurtful sword. 11 Deliver me, and rescue me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity; 12 whose children are as plants, strengthened in their youth: their daughters are beautiful, sumptuously adorned after the similitude of a temple. 13 Their garners are full, and bursting with one kind of store after another; their sheep are prolific, multiplying in their streets. 14 Their oxen are fat: there is no falling down of a hedge, nor going out, nor cry in their folds. 15 Men bless the people to whom this lot belongs, [but] blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

1 Corinthians 4

1 So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2 Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. Yes, I don’t even judge my own self. 4 For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God. 6 Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. 7 For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you! 9 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11 Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12 We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now. 14 I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. 16 I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. 17 Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly. 18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. 21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?