Day 225 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Job 3

1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day, 2 saying, 3 Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night in which they said, Behold a man-child! 4 Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord regard it from above, neither let light come upon it. 5 But let darkness and the shadow of death seize it; let blackness come upon it; 6 let that day and night be cursed, let darkness carry them away; let it not come into the days of the year, neither let it be numbered with the days of the months. 7 But let that night be pain, and let not mirth come upon it, nor joy. 8 But let him that curses that day curse it, [even] he that is ready to attack the great whale. 9 Let the stars of that night be darkened; let it remain [dark], and not come into light; and let it not see the morning star arise: 10 because it shut not up the gates of my mother's womb, for [so] it would have removed sorrow from my eyes. 11 For why died I not in the belly? and [why] did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately? 12 And why did the knees support me? and why did I suck the breasts? 13 Now I should have lain down and been quiet, I should have slept and been at rest, 14 with kings [and] councillors of the earth, who gloried in [their] swords; 15 or with rulers, whose gold was abundant, who filled their houses with silver: 16 or [I should have been] as an untimely birth proceeding from his mother's womb, or as infants who never saw light. 17 There the ungodly have burnt out the fury of rage; there the wearied in body rest. 18 And the men of old time have together ceased to hear the exactor's voice. 19 The small and great are there, and the servant that feared his lord. 20 For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to the souls which are in griefs? 21 who desire death, and obtain it not, digging [for it] as [for] treasures; 22 and would be very joyful if they should gain it? 23 Death [is] rest to [such] a man, for God has hedged him in. 24 For my groaning comes before my food, and I weep being beset with terror. 25 For the terror of which I meditated has come upon me, and that which I had feared has befallen me. 26 I was not at peace, nor quiet, nor had I rest; yet wrath came upon me.

Job 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Thæmanite answered and said, 2 Hast thou been often spoken to in distress? but who shall endure the force of thy words? 3 For whereas thou hast instructed many, and hast strengthened the hands of the weak one, 4 and hast supported the failing with words, and hast imparted courage to feeble knees. 5 Yet now [that] pain has come upon thee, and touched thee, thou art troubled. 6 Is not thy fear [founded] in folly, thy hope also, and the mischief of thy way? 7 Remember then who has perished, being pure? or when were the true-hearted utterly destroyed? 8 Accordingly as I have seen men ploughing barren places, and they that sow them will reap sorrows for themselves. 9 They shall perish by the command of the Lord, and shall be utterly consumed by the breath of his wrath. 10 The strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched. 11 The old lion has perished for want of food, and the lions' whelps have forsaken one another. 12 But if there had been any truth in thy words, none of these evils would have befallen thee. Shall not mine ear receive excellent [revelations] from him? 13 But [as when] terror falls upon men, with dread and a sound in the night, 14 horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake. 15 And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered. 16 I arose and perceived it not: I looked, and there was no form before my eyes: but I only heard a breath and a voice, [saying], 17 What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works? 18 Whereas he trusts not in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels. 19 But [as for] them that dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he smites them like a moth. 20 And from morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves. 21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.

Job 5

1 But call, if any one will hearken to thee, or if thou shalt see any of the holy angels. 2 For wrath destroys the foolish one, and envy slays him that has gone astray. 3 And I have seen foolish ones taking root: but suddenly their habitation was devoured. 4 Let their children be far from safety, and let them be crushed at the doors of vile men, and let there be no deliverer. 5 For what they have collected, the just shall eat; but they shall not be delivered out of calamities: let their strength be utterly exhausted. 6 For labour cannot by any means come out of the earth, nor shall trouble spring out of the mountains: 7 yet man is born to labour, and [even so] the vulture's young seek the high places. 8 Nevertheless I will beseech the Lord, and will call upon the Lord, the sovereign of all; 9 who does great things and untraceable, glorious things also, and marvellous, of which there is no number: 10 who gives rain upon the earth, sending water on the earth: 11 who exalts the lowly, and raises up them that are lost: 12 frustrating the counsels of the crafty, and their hands shall not perform the truth: 13 who takes the wise in their wisdom, and subverts the counsel of the crafty. 14 In the day darkness shall come upon them, and let them grope in the noon-day even as in the night: 15 and let them perish in war, and let the weak escape from the hand of the mighty. 16 And let the weak have hope, but the mouth of the unjust be stopped. 17 But blessed [is] the man whom the Lord has reproved; and reject not thou the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For he causes [a man] to be in pain, and restores [him] again: he smites, and his hands heal. 19 Six times he shall deliver thee out of distresses: and in the seventh harm shall not touch thee. 20 In famine he shall deliver thee from death: and in war he shall free thee from the power of the sword. 21 He shall hide thee from the scourge of the tongue: and thou shalt not be afraid of coming evils. 22 Thou shalt laugh at the unrighteous and the lawless: and thou shalt not be afraid of wild beasts. 23 For the wild beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24 Then shalt thou know that thy house shall be at peace, and the provision for thy tabernacle shall not fail. 25 And thou shalt know that thy seed [shall be] abundant; and thy children shall be like the herbage of the field. 26 And thou shalt come to the grave like ripe corn reaped in its season, or as a heap of the corn-flour collected in proper time. 27 Behold, we have thus sought out these matters; these are what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself, if thou hast done anything [wrong].

1 Corinthians 7

1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband. 4 The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7 Yet I wish that all men were like me. However, each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 9 But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn with passion. 10 But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband 11 (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife. 12 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her. 13 The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17 Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies. 18 Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping God’s commandments. 20 Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it. 22 For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant. 23 You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men. 24 Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God. 25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy. 26 Therefore I think that because of the distress that is on us, it’s good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you. 29 But I say this, brothers: the time is short. From now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess; 31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away. 32 But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33 but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. 34 There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35 This I say for your own benefit, not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction. 36 But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry. 37 But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no urgency, but has power over his own will, and has determined in his own heart to keep his own virgin, does well. 38 So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better. 39 A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit.