Day 239 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Proverbs 2

1 [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee; 2 thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son. 3 For if thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding; 4 and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures; 5 then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding, 7 and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way; 8 that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright. 10 For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul, 11 good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee; 12 to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully. 13 Alas [for those] who forsake right paths, to walk in ways of darkness; 14 who rejoice in evils, and delight in wicked perverseness; 15 whose paths are crooked, and their courses winding; 16 to remove thee far from the straight way, and to estrange thee from a righteous purpose. [My] son, let not evil counsel overtake thee, 17 [of her] who has forsaken the instruction of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of God. 18 For she has fixed her house near death, and [guided] her wheels near Hades with the giants. 19 None that go by her shall return, neither shall they take hold of right paths, for they are not apprehended of the years of life. 20 For had they gone in good paths, they would have found the paths of righteousness easy. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall be left behind in it. 22 The paths of the ungodly shall perish out of the earth, and transgressors shall be driven away from it.

Proverbs 3

1 [My] son, forget not my laws; but let thine heart keep my words: 2 for length of existence, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; but bind them about thy neck: 4 so shalt thou find favour: and do thou provide things honest in the sight of the Lord, and of men. 5 Trust in God with all thine heart; and be not exalted in thine own wisdom. 6 In all thy ways acquaint thyself with her, that she may rightly direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own conceit; but fear God, and depart from all evil. 8 Then shall there be health to thy body, and good keeping to thy bones. 9 Honour the Lord with thy just labours, and give him the first of thy fruits of righteousness: 10 that thy storehouses may be completely filled with corn, and that thy presses may burst forth with wine. 11 [My] son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 12 for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes, and scourges every son whom he receives. 13 Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who knows prudence. 14 For it is better to traffic for her, than for treasures of gold and silver. 15 And she is more valuable than precious stones: no evil thing shall resist her: she is well known to all that approach her, and no precious thing is equal to her in value. 16 For length of existence and years of life are in her right hand; and in her left hand are wealth and glory: 16a out of her mouth proceeds righteousness, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue. 17 Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are peaceful. 18 She is a tree of life to all that lay hold upon her; and she is [a] secure [help] to all that stay themselves on her, as on the Lord. 19 God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence he prepared the heavens. 20 By understanding were the depths broken up, and the clouds dropped water. 21 [My] son, let [them] not pass from [thee], but keep my counsel and understanding: 22 that thy soul may live, and that there may be grace round thy neck; 22a and it shall be health to thy flesh, and safety to thy bones: 23 that thou mayest go confidently in peace in all thy ways, and that thy foot may not stumble. 24 For if thou rest, thou shalt be undismayed; and if thou sleep, thou shalt slumber sweetly. 25 And thou shalt not be afraid of alarm coming upon thee, neither of approaching attacks of ungodly men. 26 For the Lord shall be over all thy ways, and shall establish thy foot that thou be not moved. 27 Forbear not to do good to the poor, whensoever thy hand may have [power] to help [him]. 28 Say not, Come back another time, to-morrow I will give; while thou art able to do [him] good: for thou knowest not what the next day will bring forth. 29 Devise not evil against thy friend, living near thee and trusting in thee. 30 Be not ready to quarrel with a man without a cause, lest he do thee some harm. 31 Procure not the reproaches of bad men, neither do thou covet their ways. 32 For every transgressor is unclean before the Lord; neither does he sit among the righteous. 33 The curse of God is in the houses of the ungodly; but the habitations of the just are blessed. 34 The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble. 35 The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly have exalted [their own] dishonour.

Proverbs 4

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you a good gift; forsake ye not my law. 3 For I also was a son obedient to [my] father, and loved in the sight of [my] mother: 4 who spoke and instructed me, [saying], Let our speech be fixed in thine heart, keep [our] commandments, forget them not: 5 and do not neglect the speech of my mouth. 6 And forsake it not, and it shall cleave to thee: love it, and it shall keep thee. 8 Secure it, and it shall exalt thee: honour it, that it may embrace thee; 9 that it may give unto thy head a crown of graces, and may cover thee with a crown of delight. 10 Hear, [my] son, and receive my words; and the years of thy life shall be increased, that the resources of thy life may be many. 11 For I teach thee the ways of wisdom; and I cause thee to go in right paths. 12 For when thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not be distressed. 13 Take hold of my instruction; let it not go,—but keep it for thyself for thy life. 14 Go not in the ways of the ungodly, neither covet the ways of transgressors. 15 In whatever place they shall pitch their camp, go not thither; but turn from them, and pass away. 16 For they cannot sleep, unless they have done evil: their sleep is taken away, and they rest not. 17 For these live upon the bread of ungodliness, and are drunken with wine of transgression. 18 But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go on and shine, until the day be fully come. 19 But the ways of the ungodly are dark; they know not how they stumble. 20 [My] son, attend to my speech; and apply thine ear to my words: 21 that thy fountains may not fail thee; keep them in [thine] heart. 22 For they are life to those that find them, and health to all [their] flesh. 23 Keep thine heart with the utmost care; for out of these are the issues of life. 24 Remove from thee a froward mouth, and put far away from thee unjust lips. 25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids assent [to] just [things]. 26 Make straight paths for thy feet, and order thy ways aright. 27 Turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left, but turn away thy foot from an evil way: 27a [for God knows the ways on the right hand, but those on the left are crooked:] 27b and he will make thy ways straight, and will guide thy steps in peace.

2 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. 7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort. 8 For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us, 11 you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf. 12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you. 13 For we write no other things to you than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end— 14 as also you acknowledged us in part—that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. 15 In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit, 16 and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea. 17 When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?” 18 But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” 20 For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. 23 But I call God for a witness to my soul, that to spare you, I didn’t come to Corinth. 24 We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.