Day 269 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Sirach 22

1 A slothful man is compared to a filthy stone, and every one will hiss him out to his disgrace. 2 A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill: every man that takes it up will shake his hand. 3 An evil-nurtured son is the dishonour of his father that begat him: and a [foolish] daughter is born to his loss. 4 A wise daughter shall bring an inheritance to her husband: but she that liveth dishonestly is her father's heaviness. 5 She that is bold dishonoureth both her father and her husband, and they both shall despise her. 6 A tale out of season [is as] music in mourning: but stripes and correction of wisdom are never out of time. 9 Whoso teacheth a fool is as one that glueth a potsherd together, and as he that waketh one from a sound sleep. 10 He that telleth a tale to a fool speaketh to one in a slumber: when he hath told his tale, he will say, What is the matter? 11 Weep for the dead, for he hath lost the light: and weep for the fool, for he wanteth understanding: make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest: but the life of the fool is worse than death. 12 Seven days do men mourn for him that is dead; but for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of his life. 13 Talk not much with a fool, and go not to him that hath no understanding: beware of him, lest thou have trouble, and thou shalt never be defiled with his fooleries: depart from him, and thou shalt find rest, and never be disquieted with madness. 14 What is heavier than lead? and what is the name thereof, but a fool? 15 Sand, and salt, and a mass of iron, are easier to bear, than a man without understanding. 16 As timber girt and bound together in a building cannot be loosed with shaking: so the heart that is stablished by advised counsel shall fear at no time. 17 A heart settled upon a thought of understanding is as a fair plaistering on the wall of a gallery. 18 Pales set on an high place will never stand against the wind: so a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool cannot stand against any fear. 19 He that pricketh the eye will make tears to fall: and he that pricketh the heart maketh it to shew her knowledge. 20 Whoso casteth a stone at the birds frayeth them away: and he that upbraideth his friend breaketh friendship. 21 Though thou drewest a sword at thy friend, yet despair not: for there may be a returning [to favour]. 22 If thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not; for there may be a reconciliation: except for upbraiding, or pride, or disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound: for for these things every friend will depart. 23 Be faithful to thy neighbour in his poverty, that thou mayest rejoice in his prosperity: abide steadfast unto him in the time of his trouble, that thou mayest be heir with him in his heritage. 24 As the vapour and smoke of a furnace goeth before the fire; so reviling before blood. 25 I will not be ashamed to defend a friend; neither will I hide myself from him; 26 and if any evil happen unto me by him, every one that heareth it will beware of him. 27 Who shall set a watch before my mouth, and a seal of wisdom upon my lips, that I fall not suddenly by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?

Sirach 23

1 O Lord, Father and Governor of my life, leave me not to their counsels, and let me not fall by them. 2 Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over mine heart? that they spare me not for mine ignorances, and it pass not by my sins: 3 lest mine ignorances increase, and my sins abound to my destruction, and I fall before mine adversaries, and mine enemy rejoice over me, whose hope is far from thy mercy. 4 O Lord, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look. 5 Turn away concupiscence from me. 6 Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold of me; and give me not over into an impudent mind. 7 Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth: he that keepeth it shall never be taken in his lips. 8 The sinner shall be left in his foolishness: both the evil speaker and the proud shall fall thereby. 9 Accustom not thy mouth to swearing; neither use thyself to the naming of the Holy One. 10 For as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a blue mark: so he that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultless. 11 A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall never depart from his house: if he shall offend, his sin shall be upon him: and if he acknowledge not his sin, he maketh a double offence: and if he swear in vain, he shall not be innocent, but his house shall be full of calamities. 12 There is a word that is clothed about with death: God grant that it be not found in the heritage of Jacob; for all such things shall be far from the godly, and they shall not wallow in their sins. 13 Use not thy mouth to intemperate swearing, for therein is the word of sin. 14 Remember thy father and thy mother, when thou sittest among great men. Be not forgetful before them, and so thou by thy custom become a fool, and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity. 15 The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words will never be reformed all the days of his life. 16 Two sorts of men multiply sin, and the third will bring wrath: a hot mind is as a burning fire, it will never be quenched till it be consumed: a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he hath kindled a fire. 17 All bread is sweet to a whoremonger, he will not leave off till he die. 18 A man that breaketh wedlock, saying thus in his heart, Who seeth me? I am compassed about with darkness, the walls cover me, and no body seeth me; what need I to fear? the most High will not remember my sins: 19 such a man only feareth the eyes of men, and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men, and considering the most secret parts. 20 He knew all things ere ever they were created; so also after they were perfected he looked upon them all. 21 This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and where he suspecteth not he shall be taken. 22 Thus shall it go also with the wife that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an heir by another. 23 For first, she hath disobeyed the law of the most High; and secondly, she hath trespassed against her own husband; and thirdly, she hath played the whore in adultery, and brought children by another man. 24 She shall be brought out into the congregation, and inquisition shall be made of her children. 25 Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit. 26 She shall leave her memory to be cursed, and her reproach shall not be blotted out. 27 And they that remain shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and that there is nothing sweeter than to take heed unto the commandments of the Lord.

Sirach 24

1 Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people. 2 In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power. 3 I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. 4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar. 5 I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep. 6 In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession. 7 With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide? 8 So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel. 9 He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail. 10 In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in Sion. 11 Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power. 12 And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance. 13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon. 14 I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a plain, and grew up as a plane tree. 15 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16 As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace. 17 As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. 20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb. 21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty. 22 He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss. 23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, [even] the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob. 25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits. 26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest. 27 He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage. 28 The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out. 29 For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep. 30 I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. 31 I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea. 32 I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off. 33 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever. 34 Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom.

Ephesians 3

1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, 2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you, 3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words, 4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, 6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News, 7 of which I was made a servant according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, 10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him. 13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory. 14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.