Day 279 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Sirach 51

1 I will thank thee, O Lord and King, and praise thee, O God my Saviour: I do give praise unto thy name: 2 for thou art my defender and helper, and hast preserved my body from destruction, and from the snare of the slanderous tongue, and from the lips that forge lies, and hast been mine helper against mine adversaries: 3 and hast delivered me, according to the multitude of thy mercies and greatness of thy name, from the teeth of them that were ready to devour me, and out of the hands of such as sought after my life, and from the manifold afflictions which I had; 4 from the choking of fire on every side, and from the midst of the fire which I kindled not; 5 from the depth of the belly of hell, from an unclean tongue, and from lying words. 6 By an accusation to the king from an unrighteous tongue my soul drew near even unto death, my life was near to the hell beneath. 7 They compassed me on every side, and there was no man to help me: I looked for the succour of men, but there was none. 8 Then thought I upon thy mercy, O Lord, and upon thy acts of old, how thou deliverest such as wait for thee, and savest them out of the hands of the enemies. 9 Then lifted I up my supplication from the earth, and prayed for deliverance from death. 10 I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that he would not leave me in the days of my trouble, and in the time of the proud, when there was no help. 11 I will praise thy name continually, and will sing praise with thanksgiving; and so my prayer was heard: 12 for thou savedst me from destruction, and deliveredst me from the evil time: therefore will I give thanks, and praise thee, and bless thy name, O Lord. 13 When I was yet young, or ever I went abroad, I desired wisdom openly in my prayer. 14 I prayed for her before the temple, and will seek her out even to the end. 15 Even from the flower till the grape was ripe hath my heart delighted in her: my foot went the right way, from my youth up sought I after her. 16 I bowed down mine ear a little, and received her, and gat much learning. 17 I profited therein, [therefore] will I ascribe the glory unto him that giveth me wisdom. 18 For I purposed to do after her, and earnestly I followed that which is good; so shall I not be confounded. 19 My soul hath wrestled with her, and in my doings I was exact: I stretched forth my hands to the heaven above, and bewailed my ignorances of her. 20 I directed my soul unto her, and I found her in pureness: I have had my heart joined with her from the beginning, therefore shall I not be forsaken. 21 My heart was troubled in seeking her: therefore have I gotten a good possession. 22 The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward, and I will praise him therewith. 23 Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning. 24 Wherefore are ye slow, and what say ye of these things, seeing your souls are very thirsty? 25 I opened my mouth, and said, Buy her for yourselves without money. 26 Put your neck under the yoke, and let your soul receive instruction: she is hard at hand to find. 27 Behold with your eyes, how that I have had but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest. 28 Get learning with a great sum of money, and get much gold by her. 29 Let your soul rejoice in his mercy, and be not ashamed of his praise. 30 Work your work betimes, and in his time he will give you your reward.

Hosea 1

1 The word of the Lord which came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joas, king of Israel. 2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee. And the Lord said to Osee, Go, take to thyself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: for the land will surely go a-whoring in departing from the Lord. 3 So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Debelaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezrael; for yet a little [while], and I will avenge the blood of Jezrael on the house of Juda, and will make to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And it shall be, in that day, [that] I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezrael. 6 And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And he said to him, Call her name, Unpitied: for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, but will surely set myself in array against them. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them with bow, nor with sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. 8 And she weaned Unpitied; and she conceived again, and bore a son. 9 And he said, Call his name, Not my people: for ye are not my people, and I am not your [God].

Hosea 2

1 Yet the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which shall not be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, even they shall be called the sons of the living God. 2 And the children of Juda shall be gathered, and the children of Israel together, and shall appoint themselves one head, and shall come up out of the land: for great [shall be] the day of Jezrael. 3 Say to your brother, My people, and to your sister, Pitied. 4 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband: and I will remove her fornication out of my presence, and her adultery from between her breasts: 5 that I may strip her naked, and make her again as she was at the day of her birth: and I will make her desolate, and make her as a dry land, and will kill her with thirst. 6 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication. 7 And their mother went a-whoring: she that bore them disgraced [them]: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, and my garments, and my linen clothes, my oil and all my necessaries. 8 Therefore, behold, I hedge up her way with thorns, and will stop the ways, and she shall not find her path. 9 And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: and she shall say, I will go, and return to my former husband; for it was better with me than now. 10 And she knew not that I gave her her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied silver to her: but she made silver and gold [images] for Baal. 11 Therefore I will return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its time; and I will take away my raiment and my linen clothes, so that she shall not cover her nakedness. 12 And now I will expose her uncleanness before her lovers, and no one shall by any means deliver her out of my hand. 13 And I will take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 14 And I will utterly destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, all things of which she said, These are my hire which my lovers have given me: and I will make them a testimony, and the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky, and the reptiles of the earth shall devour them. 15 And I will recompense on her the days of Baalim, wherein she sacrificed to them, and put on her ear-rings, and her necklaces, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. 16 Therefore, behold, I [will] cause her to err, and will make her as desolate, and will speak comfortably to her. 17 And I will give her her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor to open her understanding: and she shall be afflicted there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim. 19 And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all. 20 And I will make for them in that day a covenant with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the reptiles of the earth: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle from off the earth, and will cause thee to dwell safely. 21 And I will betroth thee to myself for ever; yea, I will betroth thee to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in tender compassions; 22 and I will betroth thee to myself in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord. 23 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, I will hearken to the heaven, and it shall hearken to the earth; 24 and the earth shall hearken to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hearken to Jezrael. 25 And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will love her that was not loved, and will say to that which was not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art the Lord my God.