Day 287 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Micah 1

1 And the word of the Lord came to Michæas the son of Morasthi, in the days of Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, concerning what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear [these] words, ye people; and let the earth give heed, and all that are in it: and the Lord God shall be among you for a testimony, the Lord out of his holy habitation. 3 For, behold, the Lord comes forth out of his place, and will come down, and will go upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains shall be shaken under him, and the valleys shall melt like wax before the fire, and as water rushing down a declivity. 5 All these [calamities are] for the transgression of Jacob, and for the sin of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? [is it] not Samaria? and what is the sin of the house of Juda? [is it] not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria [as] a store-house of the fruits of the field, and [as] a planting of a vineyard: and I will utterly demolish her stones, and I will expose her foundations. 7 And they shall cut in pieces all the graven images, and all that she has hired they shall burn with fire, and I will utterly destroy all her idols: because she has gathered of the hires of fornication, and of the hires of fornication has she amassed [wealth]. 8 Therefore shall she lament and wail, she shall go barefooted, and [being] naked she shall make lamentation as [that] of serpents, and mourning as of the daughters of sirens. 9 For her plague has become grievous; for it has come even to Juda; and has reached to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 10 Ye that are in Geth, exalt not yourselves, and ye Enakim, do not rebuild from [the ruins of] the house in derision: sprinkle dust [in the place of] your laughter. 11 The inhabitant of Sennaar, fairly inhabiting her cities, came not forth to mourn for the house next to her: she shall receive of you the stroke of grief. 12 Who has begun [to act] for good to her that dwells in sorrow? for calamities have come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem, 13 [even] a sound of chariots and horsemen: the inhabitants of Lachis, she is the leader of sin to the daughter of Sion: for in thee were found the transgressions of Israel. 14 Therefore shall he cause men to be sent forth as far as the inheritance of Geth, [even] vain houses; they are become vanity to the kings of Israel; 15 until they bring the heirs, O inhabitant of Lachis: the inheritance shall reach to Odollam, [even] the glory of the daughter of Israel. 16 Shave thine hair, and make thyself bald for thy delicate children; increase thy widowhood as an eagle; for [thy people] are gone into captivity from thee.

Micah 2

1 They meditated troubles, and wrought wickedness on their beds, and they put it in execution with the daylight; for they have not lifted up their hands to God. 2 And they desired fields, and plundered orphans, and oppressed families, and spoiled a man and his house, even a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I devise evils against this family, out of which ye shall not lift up your necks, neither shall ye walk upright speedily: for the time is evil. 4 In that day shall a parable be taken up against you, and a plaintive lamentation shall be uttered, saying, We are thoroughly miserable: the portion of my people has been measured out with a line, and there was none to hinder him so as to turn him back; your fields have been divided. 5 Therefore thou shalt have no one to cast a line for the lot. 6 Weep not with tears in the assembly of the Lord, neither let [any] weep for these things; for he shall not remove the reproaches, 7 who says, The house of Jacob has provoked the Spirit of the Lord; are not these his practices? Are not the Lord's words right with him? and have they not proceeded correctly? 8 Even beforetime my people withstood [him] as an enemy against his peace; they have stripped off his skin to remove hope [in] the conflict of war. 9 The leaders of my people shall be cast forth from their luxurious houses; they are rejected because of their evil practices; draw ye near to the everlasting mountains. 10 Arise thou, and depart; for this is not thy rest because of uncleanness: ye have been utterly destroyed; 11 ye have fled, no one pursuing [you: thy] spirit has framed falsehood, it has dropped on thee for wine and strong drink. But it shall come to pass, [that] out of the dropping of this people, 12 Jacob shall be completely gathered with all [his people]: I will surely receive the remnant of Israel; I will cause them to return together, as sheep in trouble, as a flock in the midst of their fold: they shall rush forth from among men through the breach made before them: 13 they have broken through, and passed the gate, and gone out by it: and their king has gone out before them, and the Lord shall lead them.

Micah 3

1 And he shall say, Hear now these words, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye remnant of the house of Israel; is it not for you to know judgment? 2 [who] hate good, and seek evil; [who] tear their skins off them, and their flesh off their bones: 3 even as they devoured the flesh of my people, and stripped their skins off them, and broke their bones, and divided [them] as flesh for the caldron, and as meat for the pot, 4 thus they shall cry to the Lord, but he shall not hearken to them; and he shall turn away his face from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their practices against themselves. 5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that lead my people astray, that bite with their teeth, and proclaim peace to them; and [when] nothing was put into their mouth, they raised up war against them: 6 therefore there shall be night to you instead of a vision, and there shall be to you darkness instead of prophecy; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark upon them. 7 And the seers of night-visions shall be ashamed, and the prophets shall be laughed to scorn: and all the people shall speak against them, because there shall be none to hearken to them. 8 Surely I will strengthen myself with the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of power, to declare to Jacob his transgressions, and to Israel his sins. 9 Hear now these words, ye chiefs of the house of Jacob, and the remnant of the house of Israel, who hate judgment, and pervert all righteousness; 10 who build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads thereof have judged for gifts, and the priests thereof have answered for hire, and her prophets have divined for silver: and [yet] they have rested on the Lord, saying, Is not the Lord among us? no evil shall come upon us. 12 Therefore on your account Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruits, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest.

1 Thessalonians 2

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you wasn’t in vain, 2 but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to tell you the Good News of God in much conflict. 3 For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception. 4 But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak—not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts. 5 For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness), 6 nor seeking glory from men (neither from you nor from others), when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God. 10 You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe. 11 As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory. 13 For this cause we also thank God without ceasing that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, God’s word, which also works in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost. 17 But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season in presence, not in heart, tried even harder to see your face with great desire, 18 because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20 For you are our glory and our joy.