Day 288 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Micah 4

1 And at the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it. 2 And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more. 4 And every one shall rest under his vine, and every one under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to alarm [them]: for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these [words]. 5 For all [other] nations shall walk every one in his own way, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6 In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that is bruised, and will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected. 7 And I will make her that was bruised a remnant, and her that was rejected a mighty nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth, even for ever. 8 And thou, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Sion, on thee the dominion shall come and enter in, [even] the first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 And now, why hast thou known calamities? was there not a king to thee? or has thy counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in travail have seized upon thee? 10 Be in pain, and strengthen thyself, and draw near, O daughter of Sion, as a woman in travail: for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and shalt lodge in the plain, and shalt reach even to Babylon: thence shall the Lord thy God deliver thee, and thence shall he redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies. 11 And now have many nations gathered against thee, saying, We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Sion. 12 But they know not the thought of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: for he has gathered them as sheaves of the floor. 13 Arise, and thresh them, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thine horns iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass: and thou shalt utterly destroy many nations, and shalt consecrate their abundance to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. 14 Now shall the daughter [of Sion] be completely hedged in: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

Micah 5

1 And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha, art few in number to be [reckoned] among the thousands of Juda; [yet] out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings forth were from the beginning, [even] from eternity. 2 Therefore shall he appoint them [to wait] till the time of her that travails: she shall bring forth, and [then] the remnant of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel. 3 And the Lord shall stand, and see, and feed his flock with power, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified to the ends of the earth. 4 And she shall have peace when Assur shall come into your land, and when he shall come up upon your country; and there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight attacks of men. 5 And they shall tend the Assyrian with a sword, and the land of Nebrod with her trench: and he shall deliver [you] from the Assyrian, when he shall come upon your land, and when he shall invade your coasts. 6 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord, and as lambs on the grass; that none may assemble nor resist among the sons of men. 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many nations, as a lion in the forest among cattle, and as a [lion's] whelp among flocks of sheep, even as when he goes through, and selects, and carries off [his prey], and there is none to deliver. 8 Thine hand shall be lifted up against them that afflict thee, and all thine enemies shall be utterly destroyed. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, [that] I will utterly destroy the horses out of the midst of thee, and destroy thy chariots: 10 and I will utterly destroy the cities of thy land, and demolish all thy strong-holds: 11 and I will utterly destroy thy sorceries out of thine hands; and there shall be no soothsayers in thee. 12 And I will utterly destroy thy graven images, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt never any more worship the works of thine hands. 13 And I will cut off the groves out of the midst of thee, and I will abolish thy cities. 14 And I will execute vengeance on the heathen in anger and wrath, because they hearkened not.

Micah 6

1 Hear now a word: the Lord God has said; Arise, plead with the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and [ye] valleys [even] the foundations of the earth: for the Lord [has] a controversy with his people, and will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done to thee? or wherein have I grieved thee? or wherein have I troubled thee? answer me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, and sent before thee Moses, and Aaron, and Mariam. 5 O my people, remember now, what counsel Balac king of Moab took against thee, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from the reeds to Galgal; that the righteousness of the Lord might be known. 6 Wherewithal shall I reach the Lord, [and] lay hold of my God most high? shall I reach him by whole-burnt-offerings, by calves of a year old? 7 Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? should I give my first-born for ungodliness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 Has it [not] been told thee, O man, what [is] good? or what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord thy God? 9 The Lord's voice shall be proclaimed in the city, and he shall save those that fear his name: hear, O tribe; and who shall order the city? 10 [Is there] not fire, and the house of the wicked heaping up wicked treasures, and [that] with the pride of unrighteousness? 11 Shall the wicked be justified by the balance, or deceitful weights in the bag, 12 whereby they have accumulated their ungodly wealth, and they that dwell in the city have uttered falsehoods, and their tongue has been exalted in their mouth? 13 Therefore will I begin to smite thee; I will destroy thee in thy sins. 14 Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied; and there shall be darkness upon thee; and he shall depart from [thee], and thou shalt not escape; and all that shall escape shall be delivered over to the sword. 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt press the olive, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; and [shalt make] wine, but ye shall drink no wine: and the ordinances of my people shall be utterly abolished. 16 For thou hast kept the statutes of Zambri, and [done] all the works of the house of Achaab; and ye have walked in their ways, that I might deliver thee to utter destruction, and those that inhabit the city to hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of nations.

1 Thessalonians 3

1 Therefore when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s servant in the Good News of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, 3 that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. 4 For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. 5 For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain. 6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, even as we also long to see you. 7 For this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we give again to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sakes before our God, 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? 11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, 13 to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.