Day 325 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Jeremiah 4

1 If Israel will return to me, saith the Lord, he shall return: and if he will remove his abominations out of his mouth, and fear before me, and swear, 2 The Lord lives, with truth, in judgment and righteousness, then shall nations bless by him, and by him they shall praise God in Jerusalem. 3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Break up fresh ground for yourselves, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise your hardness of heart, ye men of Juda, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my wrath go forth as fire, and burn, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your devices. 5 Declare ye in Juda, and let it be heard in Jerusalem: say ye, Sound the trumpet in the land; cry ye aloud: say ye, Gather yourselves together, and let us enter into the fortified cities. 6 Gather up [your wares] and flee to Sion: hasten, stay not: for I will bring evils from the north, and great destruction. 7 The lion is gone up from his lair, he has roused [himself] to the destruction of the nations, and has gone forth out of his place, to make the land desolate; and the cities shall be destroyed, so as to be without inhabitant. 8 For these things gird yourselves with sackclothes, and lament, and howl: for the anger of the Lord is not turned away from you. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be amazed, and the prophets shall wonder. 10 And I said, O sovereign Lord, verily thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, There shall be peace; whereas behold, the sword has reached even to their soul. 11 At that time they shall say to this people and to Jerusalem, [There is] a spirit of error in the wilderness: the way of the daughter of my people is not to purity, nor to holiness. 12 [But] a spirit of full vengeance shall come upon me; and now I declare my judgments against them. 13 Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are in misery. 14 Cleanse thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved: how long will thy grievous thoughts be within thee? 15 For a voice of one publishing from Dan shall come, and trouble out of mount Ephraim shall be heard of. 16 Remind ye the nations; behold, they are come: proclaim [it] in Jerusalem, that bands are approaching from a land afar off, and have uttered their voice against the cities of Juda. 17 As keepers of a field, they have surrounded her; because thou, saith the Lord, hast neglected me. 18 Thy ways and thy devices have brought these things upon thee; this is thy wickedness, for [it is] bitter, for it has reached to thy heart. 19 I am pained in my bowels, my bowels, and the sensitive powers of my heart; my soul is in great commotion, my heart is torn: I will not be silent, for my soul has heard the sound of a trumpet, the cry of war, and of distress: it calls on destruction; 20 for all the land is distressed: suddenly [my] tabernacle is distressed, my curtains have been rent asunder. 21 How long shall I see fugitives, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For the princes of my people have not known me, they are foolish and unwise children: they are wise to do evil, but [how] to do good they have not known. 23 I looked upon the earth, and, behold, [it was] not; and to the sky, and there was no light in it. 24 I beheld the mountains, and they trembled, and [I saw] all the hills in commotion. 25 I looked, and, behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky were scared. 26 I saw, and, behold, Carmel was desert, and all the cities were burnt with fire at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his fierce anger they were utterly destroyed. 27 Thus saith the Lord, The whole land shall be desolate; but I will not make a full end. 28 For these things let the earth mourn, and let the sky be dark above: for I have spoken, and I will not repent; I have purposed, and I will not turn back from it. 29 The whole land has recoiled from the noise of the horseman and the bent bow; they have gone into the caves, and have hidden themselves in the groves, and have gone up upon the rocks: every city was abandoned, no man dwelt in them. 30 And what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet, and adorn thyself with golden ornaments; though thou adorn thine eyes with stibium, thy beauty [will be] in vain: thy lovers have rejected thee, they seek thy life. 31 For I have heard thy groaning as the voice of a woman in travail, as of her that brings forth her first child; the voice of the daughter of Zion shall fail through weakness, and she shall lose the strength of her hands, [saying], Woe is me! for my soul faints because of the slain.

Jeremiah 5

1 Run ye about in the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye can find [one], if there is any one that does judgment, and seeks faithfulness; and I will pardon them, saith the Lord. 2 The Lord lives, they say; do they not therefore swear falsely? 3 O Lord, thine eyes are upon faithfulness: thou hast scourged them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them; but they would not receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; and they would not return. 4 Then I said, It may be they are poor; for they are weak, for they know not the way of the Lord, or the judgment of God. 5 I will go to the rich men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God: but, behold, with one consent they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds. 6 Therefore has a lion out of the forest smitten them, and a wolf has destroyed them even to [their] houses, and a leopard has watched against their cities: all that go forth from them shall be hunted: for they have multiplied their ungodliness, they have strengthened themselves in their revoltings. 7 In what [way] shall I forgive thee for these things? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: and I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and lodged in harlots' houses. 8 They became as wanton horses: they neighed each one after his neighbour's wife. 9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this. 10 Go up upon her battlements, and break [them] down; but make not a full end: leave her buttresses; for they are the Lord's. 11 For the house of Israel have indeed dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord: the house of Juda also 12 have lied to their Lord, and they have said, These things are not so; no evils shall come upon us; and we shall not see sword or famine. 13 Our prophets became wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them. 14 Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because ye have spoken this word, behold, I have made my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Behold, I [will] bring upon you a nation from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord; a nation the sound of whose language one shall not understand. 16 [They are] all mighty men: 17 and they shall devour your harvest, and your bread; and shall devour your sons, and your daughters; and they shall devour your sheep, and your calves, and devour your vineyards, and your fig-plantations, and your olive yards: and they shall utterly destroy your strong cities, wherein ye trusted, with the sword. 18 And it shall come to pass in those days, saith the Lord thy God, that I will not utterly destroy you. 19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that thou shalt say to them, Because ye served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Proclaim these things to the house of Jacob, and let them be heard in the house of Juda. 21 Hear ye now these things, O foolish and senseless people; who have eyes, and see not; and have ears, and hear not: 22 will ye not be afraid of me? saith the Lord; and will ye not fear before me, who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, [as] a perpetual ordinance, and it shall not pass it: yea, it shall rage, but not prevail; and its waves shall roar, but not pass over it. 23 But this people has a disobedient and rebellious heart; and they have turned aside and gone back: 24 and they have not said in their heart, Let us fear now the Lord our God, who gives us the early and latter rain, according to the season of the fulfilment of the ordinance of harvest, and has preserved [it] for us. 25 Your transgressions have turned away these things, and your sins have removed good things from you. 26 For among my people were found ungodly men; and they have set snares to destroy men, and have caught [them]. 27 As a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore have they grown great, and become rich: 28 and they have transgressed [the rule of] judgment; they have not judged the cause of the orphan, nor have they judged the cause of the widow. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 Shocking and horrible deeds have been done on the land; 31 the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands: and my people has loved [to have it] thus: and what will ye do for the future?

Jeremiah 6

1 Strengthen yourselves, ye children of Benjamin, [to flee] out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm with the trumpet in Thecue, and set up a signal over Bæthacharma: for evil threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming. 2 And [thy] pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away. 3 The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch [their] tents against her round about, and shall feed [their flocks] each with his hand. 4 Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe to us! for the day has gone down, for the shadows of the day fail. 5 Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations. 6 For thus saith the Lord, Hew down her trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city; [there is] all oppression in her. 7 As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, [as] continually before her. 8 Thou shalt be chastened, O Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee a desert land, which shall not be inhabited. 9 For thus saith the Lord, Glean, glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back [your hands] as a grape-gatherer to his basket. 10 To whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may hearken? behold, thine ears are uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear: behold, the word of the Lord is become to them a reproach, they will not at all desire it. 11 And I allowed my wrath to come to the full, yet I kept [it] in, and did not utterly destroy them: I will pour it out on the children without, and on the assembly of young men together: for man and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days. 12 And their houses shall be turned to others, [with] their fields and their wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of this land, saith the Lord. 13 For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all wrought falsely. 14 And they healed the breach of my people [imperfectly], making light [of it], and saying, Peace, peace: and where is peace? 15 They were ashamed because they failed; yet they were not ashamed as those who are [truly] ashamed, and they knew not their own disgrace: therefore shall they [utterly] fall when they do fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, said the Lord. 16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in them]. 17 I have set watchmen over you, [saying], Hear ye the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear [it]. 18 Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks. 19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evils upon this people, [even] the fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded my words, and they have rejected my law. 20 Wherefore do ye bring me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? your whole-burnt-offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been pleasant to me. 21 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I [will] bring weakness upon this people, and the fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. 22 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth. 23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; [the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against thee as fire on horses and chariots, O daughter of Sion. 24 We have heard the report of them: our hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail. 25 Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about. 26 O daughter of my people, gird thyself with sackcloth: sprinkle [thyself] with ashes; make for thyself pitiable lamentation, [as] the mourning for a beloved [son]: for misery will come suddenly upon you. 27 I have caused thee to be tried among tried nations, and thou shalt know me when I have tried their way. 28 [They are] all disobedient, walking perversely: [they are] brass and iron; they are all corrupted. 29 The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed: the silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness is not consumed. 30 Call ye them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.

Hebrews 7

1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. 4 Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder. 5 They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, 6 but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. 7 But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes, 10 for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him. 11 Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made also in the law. 13 For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, 16 who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life; 17 for it is testified, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 20 Inasmuch as he was not made priest without the taking of an oath 21 (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him, “The Lord swore and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’” 22 By so much, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. 23 Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death. 24 But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. 25 Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them. 26 For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.