Day 332 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Jeremiah 25

1 The Word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda in the fourth year of Joakim, son of Josias, king of Juda; 2 which he spoke to all the people of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3 In the thirteenth year of Josias, son of Amos, king of Juda, even until this day for three and twenty years, I have both spoken to you, rising early and speaking, 4 and I sent to you my servants the prophets, sending them early; (but ye hearkened not, and listened not with your ears;) saying, 5 Turn ye every one from his evil way, and from your evil practices, and ye shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and your fathers, of old and for ever. 6 Go ye not after strange gods, to serve them, and to worship them, that ye provoke me not by the works of your hands, to do you hurt. 7 But ye hearkened not to me. 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Since ye believed not my words, 9 behold, I [will] send and take a family from the north, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all the nations round about it, and I will make them utterly waste, and make them a desolation, and a hissing, and an everlasting reproach. 10 And I will destroy from [among] them the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the scent of ointment, and the light of a candle. 11 And all the land shall be a desolation; and they shall serve among the Gentiles seventy years. 12 And when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will take vengeance on that nation, and will make them a perpetual desolation. 13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have spoken against it, [even] all things that are written in this book. 14 The Prophecies of Jeremias against the Nations of Ælam. 15 Thus saith the Lord, The bow of Ælam is broken, [even] the chief of their power. 16 And I will bring upon Ælam the four winds from the four corners of heaven, and I will disperse them toward all these winds; and there shall be no nation [to] which they shall not come—[even] the outcasts of Ælam. 17 And I will put them in fear before their enemies that seek their life; and I will bring evils upon them according to my great anger; and I will send forth my sword after them, until I have utterly destroyed them. 18 And I will set my throne in Ælam, and will send forth thence king and rulers. 19 But it shall come to pass at the end of days, that I will turn the captivity of Ælam, saith the Lord. 20 In the beginning of the reign of king Sedekias, there came this word concerning Ælam.

Jeremiah 26

2 For Egypt, against the Power of Pharao Nechao King of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates in Charmis, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Joakim king of Juda. 3 Take up arms and spears, and draw nigh to battle; 4 and harness the horses: mount, ye horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the spears, and put on your breast-plates. 5 Why do they fear, and turn back? even because their mighty men shall be slain: they have utterly fled, and being hemmed in they have not rallied, saith the Lord. 6 Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape to the north: the [forces] at Euphrates are become feeble, and they have fallen. 7 Who is this [that] shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll [their] waves? 8 The waters of Egypt shall come up like a river: and he said, I will go up, and will cover the earth, and will destroy the dwellers in it. 9 Mount ye the horses, prepare the chariots; go forth, ye warriors of the Ethiopians, and Libyans armed with shields; and mount, ye Lydians, bend the bow. 10 And that day [shall be] to the Lord our God a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his enemies: and the sword of the Lord shall devour, and be glutted, and be drunken with their blood: for the Lord [has] a sacrifice from the land of the north at the river Euphrates. 11 Go up to Galaad, and take balm for the virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain hast thou multiplied thy medicines; there is no help in thee. 12 The nations have heard thy voice, and the land has been filled with thy cry: for the warriors have fainted fighting one against another, [and] both are fallen together. 13 The Words which the Lord spoke by Jeremias, concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt. 14 Proclaim [it] at Magdol, and declare [it] at Memphis: say ye, Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured thy yew-tree. 15 Wherefore has Apis fled from thee? thy choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him. 16 And thy multitude has fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbour, Let us arise, and return into our country to our people, from the Grecian sword. 17 Call ye the name of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed. 18 [As] I live, saith the Lord God, he shall come as Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea. 19 O daughter of Egypt dwelling [at home], prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no inhabitants in it. 20 Egypt is a fair heifer, [but] destruction from the north is come upon her. 21 Also her hired [soldiers] in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution. 22 Their voice is as [that] of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand; they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, for [their number] cannot at all be conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt is confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north. 25 Behold, I [will] avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him. 27 But fear not thou, my servant Jacob, neither be thou alarmed, Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at ease, and sleep, and there shall be no one to trouble him. 28 Fear not thou, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; for I am with thee: she [that was] without fear and in luxury, has been delivered up: for I will make a full end of every nation among whom I have thrust thee forth; but I will not cause thee to fail: yet will I chastise thee in the way of judgment, and will not hold thee entirely guiltless.

Jeremiah 27

1 The Word of the Lord which He spoke against Babylon. 2 Proclaim ye among the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and suppress [them] not: say ye, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Mærodach is delivered up. 3 For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast. 4 In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together; they shall proceed, weeping as they go, seeking the Lord their God. 5 They shall ask the way till [they come to] Sion, for that way shall they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten. 6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting-place. 7 All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave them alone, because they have sinned against the Lord: he that gathered their fathers [had] a pasture of righteousness. 8 Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans, and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep. 9 For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her: thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return empty. 10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied. 11 Because ye rejoiced, and boasted, [while] plundering mine heritage; because ye exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as bulls. 12 Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for prosperity is confounded: [she is] the last of the nations, desolate, 13 by reason of the Lord's anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl, and they shall hiss at all her plague. 14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows, 15 and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from God: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her. 16 Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, [and] him that holds a sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land. 17 Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria first devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon [has gnawed] his bones. 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I [will] take vengeance on the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of Assyria. 19 And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied. 20 In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Juda, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left 21 on the land, saith the Lord. Go up against it roughly, and against them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I command thee. 22 A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans! 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24 They shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it, Babylon, that thou wilt even be taken captive: thou art found and taken, because thou didst resist the Lord. 25 The Lord has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his anger: for the Lord God [has] a work in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 For her times are come: open ye her storehouses: search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her. 27 Dry ye up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution. 28 A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Sion the vengeance [that comes] from the Lord our God. 29 Summon many against Babylon, [even] every one that bends the bow: camp against her round about; let no one of her [people] escape: render to her according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has resisted the Lord, the Holy God of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, saith the Lord. 31 Behold, I am against thee the haughty one, saith the Lord: for thy day is come, and the time of thy retribution. 32 And thy pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her. 33 Thus saith the Lord; The children of Israel and the children of Juda have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed them together; for they would not let them go. 34 But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name: he will enter into judgment with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth; 35 and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men; 36 a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots: 37 a sword upon their warriors, and upon the mixed people in the midst of her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall be scattered upon her water, 38 and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven [images]; and in the islands, where they boasted. 39 Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon them, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there. 41 Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger: 42 [the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gæthan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting [it]: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall be cut off from them. 46 For at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.

Hebrews 12

1 Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. 5 You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6 for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11 All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15 looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it, 16 lest there be any sexually immoral person or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17 For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. 18 For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19 the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 20 for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”. 21 So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, 23 to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. 25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, 26 whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.