Day 344 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Lamentations 4

1 Aleph. How will the gold be tarnished, [and] the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets. 2 Beth. The precious sons of Zion, who were equalled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter! 3 Gimel. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert. 4 Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, [and] there is none to break [it] to them. 5 He. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung. 6 Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, [the city] that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her [with their] hands. 7 Zain. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified [as] with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone. 8 Heth. Their countenance is become blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has cleaved to their bones; they are withered, they are become as a stick. 9 Teth. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger: they have departed, pierced through from [want of] the fruits of the field. 10 Jod. The hands of tender-hearted women have sodden their own children: they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 Chaph. The Lord has accomplished his wrath; he has poured out his fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Sion, and it has devoured her foundations. 12 Lamed. The kings of the earth, [even] all that dwell in the world, believed not that an enemy and oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem. 13 Mem. For the sins of her prophets, [and] iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her, 14 Nun. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their raiment [with it]. 15 Samech. Depart ye from the unclean ones: call ye them: depart, depart, touch [them] not: for they are on fire, yea, they stagger: say ye among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [there]. 16 Ain. The presence of the Lord [was] their portion; [but] he will not again look upon them: they regarded not the person of the priests, they pitied not the prophets. 17 Phe. While we yet lived our eyes failed, while we looked in vain for our help. Tsade. We looked to a nation that could not save. 18 We have hunted [for] our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. Koph. Our time has drawn nigh, our days are fulfilled, our time is come. 19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us. 20 Rechs. The breath of our nostrils, [our] anointed Lord, was taken in their destructive snares, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles. 21 Chsen. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumea, that dwellest in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to thee: thou shalt be drunken, and pour forth. 22 Thau. O daughter of Sion, thine iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry thee captive: he has visited thine iniquities, O daughter of Edom; he has discovered thy sins.

Lamentations 5

1 Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us: behold, and look on our reproach. 2 Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers: 3 we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us [for a burden] on our neck: 5 we have been persecuted, we have laboured, we have had no rest. 6 Egypt gave the hand [to us], Assur to their own satisfaction. 7 Our fathers sinned, [and] are not: we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom [us] out of their hand. 9 We shall bring in our bread with [danger of] our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine. 11 They humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda. 12 Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honoured. 13 The chosen men lifted up [the voice in] weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood. 14 And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music. 15 The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown has fallen [from] our head: yea, woe to us! for we have sinned. 17 For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened. 18 Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked therein. 19 But thou, O Lord, shalt dwell for ever; thy throne [shall endure] to generation and generation. 20 Wherefore wilt thou utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time? 21 Turn us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before. 22 For thou hast indeed rejected us; thou hast been very wroth against us.

Letter of Jeremiah 1

1 A copy of an epistle, which Jeremy sent unto them which were to be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to certify them, as it was commanded him of God. 2 Because of the sins which ye have committed before God, ye shall be led away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor king of the Babylonians. 3 So when ye be come unto Babylon, ye shall remain there many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations: and after that I will bring you away peaceably from thence. 4 Now shall ye see in Babylon gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood, borne upon shoulders, which cause the nations to fear. 5 Beware therefore that ye in no wise be like to strangers, neither be ye afraid of them, when ye see the multitude before them and behind them, worshipping them. 6 But say ye in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship thee. 7 For mine angel is with you, and I myself caring for your souls. 8 As for their tongue, it is polished by the workman, and they themselves are gilded and laid over with gold; yet are they but false, and cannot speak. 9 And taking gold, as it were for a virgin that loveth to go gay, they make crowns for the heads of their gods. 10 Sometimes also the priests convey from their gods gold and silver, and bestow it upon themselves. 11 Yea, they will give thereof to the common harlots, and deck them as men with garments, [being] gods of silver, and gods of gold, and wood. 12 Yet cannot these gods save themselves from rust and moths, though they be covered with purple raiment. 13 They wipe their faces because of the dust of the temple, when there is much upon them. 14 And he that cannot put to death one that offendeth him holdeth a sceptre, as though he were a judge of the country. 15 He hath also in his right hand a dagger and an axe: but cannot deliver himself from war and thieves. 16 Whereby they are known not to be gods: therefore fear them not. 17 For like as a vessel that a man useth is nothing worth when it is broken; even so it is with their gods: when they be set up in the temple, their eyes be full of dust through the feet of them that come in. 18 And as the doors are made sure on every side upon him that offendeth the king, as being committed to suffer death; even so the priests make fast their temples with doors, with locks, and bars, lest [their gods] be spoiled with robbers. 19 They light them candles, yea, more than for themselves, whereof they cannot see one. 20 They are as one of the beams of the temple, yet they say their hearts are gnawed upon by things creeping out of the earth; and when they eat them and their clothes, they feel it not. 21 Their faces are blacked through the smoke that cometh out of the temple. 22 Upon their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows, and birds, and the cats also. 23 By this ye may know that they are no gods: therefore fear them not. 24 Notwithstanding the gold that is about them to make them beautiful, except they wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten did they feel it. 25 The things wherein there is no breath are bought for a most high price. 26 They are borne upon shoulders, having no feet, whereby they declare unto men that they be nothing worth. 27 They also that serve them are ashamed: for if they fall to the ground at any time, they cannot rise up again of themselves: neither, if one set them upright, can they move of themselves: neither, if they be bowed down, can they make themselves straight: but they set gifts before them, as unto dead men. 28 As for the things that are sacrificed unto them, their priests sell and abuse; in like manner their wives lay up part thereof in salt; but unto the poor and impotent they give nothing of it. 29 Menstruous women and women in childbed eat their sacrifices: by these things ye may know that they are no gods: fear them not. 30 For how can they be called gods? because women set meat before the gods of silver, gold, and wood. 31 And the priests sit in their temples, having their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. 32 They roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead. 33 The priests also take off their garments, and clothe their wives and children. 34 Whether it be evil that one doeth unto them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: they can neither set up a king, nor put him down. 35 In like manner, they can neither give riches nor money: though a man make a vow unto them, and keep it not, they will not require it. 36 They can save no man from death, neither deliver the weak from the mighty. 37 They cannot restore a blind man to his sight, nor help any man in his distress. 38 They can shew no mercy to the widow, nor do good to the fatherless. 39 Their gods of wood, and which are overlaid with gold and silver, are like the stones that be hewn out of the mountain: they that worship them shall be confounded. 40 How should a man then think and say that they are gods, when even the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them? 41 Who if they shall see one dumb that cannot speak, they bring him, and intreat Bel that he may speak, as though he were able to understand. 42 Yet they cannot understand this themselves, and leave them: for they have no knowledge. 43 The women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume: but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken. 44 Whatsoever is done among them is false: how may it then be thought or said that they are gods? 45 They are made of carpenters and goldsmiths: they can be nothing else than the workmen will have them to be. 46 And they themselves that made them can never continue long; how should then the things that are made of them be gods? 47 For they left lies and reproaches to them that come after. 48 For when there cometh any war or plague upon them, the priests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with them. 49 How then cannot men perceive that they be no gods, which can neither save themselves from war, nor from plague? 50 For seeing they be but of wood, and overlaid with silver and gold, it shall be known hereafter that they are false: 51 and it shall manifestly appear to all nations and kings that they are no gods, but the works of men's hands, and that there is no work of God in them. 52 Who then may not know that they are no gods? 53 For neither can they set up a king in the land, nor give rain unto men. 54 Neither can they judge their own cause, nor redress a wrong, being unable: for they are as crows between heaven and earth. 55 Whereupon when fire falleth upon the house of gods of wood, or laid over with gold or silver, their priests will flee away, and escape: but they themselves shall be burned asunder like beams. 56 Moreover they cannot withstand any king or enemies: how can it then be thought or said that they be gods? 57 Neither are those gods of wood, and laid over with silver or gold, able to escape either from thieves or robbers. 58 Whose gold, and silver, and garments wherewith they are clothed, they that are strong do take, and go away withal: neither are they able to help themselves. 59 Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power, or else a profitable vessel in an house, which the owner shall have use of, than such false gods; or to be a door in an house, to keep such things safe as be therein, than such false gods; or a pillar of wood in a palace, than such false gods. 60 For sun, moon, and stars, being bright, and sent to do their offices, are obedient. 61 In like manner the lightning when it breaketh forth is easy to be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country. 62 And when God commandeth the clouds to go over the whole world, they do as they are bidden. 63 And the fire sent from above to consume hills and woods doeth as it is commanded: but these are like unto them neither in shew nor power. 64 Wherefore it is neither to be supposed nor said that they are gods, seeing they are able neither to judge causes, nor to do good unto men. 65 Knowing therefore that they are no gods, fear them not. 66 For they can neither curse nor bless kings: 67 neither can they shew signs in the heavens among the heathen, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon. 68 The beasts are better than they: for they can get under a covert, and help themselves. 69 It is then by no means manifest unto us that they are gods: therefore fear them not. 70 For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing: so are their gods of wood, and laid over with silver and gold. 71 And likewise their gods of wood, and laid over with silver and gold, are like to a white thorn in an orchard, that every bird sitteth upon; as also to a dead body, that is cast into the dark. 72 And ye shall know them to be no gods by the bright purple that rotteth upon them: and they themselves afterward shall be eaten, and shall be a reproach in the country. 73 Better therefore is the just man that hath no idols: for he shall be far from reproach.

Revelation 8

1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, then threw it on the earth. Thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake followed. 6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7 The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood, 9 and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter. 12 The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars, so that one third of them would be darkened; and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way. 13 I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the other blasts of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!”