Day 71 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Joshua 22

1 Then Joshua called together the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse, 2 and said to them, Ye have heard all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and ye have hearkened to my voice in all that he commanded you. 3 Ye have not deserted your brethren these many days: until this day ye have kept the commandment of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord our God has given our brethren rest, as he told them: now then return and depart to your homes, and to the land of your possession, which Moses gave you on the other side Jordan. 5 But take great heed to do the commands and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do; to love the Lord our God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commands, and to cleave to him, and serve him with all your mind, and with all your soul. 6 And Joshua blessed them, and dismissed them; and they went to their homes. 7 And to [one] half the tribe of Manasse Moses gave a portion in the land of Basan, and to [the other] half Joshua gave a portion with his brethren on the other side of Jordan westward: and when Joshua sent them away to their homes, then he blessed them. 8 And they departed with much wealth to their houses, and they divided the spoil of their enemies with their brethren; very much cattle, and silver, and gold, and iron, and much raiment. 9 So the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse, departed from the children of Israel in Selo in the land of Chanaan, to go away into Galaad, into the land of their possession, which they inherited by the command of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. 10 And they came to Galaad of Jordan, which is in the land of Chanaan: and the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse have built an altar at the borders of the land of Chanaan at Galaad of Jordan, on the opposite side to the children of Israel. 12 And all the children of Israel gathered together to Selo, so as to go up and fight against them. 13 And the children of Israel sent to the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and to the sons of the half tribe of Manasse into the land of Galaad, both Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, 14 and ten of the chiefs with him; [there was] one chief of every household out of all the tribes of Israel; (the heads of families are the captains of thousands in Israel.) 15 And they came to the sons of Ruben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasse into the land of Galaad; and they spoke to them, saying, 16 Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, What [is] this transgression that ye have transgressed before the God of Israel, to turn away today from the Lord, in that ye have built for yourselves an altar, so that ye should be apostates from the Lord? 17 Is the sin of Phogor too little for you, whereas we have not been cleansed from it until this day, though there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord? 18 And ye have this day revolted from the Lord; and it shall come to pass if ye revolt this day from the Lord, that to-morrow there shall be wrath upon all Israel. 19 And now if the land of your possession [be too] little, cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the tabernacle of the Lord dwells, and receive ye an inheritance among us; and do not become apostates from God, neither do ye apostatize from the Lord, because of your having built an altar apart from the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Lo! did not Achar the [son] of Zara commit a trespass [taking] of the accursed thing, and there was wrath on the whole congregation of Israel? and he himself died alone in his own sin. 21 And the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse answered, and spoke to the captains of the thousands of Israel, saying, 22 God [even] God is the Lord, and God [even] God himself knows, and Israel he shall know; if we have transgressed before the Lord by apostasy, let him not deliver us this day. 23 And if we have built to ourselves an altar, so as to apostatize from the Lord our God, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of whole-burnt-offerings, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of peace-offering,—the Lord shall require it. 24 But we have done this for the sake of precaution [concerning this] thing, saying, Lest hereafter your sons should say to our sons, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel? 25 Whereas the Lord has set boundaries between us and you, even Jordan, and ye have no portion in the Lord: so your sons shall alienate our sons, that they should not worship the Lord. 26 And we gave orders to do thus, to build this altar, not for burnt-offerings, nor for meat-offerings; 27 but that this may be a witness between you and us, and between our posterity after us, that we may do service to the Lord before him, with our burnt-offerings and our meat-offerings and our peace-offerings: so your sons shall not say to our sons, hereafter, Ye have no portion in the Lord. 28 And we said, If ever it should come to pass that they should speak [so] to us, or to our posterity hereafter; then shall they say, Behold the likeness of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for the sake of burnt-offerings, nor for the sake of meat-offerings, but it is a witness between you and us, and between our sons. 29 Far be it from us therefore that we should turn away from the Lord this day so as to apostatize from the Lord, so as that we should build an altar for burnt-offerings, and for peace-offerings, besides the altar of the Lord which is before his tabernacle. 30 And Phinees the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation of Israel who were with him heard the words which the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse spoke; and it pleased them. 31 And Phinees the priest said to the sons of Ruben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half of the tribe of Manasse, To-day we know that the Lord [is] with us, because ye have not trespassed grievously against the Lord, and because ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. 32 So Phinees the priest and the princes departed from the children of Ruben, and from the children of Gad, and from the half tribe of Manasse out of Galaad into the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel; and reported the words to them. 33 And it pleased the children of Israel; and they spoke to the children of Israel, and blessed the God of the children of Israel, and told them to go up no more to war against the others to destroy the land of the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse: so they dwelt upon it. 34 And Joshua gave a name to the altar of the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasse; and said, It is a testimony in the midst of them, that the Lord is their God.

Joshua 23

1 And it came to pass after many days after the Lord had given Israel rest from all his enemies round about, that Joshua was old and advanced in years. 2 And Joshua called together all the children of Israel, and their elders, and their chiefs, and their judges, and their officers; and said to them, I am old and advanced in years. 3 And ye have seen all that the Lord our God has done to all these nations before us; for [it is] the Lord our God who has fought for you. 4 See, that I have given to you these nations that are left to you by lots to your tribes, all the nations beginning at Jordan; and [some] I have destroyed; and the boundaries shall be at the great sea westward. 5 And the Lord our God, he shall destroy them before us, until they utterly perish; and he shall send against them the wild beasts, until he shall have utterly destroyed them and their kings from before you; and ye shall inherit their land, as the Lord our God said to you. 6 Do ye therefore strive diligently to observe and do all things written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not to the right hand or to the left; 7 that ye go not in among these nations that are left; and the names of their gods shall not be named among you, neither shall ye serve them, neither shall ye bow down to them. 8 But ye shall cleave to the Lord our God, as ye have done until this day. 9 And the Lord shall destroy them before you, [even] great and strong nations; and no one has stood before us until this day. 10 One of you has chased a thousand, for the Lord our God, he fought for you, as he said to you. 11 And take ye great heed to love the Lord our God. 12 For if ye shall turn aside and attach yourselves to these nations that are left with you, and make marriages with them, and become mingled with them and they with you, 13 know that the Lord will no more destroy these nations from before you; and they will be to you snares and stumbling-blocks, and nails in your heels, and darts in your eyes, until ye be destroyed from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you. 14 But I hasten to go the way [of death], as all that are upon the earth also [do]: and know ye in your heart and in your soul, that not one word has fallen [to the ground] of all the words which the Lord our God has spoken respecting all that concerns us; there has not one of them failed. 15 And it shall come to pass, that as all the good things are come upon us which the Lord spoke concerning you, so the Lord God will bring upon you all the evil things, until he shall have destroyed you from off this good land, which the Lord has given you, 16 when ye transgress the covenant of the Lord our God, which he has charged us, and go and serve other gods, and bow down to them.

Joshua 24

1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Selo, and convoked their elders, and their officers, and their judges, and set them before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers at first sojourned beyond the river, [even] Thara, the father of Abraam and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods. 3 And I took your father Abraam from the other side of the river, and I guided him through all the land, and I multiplied his seed; 4 and I gave to him Isaac, and to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau mount Seir for him to inherit: and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, and became there a great and populous and mighty nation: and the Egyptians afflicted them. 5 And I smote Egypt with the wonders that I wrought among them. 6 And afterwards [God] brought out our fathers from Egypt, and ye entered into the Red Sea; and the Egyptians pursued after our fathers with chariots and horses into the Red Sea. 7 And we cried aloud to the Lord; and he put a cloud and darkness between us and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt; and ye were in the wilderness many days. 8 And he brought us into the land of the Amorites that dwelt beyond Jordan, and the Lord delivered them into our hands; and ye inherited their land, and utterly destroyed them from before you. 9 And Balac, king of Moab, son of Sepphor, rose up, and made war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam to curse us. 10 But the Lord thy God would not destroy thee; and he greatly blessed us, and rescued us out of their hands, and delivered them [to us]. 11 And ye crossed over Jordan, and came to Jericho; and the inhabitants of Jericho fought against us, the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Chettite, and the Gergesite, and the Lord delivered them into our hands. 12 And he sent forth the hornet before you; and he drove them out from before you, [even] twelve kings of the Amorites, not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 13 And he gave you a land on which ye did not labour, and cities which ye did not build, and ye were settled in them; and ye eat [of] vineyards and oliveyards which ye did not plant. 14 And now fear the Lord, and serve him in righteousness and justice; and remove the strange gods, which our fathers served beyond the river, and in Egypt; and serve the Lord. 15 But if it seem not good to you to serve the Lord, choose to yourselves this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods of your fathers that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, among whom ye dwell upon their land: but I and my house will serve the Lord, for he is holy. 16 And the people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord, so as to serve other gods. 17 The Lord our God, he is God; he brought up us and our fathers from Egypt, and kept us in all the way wherein we walked, and among all the nations through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord cast out the Amorite, and all the nations that inhabited the land from before us: yea, we will serve the Lord, for he is our God. 19 And Joshua said to the people, Indeed ye will not be able to serve the Lord, for God is holy; and he being jealous will not forgive your sins and your transgressions. 20 Whensoever ye shall forsake the Lord and serve other gods, then he shall come upon you and afflict you, and consume you, because he has done you good. 21 And the people said to Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. 22 And Joshua said to the people, Ye [are] witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him. 23 And now take away the strange gods that are among you, and set your heart right toward the Lord God of Israel. 24 And the people said to Joshua, We will serve the Lord, and we will hearken to his voice. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and gave them a law and an ordinance in Selo before the tabernacle of the God of Israel. 26 And he wrote these words in the book of the laws of God: and Joshua took a great stone, and set it up under the oak before the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to the people, Behold, this stone shall be among you for a witness, for it has heard all the words that have been spoken to it by the Lord; for he has spoken to you this day; and this [stone] shall be among you for a witness in the last days, whenever ye shall deal falsely with the Lord my God. 28 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his place. 29 And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived as long as Joshua, and all that knew all the works of the Lord which he wrought for Israel. 30 And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Naue the servant of the Lord died, [at the age] of a hundred and ten years. 31 And they buried him by the borders of his inheritance in Thamnasarach in the mount of Ephraim, northward of the mount of Galaad: 31a there they put with him into the tomb in which they buried him, the knives of stone with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Galgala, when he brought them out of Egypt, as the Lord appointed them; and there they are to this day. 32 And the children of Israel brought up the bones of Joseph out of Egypt, and buried [them] in Sicima, in the portion of the land which Jacob bought of the Amorites who dwelt in Sicima for a hundred ewe-lambs; and he gave it to Joseph for a portion. 33 And it came to pass afterwards that Eleazar the high-priest the son of Aaron died, and was buried in Gabaar of Phinees his son, which he gave him in mount Ephraim. 33a In that day the children of Israel took the ark of God, and carried it about among them; and Phinees exercised the priest's office in the room of Eleazar his father till he died, and he was buried in his own place Gabaar: 33b but the children of Israel departed every one to their place, and to their own city: and the children of Israel worshipped Astarte, and Astaroth, and the gods of the nations round about them; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Eglom king of Moab and he ruled over them eighteen years.

Luke 7

1 After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.” 6 Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. 7 Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.” 10 Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well. 11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him. 12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Don’t cry.” 14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” 15 He who was dead sat up and began to speak. Then he gave him to his mother. 16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!” 17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region. 18 The disciples of John told him about all these things. 19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?” 20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight. 22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.” 24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed and live delicately are in kings’ courts. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.” 29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves. 31 “To what then should I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’ 33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.” 36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house and sat at the table. 37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.” 41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” 43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”