Day 81 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

1 Samuel 3

1 And the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Heli the priest: and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no distinct vision. 2 And it came to pass at that time that Heli was sleeping in his place; and his eyes began to fail, and could not see. 3 And the lamp of God [was burning] before it was trimmed, and Samuel slept in the temple, where [was] the ark of God. 4 And the Lord called, Samuel, Samuel; and he said, Behold, [here am] I. 5 And he ran to Heli, and said, [Here am] I, for thou didst call me: and he said, I did not call thee; return, go to sleep; and he returned and went to sleep. 6 And the Lord called again, Samuel, Samuel: and he went to Heli the second time, and said, Behold [here am] I, for thou didst call me: and he said, I called thee not; return, go to sleep. 7 And [it was] before Samuel knew the Lord, and [before] the word of the Lord was revealed to him. 8 And the Lord called Samuel again for the third time: and he arose and went to Heli, and said, Behold, I [am here], for thou didst call me: and Heli perceived that the Lord [had] called the child. 9 And he said, Return, child, go to sleep; and it shall come to pass if he shall call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, for thy servant hears: and Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called him as before: and Samuel said, Speak, for thy servant hears. 11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I execute my words in Israel; whoever hears them, both his ears shall tingle. 12 In that day I will raise up against Heli all things that I have said against his house; I will begin, and I will make an end. 13 And I have told him that I will be avenged on his house perpetually for the iniquities of his sons, because his sons spoke evil against God, and he did not admonish them. 14 And [it shall] not [go on] so; I have sworn to the house of Eli, the iniquity of the house of Eli shall not be atoned for with incense or sacrifices for ever. 15 And Samuel slept till morning, and rose early in the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord; and Samuel feared to tell [Heli] the vision. 16 And Heli said to Samuel, Samuel, [my] son; and he said, Behold, [here am] I. 17 And he said, What [was] the word that was spoken to thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: may God do these things to thee, and more also, if thou hide from me any thing of all the words that were spoken to thee in thine ears. 18 And Samuel reported all the words, and hid them not from him. And Heli said, He [is] the Lord, he shall do that which is good in his sight. 19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and there did not fall one of his words to the ground. 20 And all Israel knew from Dan even to Bersabee, that Samuel [was] faithful as a prophet to the Lord. 21 And the Lord manifested himself again in Selom, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel; and Samuel was accredited to all Israel as a prophet to the Lord from one end of the land to the other: and Heli [was] very old, and his sons kept advancing [in wickedness], and their way [was] evil before the Lord.

1 Samuel 4

1 And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered themselves together against Israel to war; and Israel went out to meet them and encamped at Aben-ezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphec. 2 And the Philistines prepare to fight with Israel, and the battle was turned against them; and the men of Israel fell before the Philistines, and there were smitten in the battle in the field four thousand men. 3 And the people came to the camp, and the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord caused us to fall this day before the Philistines? let us take the ark of our God out of Selom, and let it proceed from the midst of us, and it shall save us from the hand of our enemies. 4 And the people sent to Selom, and they take thence the ark of the Lord who dwells between the cherubs: and both the sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, [were] with the ark. 5 And it came to pass when the ark of the Lord entered into the camp, that all Israel cried out with a loud voice, and the earth resounded. 6 And the Philistines heard the cry, and the Philistines said, What [is] this great cry in the camp of the Hebrews: and they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines feared, and said, These are the Gods that are come to them into the camp. 8 Woe to us, O Lord, deliver us to-day, for such a thing has not happened aforetime: woe to us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these [are] the Gods that smote Egypt with every plague, and in the wilderness. 9 Strengthen yourselves and behave yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye may not serve the Hebrews as they have served us, but be ye men and fight with them. 10 And they fought with them; and the men of Israel fall, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; and there fell of Israel thirty thousand fighting men. 11 And the ark of God was taken, and both the sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, died. 12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the battle, and he came to Selom on that day: and his clothes [were] rent, and earth [was] upon his head. 13 And he came, and behold, Heli was upon the seat by the gate looking along the way, for his heart was greatly alarmed for the ark of God: and the man entered into the city to bring tidings; and the city cried out. 14 And Heli heard the sound of the cry, and said, What [is] the voice of this cry? and the man hasted and went in, and reported to Heli. 15 Now Heli [was] ninety years old, and his eyes were fixed, and he saw not. 16 And Heli said to them that stood round about him, What [is] the voice of this sound? And the man hasted and advanced to Heli, and said to him, I am he that is come out of the camp, and I have fled from the battle to-day: and Heli said, What [is] the event, [my] son? 17 And the young man answered and said, The men of Israel fled from the face of the Philistines, and there was a great slaughter among the people, and both thy sons are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18 And it came to pass, when he mentioned the ark of God, that he fell from the seat backward near the gate, and his back was broken, and he died, for [he was] an old man and heavy: and he judged Israel twenty years. 19 And his daughter-in-law the wife of Phinees [was] with child, [about] to bring forth; and she heard the tidings, that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead; and she wept and was delivered, for her pains came upon her. 20 And in her time she was at the point of death; and the women that stood by her, said to her, Fear not, for thou hast born a son: but she answered not, and her heart did not regard it. 21 And she called the child Uæbarchaboth, because of the ark of God, and because of her father-in-law, and because of her husband. 22 And they said, The glory of Israel is departed, forasmuch as the ark of the Lord is taken.

1 Samuel 5

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Abenezer to Azotus. 2 And the Philistines took the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And the people of Azotus rose early, and entered into the house of Dagon; and looked, and behold, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord: and they lifted up Dagon, and set him in his place. And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians, and he plagued them, and he smote them in their secret parts, Azotus and her coasts. 4 And it came to pass when they rose early in the morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off each before the threshold, and both the wrists of his hands had fallen on the floor of the porch; only the stump of Dagon was left. 5 Therefore the priests of Dagon, and every one that enters into the house of Dagon, do not tread upon the threshold of the house of Dagon in Azotus until this day, for they step over. 6 And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Azotus, and he brought evil upon them, and it burst out upon them into the ships, and mice sprang up in the midst of their country, and there was a great and indiscriminate mortality in the city. 7 And the men of Azotus saw that [it was] so, and they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand [is] heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god. 8 And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines to them, and say, What shall we do to the ark of the God of Israel? and the Gittites say, Let the ark of God come over to us; and the ark of the God of Israel came to Geth. 9 And it came to pass after it went about to Geth, that the hand of the Lord comes upon the city, a very great confusion; and he smote the men of the city small and great, and smote them in their secret parts: and the Gittites made to themselves images of emerods. 10 And they send away the ark of God to Ascalon; and it came to pass when the ark of God went into Ascalon, that the men of Ascalon cried out, saying, Why have ye brought back the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people? 11 And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it lodge in its place; and let it not slay us and our people. 12 For there was a very great confusion in all the city, when the ark of the God of Israel entered there; and those who lived and died not were smitten with emerods; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

Luke 14

1 When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3 Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they were silent. He took him, and healed him, and let him go. 5 He answered them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” 6 They couldn’t answer him regarding these things. 7 He spoke a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the best seats, and said to them, 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best seat, since perhaps someone more honorable than you might be invited by him, 9 and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, ‘Make room for this person.’ Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, don’t call your friends, nor your brothers, nor your kinsmen, nor rich neighbors, or perhaps they might also return the favor, and pay you back. 13 But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; 14 and you will be blessed, because they don’t have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.” 15 When one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is he who will feast in God’s Kingdom!” 16 But he said to him, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people. 17 He sent out his servant at supper time to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18 They all as one began to make excuses. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’ 20 “Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I can’t come.’ 21 “That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’ 22 “The servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and there is still room.’ 23 “The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you that none of those men who were invited will taste of my supper. For many are called, but few are chosen.’” 25 Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. 27 Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace. 33 So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. 34 “Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”