Thursday, April 22, 2021

Ecclesiastes 1

Translation: ESV

All Is Vanity

Patreon image donor: Fr. Dimitri Cozby
April 13 2023

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Patreon image donor: Robert Lindsay
Date: April 22 2021
Inktober prompt: Fancy

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

SubscribeStar image donor: Patrick Lee
Date: January 23 2024

3 What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been already
    in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
    among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
    and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
    and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

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Friday, April 16, 2021

2 Corinthians 7

Translation: ESV

Patreon image donor: Ivanhoe
Date: April 16
Pictured: St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain

1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Paul's Joy

2 Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. 13 Therefore we are comforted.

And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. 15 And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021

2 Maccabees 1

Translation: ESV

A Letter to the Jews in Egypt

Patreon image donor: C. E.
Date: April 2 2021


1 From the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea to those in Egypt, warm greetings.

2 May God be good to you and keep the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants. 3 May he fill each of you with the desire to worship him and to do his will eagerly with all your heart and soul. 4 May he enable you to understand his Law and his commands. May he give you peace, 5 answer your prayers, forgive your sins, and never abandon you in times of trouble. 6 Here in Judah we are now praying for you.

Patreon image donor: C. E.
Date: May 29 2021

7 In the year 169, when Demetrius the Second was king of Syria, we wrote to tell you about the persecution and the hard times that came upon us in the years after Jason revolted against authority in the Holy Land. 8 Jason and his men set fire to the Temple gates and slaughtered innocent people.

Patreon image donor: C. E.
Date: March 17 2023

Then we prayed to the Lord and he answered our prayers. So we sacrificed animals, gave offerings of grain, lit the lamps in the Temple, and set out the sacred loaves.

Patreon image donor: C. E.
Date: November 15 2023

9 This is why we urge you to celebrate in the month of Kislev a festival similar to the Festival of Shelters.

Written in the year 188.

A LETTER TO ARISTOBULUS
The Death of King Antiochus

10 From the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea, the Jewish Senate, and Judas, to Aristobulus, a descendant of priests and the teacher of King Ptolemy, and to the Jews in Egypt, greetings and good health.

11 We thank God because he saved us from great danger. We were like men ready to fight against a king, 12 but God drove the enemy from our holy city. 13 When King Antiochus arrived in Persia, his army seemed impossible to defeat, but they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea by an act of treachery on the part of her priests. 14 King Antiochus had gone to the temple with some of his most trusted advisers, so that he might marry the goddess and then take away most of the temple treasures as a wedding gift. 15 After the priests had laid out the treasure, he and a few of his men went into the temple to collect it. But the priests closed the doors behind him 16 and stoned him and his men from trap doors hidden in the ceiling. Then they cut up the bodies and threw the heads to the people outside. 17 Praise God for punishing those evil men! Praise him for everything!

Fire Consumes Nehemiah's Sacrifice
18 On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev we will celebrate the Festival of Rededication just as we celebrate the Festival of Shelters. We thought it important to remind you of this, so that you too may celebrate this festival. In this way you will remember how fire appeared when Nehemiah offered sacrifices after he had rebuilt the Temple and the altar. 19 At the time when our ancestors were being taken to exile in Persia, a few devout priests took some fire from the altar and secretly hid it in the bottom of a dry cistern. They hid the fire so well that no one ever discovered it. 20 Years later, when it pleased God, the Persian emperor sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem, and Nehemiah told the descendants of those priests to find the fire. They reported to us that they had found no fire but only some oily liquid. Nehemiah then told them to scoop some up and bring it to him. 21 When everything for the sacrifice had been placed on the altar, he told the priests to pour the liquid over both the wood and the sacrifice. 22 After this was done and some time had passed, the sun appeared from behind the clouds, and suddenly everything on the altar burst into flames. Everyone looked on in amazement. 23 Then, while the fire was consuming the sacrifice, Jonathan the High Priest led the people in prayer, and Nehemiah and all the people responded.

Nehemiah's Prayer
24 Nehemiah's prayer went something like this:
    Lord God, Creator of all things, you are awesome and strong, yet merciful and just. You alone are king. No one but you is kind; 25 no one but you is gracious and just. You are almighty and eternal, forever ready to rescue Israel from trouble. You chose our ancestors to be your own special people. 26 Accept this sacrifice which we offer on behalf of all Israel; protect your chosen people and make us holy. 27 Free those who are slaves in foreign lands and gather together our scattered people. Have mercy on our people, who are mistreated and despised, so that all other nations will know that you are our God. 28 Punish the brutal and arrogant people who have oppressed us, 29 and then establish your people in your holy land, as Moses said you would.

The Persian Emperor Hears about the Fire
30 Then the priests sang hymns.

Patreon image donor: C. E.
Date: April 12 2023

31 After the sacrifices had been consumed, Nehemiah gave orders for the rest of the liquid to be poured over some large stones. 32 Immediately a fire blazed up, but it was extinguished by a flame from the fire on the altar.

33 News of what had happened spread everywhere. The Persian emperor heard that a liquid had been found in the place where the priests had hidden the altar fire, just before they were taken into exile. He also heard that Nehemiah and his friends had used this liquid to burn the sacrifice on the altar. 34 When the emperor investigated the matter and found out that this was true, he had the area fenced off and made into a shrine. 35 It became a substantial source of income for him, and he used the money for gifts to anyone who was in his good favor. 36 Nehemiah and his friends called the liquid nephthar which means purification, but most people call it naphtha.

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