Song of Songs 7

Translation: ESV

1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

    O noble daughter!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

    the work of a master hand.

2 Your navel is a rounded bowl

    that never lacks mixed wine.

Your belly is a heap of wheat,

    encircled with lilies.

3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,

    twins of a gazelle.

4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,

    by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,

    which looks toward Damascus.

5 Your head crowns you like Carmel,

    and your flowing locks are like purple;

    a king is held captive in the tresses.

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6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,

    O loved one, with all your delights!

7 Your stature is like a palm tree,

    and your breasts are like its clusters.

8 I say I will climb the palm tree

    and lay hold of its fruit.

Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,

    and the scent of your breath like apples,

9 and your mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,

    gliding over lips and teeth.

10 I am my beloved's,

    and his desire is for me.

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11 Come, my beloved,

    let us go out into the fields

    and lodge in the villages;

12 let us go out early to the vineyards

    and see whether the vines have budded,

whether the grape blossoms have opened

    and the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,

    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,

new as well as old,

    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

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Proverbs 12

Translation: DRA

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Pictured: St. Ambrose of Milan

1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

    but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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Pictured: St. Andrew of Crete

2 A good man obtains favor from the Lord,

    but a man of evil devices he condemns.

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Pictured: St. David of Tessaloniki

3 No one is established by wickedness,

    but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

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4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,

    but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

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Pictured: Dr. Kermit Gosnell and St. Nectarios of Aegina

5 The thoughts of the righteous are just;

    the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

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Pictured: St. Edward the King and Martyr

6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,

    but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

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Pictured: St. Seraphim of Sarov

7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more,

    but the house of the righteous will stand.

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Pictured: St. Celestine I (right)

8 A man is commended according to his good sense,

    but one of twisted mind is despised.

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9 Better to be lowly and have a servant

    than to play the great man and lack bread.

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Pictured: St. Giles

10 Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast,

    but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

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11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,

    but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

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12 Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers,

    but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

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13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips,

    but the righteous escapes from trouble.

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Pictured: Fr. Dimitri Cozby of Blessed Memory

14 From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good,

    and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

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15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

    but a wise man listens to advice.

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Pictured: St. Zoticus the Protector of Orphans and Emperor Constantius I

16 The vexation of a fool is known at once,

    but the prudent ignores an insult.

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Inktober prompt: Lunar

17 Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,

    but a false witness utters deceit.

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18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,

    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

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Pictured: St. Gregory Palamas (center), Barlaam of Calabria (left), Gregory Akindynos (right)

19 Truthful lips endure forever,

    but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

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Inktober prompt: Shell

20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

    but those who plan peace have joy.

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Pictured: The Penitent and the Impenitent Thieves

21 No ill befalls the righteous,

    but the wicked are filled with trouble.

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Inktober prompt: Half

22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

    but those who act faithfully are his delight.

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23 A prudent man conceals knowledge,

    but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

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Pictured: St. Joseph the Hesychast

24 The hand of the diligent will rule,

    while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

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25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,

    but a good word makes him glad.

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Pictured: Blaine 

26 One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor,

    but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

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27 Whoever is slothful will not roast his game,

    but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

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In honor of the Sri Lankan New Martyrs

28 In the path of righteousness is life,

    and in its pathway there is no death.

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Job 1

Translation: DRA

1 There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil.

2 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

3 And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east.

4 And his sons went, and made a feast by houses every one in his day. And sending they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to them, and sanctified them: and rising up early offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have blessed God in their hearts. So did Job all days.

6 Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them.

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Inktober prompt: Roam

7 And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it.

8 And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?

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Inktober prompt: Demon

9 And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain?

10 Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth?

11 But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face.

12 Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

13 Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,

14 There came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them,

15 And the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.

16 And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: The fire of God fell from heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.

17 And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.

18 He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother:

19 A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to fell thee.

20 Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped,

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21 And said: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.

22 In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.

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Genesis 3

Translation: DRA

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Date: December 11 2021

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

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2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:

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3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

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4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. 5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

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6 And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: 

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and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.

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7 And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.

8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?

10 And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

11 And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

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12 And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

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14 And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

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16 To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

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17 And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.

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18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.

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19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: 

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Inktober prompt: Decay

for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

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Date: November 14 2022

20 And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.

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21 And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them.

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22 And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

 

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23 And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.

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24 And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

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