Mark 3

 Translation: ESV

A Man with a Withered Hand

3 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 

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Date: June 30 2021

11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

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28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,

29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

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Job 8

 Translation: ESV

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Date: January 26 2023

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

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Date: February 22 2024

2 “How long will you say these things,

    and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

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Date: February 23 2023

3 Does God pervert justice?

    Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

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Date: May 24 2024

4 If your children have sinned against him,

    he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

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Date: February 19 2025

5 If you will seek God

    and plead with the Almighty for mercy,

6 if you are pure and upright,

    surely then he will rouse himself for you

    and restore your rightful habitation.

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Date: January 2 2024

7 And though your beginning was small,

    your latter days will be very great.

8 “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,

    and consider what the fathers have searched out.

9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,

    for our days on earth are a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you

    and utter words out of their understanding?

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11 “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

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Date: November 27 2024

12 While yet in flower and not cut down,

    they wither before any other plant.

13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;

    the hope of the godless shall perish.

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Date: June 10 2026
The Magnus Archives Episode 16: Arachnophobia

14 His confidence is severed,

    and his trust is a spider's web.

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15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand;

    he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

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Date: June 18 2023

16 He is a lush plant before the sun,

     and his shoots spread over his garden.

17 His roots entwine the stone heap;

    he looks upon a house of stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place,

    then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,

    and out of the soil others will spring.

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Date: April 21 2023
Job 8

20 “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,

    nor take the hand of evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

    and your lips with shouting.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

    and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

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Ecclesiastes 1

Translation: ESV

All Is Vanity

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April 13 2023

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

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Date: April 22 2021
Inktober prompt: Fancy

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

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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.

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Date: July 18 2024

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

    and hastens to the place where it rises.

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Date: October 7 2024

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.

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Date: November 27 2024

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.

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Date: October 3 2024
Inktober prompt: Discovery

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.

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Date: October 9 2024
Inktober prompt: Exotic

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.

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18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,

    and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

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2 Corinthians 7

Translation: ESV

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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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2 Maccabees 1

Translation: ESV

A Letter to the Jews in Egypt

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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