Bible in a Year.

On day 214, we are reminded of God's faithfulness and the importance of integrity. Isaiah 49-50 presents the hope of restoration and the strength of the Lord's servant. Ezekiel 10-11 describes God's glory leaving the temple, warning of the need for repentance. Proverbs 12:17-20 teaches us about the power of words, truth, and prudence in communication.

Chapter 49

1. Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name.

2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me.

3. And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I glory.

4. And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.

5. And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.

6. And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.

7. Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see, end princes shall rise up, and adore for the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.

8. Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:

9. That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.

10. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.

11. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted.

12. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country.

13. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.

14. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.

15. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.

16. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes.

17. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.

18. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these se with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee.

19. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, end they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.

20. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.

21. And thou shalt-say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they?

22. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders.

23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.

24. Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was taken by the mighty be delivered?

25. For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save.

26. And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.

Chapter 50

1. Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.

2. Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.

3. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering.

4. The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.

5. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back.

6. I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.

7. The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.

8. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.

9. Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

10. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.

11. Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with dames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the dames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.

Chapter 10

1. And saw and behold in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubims, there appeared over them as it were the sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

2. And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said: Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubims and fill thy hand with the coals of fire that are between the cherubims, and pour them out upon the city. And he went in, in my sight:

3. And the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

4. And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from above the cherub to the threshold of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.

5. And the sound of the wings of the cherubims was heard even to the out- ward court as the voice of God Almighty speaking.

6. And when he had commanded the man that was clothed with linen, saying: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the cherubims: he went in and stood beside the wheel,

7. And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims: and he took, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it and went forth.

8. And there appeared in the cherubims the likeness of a man's hand under their wings.

9. And I saw, and behold there were four wheels by the cherubims: one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by an- other cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was to the sight like the chrysolite stone:

10. And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

11. And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not when they went: but to the place whither they first turned, the rest also followed, and did not turn back.

12. And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and their wings, and the circles were full of eyes, round about the four wheels.

13. And these wheels he called voluble, in my hearing.

14. And every one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub, and the second face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face of a lion: and in the fourth the face of an eagle.

15. And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature that I had seen by the river Chobar.

16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels also went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings, to mount up from the earth, the wheels stayed not behind, but were by them.

17. When they stood, these stood: and when they were lifted up, these were lifted up: for the spirit of life was in them.

18. And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the temple: and stood over the cherubims.

19. And the cherubims lifting up their wings, were raised from the earth before me: and as they went out, the wheels also followed: and it stood in the entry of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

20. This is the living creature, which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chobar: and I understood that they were cherubims.

21. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the likeness of a man's hand was under their wings.

22. And as to the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the impulse of every one to go straight forward.

Chapter 11

1. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias, princes of the people.

2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

3. Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh.

4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know the thoughts of your heart.

6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, and this is the caldron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.

8. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, saith the Lord God.

9. And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you.

10. You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

11. This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.

12. And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have done according to the judgments of the nations that; are round about you.

13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the remnant of Israel?

14. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.

16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries whither they are come.

17. Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18. And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.

19. And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

20. That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

21. But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.

22. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

24. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision which I had seen was taken up from me.

25. And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord, which he had shewn me.

17. He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice: but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness.

18. There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with a sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health.

19. The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever: but he that is a hasty witness, frameth a lying tongue.

20. Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things: but joy followeth them that take counsels of peace.