Bible in a Year.

On day 244, Jeremiah 30 announces Israel's future restoration and the Lord's promised comfort. Daniel 12-13 concludes the visions of the last days, reinforcing God's faithfulness and the reward for the righteous. Proverbs 16:17-20 encourages us to choose right paths and trust in God's providence in all our decisions.

1. This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee, in a book.

3. For behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Juda, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

4. And these are the words that the Lord hath spoken to Israel and to Juda:

5. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of terror : there is fear and no peace.

6. Ask ye, and see if a man bear children ? why then have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces are turned yellow?

7. Alas, for that day is great, neither is there the like to it; and it Is the time of tribulation to Jacob, but he shall be saved out of it.

8. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands: and strangers shall no more rule over him:

9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

10. Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from a country afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity: and Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and abound with all good things, and there shall be none whom he may fear:

11. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will utterly consume all the nations, among which I have scattered thee: but I will not utterly consume thee: but I will chastise thee in judgment, that thou mayst not seem to thyself innocent.

12. For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is very grievous.

13. There is none to judge thy judgment to bind it up : thou hast no healing medicines.

14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and will not seek after thee: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a cruel chastisement: by reason of the multitude of thy iniquities, thy sins are hardened.

15. Why criest thou for thy affliction? thy sorrow is incurable: for the multitude of thy iniquity, and for thy hardened sins I have done these things to thee.

16. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured: and all thy enemies shall be carried into captivity : and they that waste thee shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

17. For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because they have called thee, O Sion, an outcast: This is she that hath none to seek after her.

18. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I bring back the captivity of the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city shall be built in her place, and the temple shall be found according to the order thereof.

19. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be made few : and I will glorify them, and they shall not be lessened.

20. And their children shall be as from the beginning, and their assembly be permanent before me : and I will against all that afflict them.

21. And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall come forth from the midst of them : and I will bring him near, and he shall come to me: for who is this that setteth his heart to approach to me, saith the Lord?

22. And you shall be my people: and I will be your God.

23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked.

24. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he have executed and performed the thought o his heart: in the latter days you shall understand these things.

Chapter 12

1. But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.

3. But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity.

4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold.

5. And I Daniel looked, and behold as it were two others stood: one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side, on the other bank of the river.

6. And I said to the man that was clothed In linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7. And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn, by him that liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished.

8. And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my lord, what shall be after these things?

9. And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time.

10. Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand.

11. And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days,

12. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days.

13. But go thou thy ways until the time appointed: and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days.

Chapter 13

1. Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was Joakim:

2. And he took a wife whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God.

3. For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter according to the law of Moses.

4. Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house: and the Jews resorted to him, because he was the most honourable of them all.

5. And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges that year, of whom the Lord said: Iniquity came out from Babylon from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people.

6. These men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that had any matters of judgment came to them.

7. And when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and walked in her husband's orchard.

8. And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking: and they were inflamed with lust towards her:

9. And they perverted their own mind and turned away their eyes that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments.

10. So they were both wounded with the love of her, yet they did not make known their grief one to the other:

11. For they were ashamed to declare to one another their lust, being desirous to have to do with her.

12. And they watched carefully every day to see her. And one said to the other:

13. Let us now go home, for it is dinner time. So going out they departed one from another.

14. And turning back again, they came both to the same place: and asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust; and then they agreed upon a time, when they might find her alone.

15. And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was desirous to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot weather.

16. And there was nobody there, but the two old men that had hid themselves and were beholding her.

17. So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me.

18. And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within.

19. Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and ran to her, and said:

20. Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us, and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us.

21. But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids from thee.

22. Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not escape your hands.

23. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.

24. With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders also cried out against her.

25. And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it.

26. So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard, they rushed in by the back door to see what was the matter.

27. But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on the next day,

28. When the people were come to Joakim her husband, the two elders also came full of wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death.

29. And they said before the people: Send to Susanna daughter of Helcias the wife of Joakim. And presently they sent.

30. And she came with her parents, and children, and all her kindred.

31. Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold.

32. But those wicked men commanded that her face should be uncovered, (for she was covered,) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty.

33. Therefore her friends and all her acquaintance wept.

34. But the two elders rising up in the midst of the people, laid their hands upon her head.

35. And she weeping looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord.

36. And the elders said: As we walked in the orchard alone, this woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, and sent away the maids from her.

37. Then a young man that was there hid came to her, and lay with her.

38. But we that were in a corner of the orchard, seeing this wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together.

39. And him indeed we could not take, because he was stronger than us, and opening the doors be leaped out:

40. But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but she would not tell us: of this thing we are witnesses.

41. The multitude believed them as being the elders and the judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.

42. Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come to pass,

43. Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which these men have maliciously forged against me.

44. And the Lord heard her voice.

45. And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel.

46. And he cried out with a loud voice I am clear from the blood of this woman.

47. Then all the people turning themselves towards him, said: What meaneth this word that thou hast spoken?

48. But he standing in the midst of them, said: Are ye so foolish, ye children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel?

49. Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against her.

50. So all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said to him: Come, and sit thou down among us, and shew it as: seeing God hath given thee the honour of old age.

51. And Daniel said to the people: Separate these two far from one another, and I will examine them.

52. So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now are thy sins come out, which thou hast committed before:

53. In judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and letting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith: I The innocent and the just thou shalt not kill.

54. Now then, if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest them conversing together. He said: Under a mastic tree.

55. And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut thee in two.

56. And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should come, and he said to him: O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust hath perverted thy heart:

57. Thus did you do to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear conversed with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your wickedness.

58. Now therefore tell me, under what tree didst thou take them conversing together., And he answered: Under a holm tree.

59. And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thy own head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in two, and to destroy you.

60. With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him.

61. And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had convicted them of false witness by their own mouth,) and they did to them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour,

62. To fulfil the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and innocent blood was saved in that day.

63. But Helcias and his wife praised God, for their daughter Susanna, with Joakim her husband, and all her kindred, because there was no dishonesty found in her.

64. And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day, and thenceforward.

65. And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom.

17. The path of the just departeth from evils: he that keepeth his soul keepeth his way.

18. Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up before a fall.

19. It is better to be humbled with the meek, than to divide spoils with the proud.

20. The learned in word shall find good things: and he that trusteth in the Lord is blessed.