Bible in a Year.

On day 245, Jeremiah 31 celebrates God's hope and promise to restore Israel, offering words of comfort and covenant. Daniel 14 recounts Daniel's faithfulness and courage in the face of trials, demonstrating divine protection. Proverbs 16:21-24 reinforces the importance of intelligence, good discernment, and wise speech, guiding us in daily decisions.

1. At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of and they shall be my people.

2. Thus saith the Lord: The people were left and escaped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall to his rest.

3. The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee with everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.

4. And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, 0 virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5. Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the time.

6. For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.

7. For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob, and neigh before the head of the Gentiles: shout ye, and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel.

8. Behold I will bring them from the north country, and will gather them from the ends of the earth: and among them shall be the blind, and the lame, the woman with child, and she that is bringing forth, together, a great company of them returning hither.

9. They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy: and I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and they shall not stumble in it: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.

11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him out of the hand of one that was mightier than he.

12. And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn, and wine, and oil, and the increase of cattle and herds, and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall be hungry no more.

13. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them joyful after their sorrow.

14. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.

15. Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.

16. Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy eyes from tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall return out of the land of the enemy.

17. And here is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the children shall return to their own borders.

18. Hearing I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity: thou hast chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord my God.

19. For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth.

20. Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him. Therefore are my bowels troubled for him: pitying I will pity him, saith the Lord.

21. Set thee up a watchtower, make to thee bitterness: direct thy heart into the right way, wherein thou hast walked: return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.

22. How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN.

23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall they say this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain.

24. And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the husbandmen and they that drive the docks.

25. For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every hungry soul.

26. Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.

27. Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed of beasts.

28. And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.

29. In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.

30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31. Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:

33. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord.

33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

35. Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name.

36. If these ordinances shall fail before me, saith the Lord: then also the seed of Israel shall fail, so as not to be a nation before me for ever.

37. Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast away all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.

38. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the corner.

39. And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon the hill Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha,

40. And the whole valley of dead bodies and of ashes, and all the country of death, even to the torrent Cedron, and the corner of the horse gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever.

1. And Daniel was the king's guest, and was honoured above all his friends.

2. Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine.

3. The king also worshipped him, and went every day to adore him: but Daniel adored his God. And the king said to him: Why dost thou not adore Bel?

4. And he answered, and said to him: Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and hath power over all flesh.

5. And the king said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?

6. Then Daniel smiled and said: O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time.

7. And the king being angry called for his priests, and said to them: If you tell me not, who it is that eateth up these expenses, you shall die.

8. But if you can shew that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel. And Daniel said to the king: Be it done according to thy word.

9. Now the priests of Bel were seventy, besides their wives, and little ones, and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel.

10. And the priests of Bel said: Behold we go out: and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring:

11. And when thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel that hath lied against us.

12. And they little regarded it, because they had made under the table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and consumed those things.

13. So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the king: and going forth they shut the door, and having sealed it with the king's ring, they departed.

14. But the priests went in by night, according to their custom, with their wives and their children: and they ate and drank up all.

15. And the king arose early in the morning, and Daniel with him.

16. And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? And he answered: They are whole, O king.

17. And as soon as he had opened the door, the king looked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice: Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee.

18. And Daniel laughed: and he held the king that he should not go in: and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are.

19. And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and children. And the king was angry.

20. Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their children: and they shewed him the private doors by which they came in, and consumed the things that were on the table.

21. The king therefore put them to death, and delivered Bel into the power of Daniel: who destroyed him, and his temple.

22. And there was a great dragon in that place, and the Babylonians worshipped him.

23. And the king said to Daniel: Behold thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him therefore.

24. And Daniel said: I adore the Lord my God: for he is the living God: but that is no living god.

25. But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club. And the king said: I give thee leave.

26. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon's mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshipped.

27. And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took great indignation: and being gathered together against the king, they said: The king is become a Jew. He hath destroyed Bel, he hath killed the dragon, and he hath put the priests to death.

28. And they came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house.

29. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently: and being constrained by necessity he delivered Daniel to them.

30. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days.

31. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, that they might devour Daniel.

32. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers.

33. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lions' den.

34. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den.

35. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon over the den in the force of his spirit.

36. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee.

37. And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee.

38. And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place.

39. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions.

40. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions' den.

41. But those that bad been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him.

42. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den.

21. The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and he that is sweet in words shall attain to greater things.

22. Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it: the instruction of fools is foolishness.

23. The heart of the wise shall instruct his mouth: and shall add grace to his lips.

24. Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.