Bible in a Year.

On day 236, Jeremiah 16-17 instructs the people to live faithfully to God and trust in His righteousness. Ezekiel 45-46 details the regulations for the temple and offerings, emphasizing obedience and holiness. Proverbs 15:17-20 reminds us that wisdom leads to righteous living, contentment, and respect for the ways of the Lord.

Chapter 16

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

2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have thee sons and daughters in this place.

3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them: and concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land:

4. They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.

5. For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of feasting, neither go thou to mourn, nor to comfort them: because I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, my mercy and commiserations.

6. Both the great and the little shall die in the land: they shall not be buried nor lamented, and men shall not cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them.

7. And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort him for the dead: neither shall they give them to drink of the cup, to comfort them for their father and mother.

8. And do not thou go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, and to eat and drink.

9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will take away out of this place in your sight, and in your days the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

10. And when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we have sinned against the Lord our God?

11. Thou shalt say to them: Because your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord: and went after strange gods, and served them, and adored them: and they forsook me, and kept not my law.

12. And you also have done worse than your fathers: for behold every one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not to hearken to me.

13. So I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land which you know not, nor you fathers: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, which shall not give you any rest.

14. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, when it shall be said no more: The Lord liveth, that brought for the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt:

15. But, the Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the north, and out of all the lands to which I cast them out: and I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their fathers.

16. Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

17. For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, and their iniquity hath not been hid from my eyes.

18. And I will repay first their double iniquities, and their sins: because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.

19. O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge in the day of tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which hath not profited them.

20. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and there are no gods?

21. Therefore, behold I will this once cause them to know, I will shew them my hand and my power: and they shall know that my name is the Lord.

Chapter 17

1. The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of their altars.

2. When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves, and their green trees upon high mountains,

3. Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.

4. And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall burn for ever.

5. Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

6. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.

7. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence.

8. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit.

9. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it?

10. I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices.

11. As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not lay: so is he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be a fool.

12. A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctification:

13. O Lord the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.

14. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise.

15. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it come.

16. And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my lips, hath been right in thy sight.

17. Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of affliction.

18. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy them.

19. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Juda come in, and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem:

20. And thou shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and all Juda, and all the inhabitant of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates.

21. Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to your souls and carry no burdens on the Sabbath day: and bring them not in by the gates of Jerusalem.

22. And do not bring burdens out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

23. But they did not hear, nor incline their ear: but hardened their neck, that they might not hear me, and might not receive instruction.

24. And it shall come to pass: if you will hearken to me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burdens by the gates of this city on the sabbath day: and if you will sanctify the sabbath day, to do no work therein:

25. Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited forever.

26. And they shall come from the cities of Juda, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they shall bring in an offering into the house of the Lord.

27. But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath day, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day: I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

Chapter 45

1. And when you shall begin to divide the land by lot, separate ye firstfruits to the Lord, a portion of the land to be holy, in length twenty-five thousand and in breadth ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

2. And there shall be for the sanctuary on every side five hundred by five hundred, foursquare round about: and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about.

3. And with this measure thou shalt measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand, and in it shall be the temple and the holy of holies.

4. The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to the ministry of the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the sanctuary.

5. And five and twenty thousand of length, and ten thousand of breadth shall be for the Levites, that minister in the house: they shall possess twenty store chambers.

6. And you shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, according to the separation of the sanctuary, for the whole house of Israel.

7. For the prince also on the one side and on the other side, according to the separation of the sanctuary, and according to the possession of the city, over against the separation of the sanctuary, and over against the possession of the city: from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east; even to the east. And the length according to every part from the west border to the east border.

8. He shall have a portion of the lead in Israel: and the princes shall no more rob my people: but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes:

9. Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice, separate your confines from my people, saith the Lord God.

10. You shall have just balances, and a just ephi, and a just bate.

11. The ephi and the bate shall be equal, and of one measure: that the bate may contain the tenth part of a core, and the ephi the tenth part of a core: their weight shall be equal according to the measure of a core.

12. And the sicle hath twenty obols. Now twenty sides, and five and twenty sides, and fifteen sides make a mna.

13. And these are the firstfruits, which you shall take: the sixth part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the sixth part of an ephi of a core of barley.

14. The measure of oil also, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core.

15. And one ram out of a flock of two hundred, of those that Israel feedeth for sacrifice, and for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the Lord God.

16. All the people of the land shall be bound to these firstfruits for the prince in Israel.

17. And the prince shall give the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libations on the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings to make expiation for the house of Israel.

18. Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, the first of the month, thou shalt take a calf of the herd without blemish, and thou shalt expiate the sanctuary.

19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering : and he shall put it on the posts of the house, and on the four corners of the brim of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20. And so shalt thou do in the seventh day of the month, for every one that hath been ignorant, and hath been deceived by error, and thou shalt make expiation for the house.

21. In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the solemnity of the pasch: seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22. And the prince on that day shall offer for himself, and for all the people of the land, a calf for sin.

23. And in the solemnity of the seven days he shall offer for a holocaust to the Lord, seven calves, and seven rams without blemish daily for seven days: and for sin a he goat daily.

24. And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephi for every calf, and an ephi for every ram: and a hin of oil for every ephi.

25. In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the solemn feast, he shall do the like for the seven days: as well in regard to the sin offering, as to the holocaust, and. the sacrifice, and the

Chapter 46

1. Thus saith the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east, shall be shut the six days, on which work is done; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, yea and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate from without, and he shall stand at the threshold of the gate: and the priests shall offer his holocaust, and his peace offerings: and he shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and shall go out: but the gate shall not be shut till the evening.

3. And the people of the land shall adore at the door of that gate before the Lord on the sabbaths, and on the new moons.

4. And the holocaust that the prince shall offer to the Lord on the sabbath day, shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

5. And the sacrifice of an ephi for a ram: but for the lambs what sacrifice his hand shall allow: and a hin of oil for every ephi.

6. And on the day of the new moon a calf of the herd without blemish: and the six lambs, and the rams shall be without blemish.

7. And he shall offer in sacrifice an ephi for a calf, an ephi also for a ram: but for the lambs, as his hand shall find : and a hin of oil for every ephi.

8. And when the prince is to go in, let him go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and let him go out the same way.

9. But when the people of the land shall go in before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that goeth in by the north gate to adore, shall go out by the way of the south gate : and he that; goeth in by the way of the south gate, shall go out by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go out at that over against it.

10. And the prince in the midst of them, shall go in when they go in, and go out when they go out.

11. And in the fairs, and in the solemnities there shall be the sacrifice of an ephi to a calf, and an ephi to a ram: and to the lambs, the sacrifice shall be as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil to every ephi.

12. But when the prince shall offer a voluntary holocaust, or voluntary peace offerings to the Lord : the gate that looketh towards the east shall be opened to him, and he shall offer his holocaust, and his peace offerings, as it is wont to be done on the sabbath day: and he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he is gone forth.

13. And he shall offer every day for a holocaust to the Lord, a lamb of the same year without blemish: he shall offer it always in the morning.

14. And he shall offer the sacrifice for it morning by morning, the sixth part of ephi: and the third part of a bin of oil be mingled with the fine hour: a to the Lord by ordinance continual and everlasting.

15. He shall offer the lamb, and the sacrifice, and the oil morning by morning: an everlasting holocaust.

16. Thus saith the Lord God: If the prince give a gift to any of his sons: the inheritance of it shall go to his children, they shall possess it by inheritance.

17. But if he give a legacy out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of release, and it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall go to his sons.

18. And the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by violence, nor of their possession : but out of his own possession he shall give an inheritance to his sons: that my people be not dispersed every man from his possession.

19. And he brought me in by the entry that was at the side of the gate, into the chambers of the sanctuary that were for the priests, which looked toward the north. And there was a place bending to the west.

20. And he said to me: This is the place where the priests shall boil the sin offering, and the trespass offering: where they shall dress the sacrifice, that they may not bring it out into the outward court, and the people be sanctified.

21. And he brought me into the outward court, and he led me about by the four corners of the court: and behold there was a little court in the corner of the court, to every corner of the court there was a little court.

22. In the four corners of the court were little courts disposed, forty cubits long, and thirty broad, all the four were of one measure.

23. And there was a wall round about compassing the four little courts, and there were kitchens built under the rows round about.

24. And he said to me: This is the house of the kitchens wherein the ministers of the house of the Lord shall boil the victims of the people.

17. It is better to be invited to herbs with love, than to a fatted calf with hatred.

18. A passionate man stirreth up strifes: he that is patient appeaseth those that are stirred up.

19. The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns; the way of the just is without offence.

20. A wise son maketh a father joyful: but the foolish man despiseth his mother.