Bible in a Year.

On day 242, Jeremiah continues his warnings, calling the people to repentance and submission to God's will. Daniel 8-9 reveals prophetic visions about Israel's future and God's plan for redemption. Proverbs 16:9-12 teaches about the path of the righteous, the importance of God-guided planning, and justice in our daily actions.

Chapter 26

1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying:

2. Thus saith the Lord: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore in the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to to speak unto them: leave not out one word.

3. If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them for the wickedness of their doings.

4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given to you:

5. To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened:

6. I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

7. And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

8. And when Jeremias made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put to death.

9. Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This house shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremias in the house of the Lord.

10. And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from the king's house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord.

11. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to all the people, saying: The judgement of death is for this man: because he hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

12. Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people, saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and concerning this city all the words you have heard.

13. Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent of the evil that he hath spoken against you.

14. But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is good and right in your eyes:

15. But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to speak all these words in your hearing.

16. Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to the prophets: There is no judgement of death for this man: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.

17. And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:

18. Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king of Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of woods.

19. Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death? did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the Lord repented of the evil that they had spoken against them? therefore we are doing a great evil against our souls.

20. There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias.

21. And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard these words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard it, and was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.

22. And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achobor, and men with him into Egypt.

23. And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

24. So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to death.

Chapter 27

1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, this word came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

2. Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands, and chains: and thou shalt put them on thy neck.

3. And thou shalt send them to the of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon: by the hand of the messengers that are come to Jerusalem to Sedecias the king of Juda.

4. And thou shalt command them to speak to their masters: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters:

5. I made the earth, and the men, and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power, and by my stretched out arm: and I have given it to whom it seemed good in my eyes.

6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon my servant: moreover also the beasts of the field I have given him to serve him.

7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son: till the time come for his land and himself: and many nations and great kings shall serve him.

8. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and whosoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon: I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, saith the Lord: till I consume them by his hand.

9. Therefore hearken not to your prophets, and diviners, and dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, that say to you: You shall not serve the king Babylon.

10. For they prophesy lies to you: to remove you far from your country, and east you out, and to make you perish.

11. But the nation that shall bend down their neck under the yoke of the king Babylon, and shall serve him: Will let them remain in their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in it.

12. And I spoke to Sedecias the king of Juda according to all these words, saying: Bend down your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and you shall live.

13. Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14. Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie.

15. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they prophesy in my name falsely: to drive you out, and that you may perish, both you, and the prophets that prophesy to you.

16. I spoke also to the priests, and to this people, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy to you, saying: Behold the vessels of the Lord shall now in a short time be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

17. Therefore hearken not to them, but serve the king of Babylon, that you may live. Why should this city be given up to desolation?

18. But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them: let them interpose themselves before the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.

19. For thus saith the Lord of hosts d to the pillars, and to the sea, and to the bases, and to the rest of the vessels that remain in this city:

20. Which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the great men of Juda and Jerusalem.

21. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Juda and Jerusalem:

22. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day of their visitation, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to be brought, and to be re- stored in this place.

Chapter 8

1. In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning,

2. Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai.

3. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. Afterward

4. I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great.

5. And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6. And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength.

7. And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8. And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.

9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength.

10. And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them.

11. And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary.

12. And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper.

13. And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another, I know not to whom that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot?

14. And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed.

15. And it came to pass when I Daniel saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man.

16. And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

17. And he came and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled.

18. And when he spoke to me I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright,

19. And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end.

20. The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians.

21. And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king.

22. But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it: four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength.

23. And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences.

24. And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints,

25. According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand.

26. And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days.

27. And I Daniel languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it.

Chapter 9

1. In the first year of Darius the son of Assuerus of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:

2. The first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.

3. And I set my face to the Lord my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

4. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

5. We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thv commandments, and thy judgments.

6. We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7. To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel to them that are near, and to them that are far off in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities by which they have sinned against thee.

8. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers that have sinned.

9. But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:

10. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

11. And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him.

12. And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem.

13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth.

14. And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord our God is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice.

15. And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity,

16. O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people are a reproach to all that are round about us.

17. Now therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy own sake.

18. Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies.

19. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken and do: delay not for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.

20. Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:

21. As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice.

22. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.

23. From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.

24. Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed.

25. Know thou therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times.

26. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation.

27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and ihe desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.

9. The heart of man disposeth his way: but the Lord must direct his steps.

10. Divination is in the lips of the king, his mouth shall not err in judgment.

11. Weight and balance are judgments of the Lord: and his work all the weights of the bag.

12. They that act wickedly are abominable to the king: for the throne is established by justice.