back to top
HomeYearly PlanBible in a Year - September - 20 | Day - 263

Bible in a Year – September – 20 | Day – 263

This is not the Readings at the Mass. For the Mass Readings, check the Mass Readings taken from the New Jerusalem Bible or the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible.
September – 20 | Day – 263
Old Testament: Tobit – 1-3 | Jonah – 2-3

1 Tobit was from the tribe and city of Naphtali (which is in the upper parts of Galilee above Asher, after the way, which leads to the west, that has on its left the city of Sephet).

2 Although he had been taken captive in the days of Shalmaneser, the king of the Assyrians, even in such a situation as captivity, he did not desert the way of truth.

3 So then, every day, all that he was able to obtain, he bestowed on his fellow captive brothers, who were from his kindred.

4 And, when he was among the youngest of any in the tribe of Naphtali, he showed not so much as any childish behavior in his work.

5 And then, when all went to the golden calves which Jeroboam, king of Israel, had made, he alone fled from the company of them all.

6 Yet he continued on to Jerusalem, to the temple of the Lord, and there he adored the Lord God of Israel, offering faithfully all his first-fruits and his tithes.

7 So then, in the third year, he administered all his tithes to new converts and to new arrivals.

8 These and similar such things, even as a boy, he observed according to the law of God.

9 Truly, when he had become a man, he received as wife Anna of his own tribe, and he conceived a son by her, to whom he assigned his own name.

10 From his infancy, he taught him to fear God and to abstain from all sin.

11 Therefore, when, during the captivity, he had arrived with his wife and son at the city of Nineveh, with all his tribe,

12 (even though they all ate from the foods of the Gentiles,) he guarded his soul and never was contaminated with their foods.

13 And because he was mindful of the Lord with his whole heart, God gave him favor in the sight of Shalmaneser the king.

14 And he gave him the power to go wherever he would want, having the freedom to do whatever he wished.

15 Therefore, he continued on to all who were in captivity, and he gave them helpful advice.

16 But when he had arrived at Rages, a city of the Medes, he had ten talents of silver, from that which he had been given in honor by the king.

17 And when, in the midst of the great tumult of his kindred, he saw the destitution of Gabael, who was from his tribe, he loaned him, under a written agreement, the aforementioned weight of silver.

18 In truth, after a long time, Shalmaneser the king died, while Sennacherib his son reigned in his place, and he held a hatred for the sons of Israel.

19 Every day, Tobit traveled though all his own people, and he consoled them, and he distributed to each one as much as he could from his resources.

20 He nourished the hungry, and he supplied clothes to the naked, and he showed concern for the burial of the dead and of the slain.

21 And then, when king Sennacherib had returned from Judea, fleeing the scourge which God had caused all around him because of his blasphemy, and, being angry, he was slaughtering many from the sons of Israel, Tobit buried their bodies.

22 And when it was reported to the king, he ordered him to be slain, and he took away all his belongings.

23 In truth, Tobit, fleeing with nothing but his son and his wife, was able to remain hidden because many loved him.

24 In truth, after forty-five days, the king was slain by his own sons,

25 and Tobit was able to return to his house, and all his resources were restored to him.

1 In truth, after this, when there was a feast day of the Lord, and a good dinner had been prepared in the house of Tobit,

2 he said to his son: “Go, and bring some others who fear God from our tribe to feast with us.”

3 And after he had gone, returning, he reported to him that one of the sons of Israel, with his throat cut, was lying in the street. And immediately, he leapt from his place reclining at table, left behind his dinner, and went forth with fasting to the body.

4 And taking it up, he carried it in secret to his house, so that, after the sun had set, he might bury him cautiously.

5 And after he had hidden the body, he chewed his bread with mourning and fear,

6 remembering the word that the Lord spoke through the prophet Amos: “Your feast days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning.”

7 Truly, when the sun had set, he went out, and he buried him.

8 Yet all his neighbors argued with him, saying: “Now, an order was given to execute you because of this matter, and you barely escaped a death sentence, and again you are burying the dead?”

9 But Tobit, fearing God more than the king, stole away the bodies of the slain and concealed them in his house, and in the middle of the night, he buried them.

10 But it happened one day, being tired from burying the dead, he came into his house, and he threw himself down next to the wall, and he slept.

11 And, as he was sleeping, warm droppings from a swallow’s nest fell upon his eyes, and he was made blind.

12 And so the Lord permitted this trial to befall him, in order that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, which is even like that of holy Job.

13 For, even from his infancy, he had always feared God and kept his commandments, so he was not discouraged before God because of the scourge of blindness that had befallen him.

14 But he remained immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to God all the days of his life.

15 For just as kings have mocked blessed Job, so also his relatives and acquaintances ridiculed his life, saying:

16 Where is your hope, on behalf of which you gave alms and buried the dead?

17 In truth, Tobit corrected them, saying: “Do not speak in this way,

18 for we are the sons of the holy ones, and we look forward to that life which God will give to those who never change in their faith before him.”

19 In truth, his wife Anna went out to weaving work daily, and she brought back the provisions that she was able to obtain by the labor of her hands.

20 Whereupon it happened that, having received a young goat, she brought it home.

21 When her husband heard the sound of its bleating, he said, “Look, so that it might not be stolen, return it to its owners, for it is not lawful for us either to eat, or to touch, anything stolen.”

22 At this, his wife, being angry, answered, “Clearly, your hope has become vanity, and the manner of your almsgiving has become apparent.”

23 And with these and other similar such words, she reproached him.

1 Then Tobit sighed, and he began to pray with tears,

2 saying, “O Lord, you are just and all your judgments are just, and all your ways are mercy, and truth, and judgment.

3 And now, O Lord, remember me, and do not take vengeance for my sins, and do not call to mind my offenses, nor those of my parents.

4 For we have not obeyed your precepts, and so we have been handed over to plundering and to captivity, and to death, and to mockery, and as a disgrace before all the nations, among which you have dispersed us.

5 And now, O Lord, great are your judgments. For we have not acted according to your precepts, and we have not walked sincerely before you.

6 And now, O Lord, do with me according to your will, and order my spirit to be received in peace. For it is more expedient for me to die, than to live.”

7 And so, on the same day, it happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Rages, a city of the Medes, also heard a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids.

8 For she had been given to seven husbands, and a demon named Asmodeus had killed them, as soon as they had approached her.

9 Therefore, when she corrected the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying, “May we never see son or daughter from you upon the earth, you murderess of your husbands.

10 Would you also kill me, just as you have already killed seven husbands?” At these words, she proceeded to an upper room of her house. And for three days and three nights, she did not eat or drink.

11 But, continuing in prayer with tears, she beseeched God, so that he would liberate her from this reproach.

12 And it happened on the third day, while she was completing her prayer, blessing the Lord,

13 that she said: “Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers, who, though you had been angry, will show mercy. And in time of tribulation, you dismiss the sins of those who call upon you.

14 To you, O Lord, I turn my face; to you, I direct my eyes.

15 I beg you, O Lord, that you may absolve me from the chains of this reproach, or at least take me away from the earth.

16 You know, O Lord, that I have never coveted a husband, and I have preserved my soul clean from all impure desire.

17 I have never mingled myself with those who play. And I have not presented myself as a participant with those who walk with levity.

18 But I consented to accept a husband, in your fear, not in my lust.

19 And, either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me. For perhaps you have preserved me for another husband.

20 For your counsel is not within the ability of man.

21 But all who worship you are certain of this: that one’s life, if it should be tested, shall be crowned, and if it should be in tribulation, shall be delivered, and if it should be corrected, shall be permitted to approach your mercy.

22 For you are not delighted with our perdition. For, after a storm, you create tranquility, and after tears and weeping, you pour out exultation.

23 May your name, O God of Israel, be blessed forever.”

24 At that time, the prayers of them both were heard in the sight of the glory of the most high God.

25 And the holy Angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to care for both of them, whose prayers were recited at the same time in the sight of the Lord.

&

1 And the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

2 And Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish.

3 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord from my tribulation, and he heeded me. From the belly of hell, I cried out, and you heeded my voice.

4 And you have thrown me into the deep, in the heart of the sea, and a flood has encircled me. All your whirlpools and your waves have passed over me.

5 And I said: I am expelled from the sight of your eyes. Yet, truly, I will see your holy temple again.

6 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The abyss has walled me in. The ocean has covered my head.

7 I descended to the base of the mountains. The bars of the earth have enclosed me forever. And you will raise up my life from corruption, Lord, my God.

8 When my soul was in anguish within me, I called to mind the Lord, so that my prayer might come to you, to your holy temple.

9 Those who in vain observe vanities, abandon their own mercy.

10 But I, with a voice of praise, will sacrifice to you. I will repay whatever I have vowed to the Lord, because of my salvation.”

11 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying:

2 Rise, and go to Nineveh, the great city. And preach in it the preaching that I say to you.

3 And Jonah rose, and he went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the Lord. And Nineveh was a great city of three days’ journey.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city one day’s journey. And he cried out and said, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

5 And the men of Nineveh believed in God. And they proclaimed a fast, and they put on sackcloth, from the greatest all the way to the least.

6 And word reached the king of Nineveh. And he rose from his throne, and he threw off his robe from himself and was clothed in sackcloth, and he sat in ashes.

7 And he cried out and spoke: “In Nineveh, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, let it be said: Men and beasts and oxen and sheep may not taste anything. Neither shall they feed or drink water.

8 And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry out to the Lord with strength, and may man be converted from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.

9 Who knows if God may turn and forgive, and may turn away from his furious wrath, so that we might not perish?”

10 And God saw their works, that they had been converted from their evil way. And God took pity on them, concerning the harm that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Psalms: Psalms – 107:1-7

1 Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let them say so that have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: and gathered out of the countries.

3 From the rising and the setting of the sun, from the north and from the sea.

4 They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they found not the way of a city for their habitation.

5 They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them.

6 And they cried to the Lord in their tribulation: and he delivered them out of their distresses.

7 And he led them into the right way: that they might go to a city of habitation.

New Testament: Second Corinthians – 4

1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, and in as much as we have obtained mercy for ourselves, we are not inadequate.

2 For we renounce dishonorable and hidden acts, not walking by craftiness, nor by adulterating the Word of God. Instead, by the manifestation of truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of each man before God.

3 But if our Gospel is in some way hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing.

4 As for them, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, would not shine in them.

5 For we are not preaching about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ our Lord. We are merely your servants through Jesus.

6 For God, who told the light to shine out of darkness, has shined a light into our hearts, to illuminate the knowledge of the splendor of God, in the person of Christ Jesus.

7 But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, so that what is sublime may be of the power of God, and not of us.

8 In all things, we endure tribulation, yet we are not in anguish. We are constrained, yet we are not destitute.

9 We suffer persecution, yet we have not been abandoned. We are thrown down, yet we do not perish.

10 We ever carry around the mortification of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

11 For we who live are ever handed over unto death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

12 Therefore, death is at work in us, and life is at work in you.

13 But we have the same Spirit of faith. And just as it is written, “I believed, and for that reason I spoke,” so we also believe, and for that reason, we also speak.

14 For we know that the One who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and will place us with you.

15 Thus, all is for you, so that grace, abounding through many in thanksgiving, may abound to the glory of God.

16 For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day.

17 For though our tribulation is, at the present time, brief and light, it accomplishes in us the weight of a sublime eternal glory, beyond measure.

18 And we are contemplating, not the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, whereas the things that are not seen are eternal.

Simplest Bible in a Year plan compiled using the “Catholic Public Domain Version Bible“. This is not the Readings at the Mass. For the Mass Readings, check the Mass Readings taken from the New Jerusalem Bible or the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible.
Pradeep Augustine
Pradeep Augustinehttps://www.catholicgallery.org/
Pradeep Augustine is the founder of Catholic Gallery. He is a passionate Writer, An Artist, a computer geek and a part-time Blogger who loves to write a lot of contents on Catholicism in his free time. He is the founder of the Technical Blog www.GetCoolTricks.com, where he shares a lot of technical Contents. Stay connected with him on his social profiles.

Share your thoughts

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
Required
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Access Catholic Videos
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to access Mass Readings and Prayers as videos.
No Thanks