celebrating birthdays

²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us exult and rejoice in it.

⁵For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind. ⁶He who understands the age, understands for the Lord. And he who eats, eats for the Lord; for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

⁴And his sons went and made a feast by houses, each one on his day. And sending, they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

¹Why is it necessary for a man to seek things that are greater than himself, when he does not know what is advantageous for himself in his life, during the number of the days of his sojourn, and while time passes by like a shadow? Or who will be able to tell him what will be in the future after him under the sun?

²⁰The third day thereafter was the birthday of Pharaoh. And making a great feast for his servants, he remembered, during the banquet, the chief cupbearer and the chief miller of grain. ²¹And he restored the one to his place, to present him the cup; ²²the other he hanged on a gallows, and thus the truth of the interpreter of dreams was proven.

¹⁶Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths.

¹¹And entering the home, they found the boy with his mother Mary. And so, falling prostrate, they adored him. And opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹¹For by me, your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you.

⁸A false accusation troubles the wise man and saps the strength of his heart.

⁶Then, on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced in their midst, and it pleased Herod.

⁵For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind.

²¹And when an opportune time had arrived, Herod held a feast on his birthday, with the leaders, and the tribunes, and the first rulers of Galilee.

³You shall not act according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you have lived; nor shall you behave according to the habit of the region of Canaan, into which I will lead you; neither shall you walk in their ordinances.

¹²be numbered? So make known your right hand, along with men learned in heart, in wisdom.

²⁰The third day thereafter was the birthday of Pharaoh. And making a great feast for his servants, he remembered, during the banquet, the chief cupbearer and the chief miller of grain.

¹⁵Consider what I have set forth in your sight this day, life and good, or, on the opposite side, death and evil, ¹⁶so that you may love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and so that you may live, and he may multiply you and bless you in the land, which you shall enter in order to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart will have been turned aside, so that you are not willing to listen, and, having been deceived by error, you adore strange gods and serve them, ¹⁸then I predict to you this day that you will perish, and you will remain for only a short time in the land, for which you shall cross the Jordan, and which you shall enter in order to possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth as witnesses this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your offspring may live, ²⁰and so that you may love the Lord your God, and obey his voice, and cling to him, (for he is your life and the length of your days) and so that you may live in the land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them.”

²⁴‘May the Lord bless you and keep you. ²⁵May the Lord reveal his face to you and take pity on you. ²⁶May the Lord turn his countenance toward you and grant peace to you.’

¹There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and he was a simple and honest man, fearing God and withdrawing from evil. ²And there had been born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, along with five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred she-donkeys, and also a very large family. And this man was great among all the people of the east. ⁴And his sons went and made a feast by houses, each one on his day. And sending, they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵And when the days of their feasting had been completed, Job sent to them and sanctified them, and, getting up at dawn, he offered holocausts for each one. For he said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and have not praised God in their hearts.” So Job did all the days. ⁶But on a certain day, when the sons of God came to attend in the presence of the Lord, Satan also arrived among them.

³I give thanks to my God, with every remembrance of you,