Job 29
The Glories of the Past
1 Job continued further and said in his speech:†
2 “Who may put me in months past, As in the days when God protected me—
3 As when His lamp shone upon my head, And by His light I walked in the darkness;
4 As when I steadfastly pursued my ways, When God’s visitation was over my house;
5 As when I lived in abundance, And my children were around me;
6 As when my roads spread out with butter, And the mountains flowed with milk for me;
7 “As when I went early in the city, And took my seat in the open square;
8 The young men saw me and hid, And all the old men stood up.
9 The great men refrained from talking And put their finger to their mouth.
10 Those who heard me blessed me, And their tongue stuck to their throat.
11 The ear heard and blessed me, And the eye saw me and turned aside.
12 For I saved the poor from the hand of the oppressor And helped the orphan who had no helper.
13 The blessing of the perishing man came upon me, And the widow’s mouth blessed me.
14 I put on righteousness And clothed myself with judgment like a robe.†
15 I was the eye of the blind and the foot of the lame.
16 I was the father of the weak, And I searched out the cause I did not know.†
17 I broke the molars of the wrongdoers And plucked the spoil from the midst of their teeth.†
18 “Then I said, ‘My age shall continue as the stem of a palm tree, And I shall live a long while.’
19 My root was spread out to the waters, And the dew would settle on my harvest.†
20 My glory was fresh within me, And my bow prospered in its hand.†
21 “Men heard and listened to me And kept silence for my counsel.
22 At my word they did not speak again, And they were very glad when I spoke to them.
23 They waited for my speech As the thirsty earth for the rain.
24 If I laughed at them, they did not believe it, And the light of my countenance did not fail.
25 I chose the way for them and sat as a ruler; And I dwelt as a king in the army, As one who comforts mourners.
Psalms 113
1 Alleluia. †In the exodus of Israel from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a foreign people,
2 Judah became His sanctuary, And Israel His authority.
3 The sea saw them and fled, The Jordan turned back;
4 The mountains skipped like rams, The hills like flocks of lambs.
5 What is it to you, O sea, that you fled, And to you, O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 What is it to you, O mountains, that you skipped like rams, And you, O hills, like flocks of lambs?
7 The earth shook because of the Lord’s face, Because of the face of Jacob’s God,
8 When He turned the rock into pools of waters And flinty ground into fountains of waters.
9 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory, For Your mercy and Your truth,
10 Lest the nations say, “Where is their God?”
11 Our God is in heaven above; And both in heaven and on earth, All things whatsoever He wills, He does.
Proverbs of Solomon 24
24 Let no lie be spoken from your tongue to the king, And let no lie come from his tongue.
25 The tongue of the king is a sword and not of flesh, And whoever it delivers, it will annihilate;
26 For if his anger is sharpened, It destroys men with its sinews.
27 And it devours the bones of men, And it burns like a flame, So as to be inedible for the nestlings of eagles.
John 6
Feeding of the Five Thousand
1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.†
2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.†
3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”†
6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”
13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”†
Walking on Rough Seas
15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,†
17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.
19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.
20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.