Job 3:1-26
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Job said: "Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man-child is conceived.' Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night-- let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning-- because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide trouble from my eyes. "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters. "Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."
Acts 9:10-19
Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
John 6:41-51
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Morning Psalms
Psalm 137 Super flumina
1 By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion.
2 As for our harps, we hung them up on the trees in the midst of that land.
3 For those who led us away captive asked us for a song, and our oppressors called for mirth: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."
4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song upon an alien soil?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7 Remember the day of Jerusalem, O LORD, against the people of Edom, who said, "Down with it! down with it! even to the ground!"
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy the one who pays you back for what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall he be who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rock!
Psalm 144 Benedictus Dominus
1 Blessed be the LORD my rock! who trains my hands to fight and my fingers to battle;
2 My help and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust, who subdues the peoples under me.
3 O LORD, what are we that you should care for us? mere mortals that you should think of us?
4 We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.
5 Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Hurl the lightning and scatter them; shoot out your arrows and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the great waters, from the hand of foreign peoples,
8 Whose mouths speak deceitfully and whose right hand is raised in falsehood.
9 O God, I will sing to you a new song; I will play to you on a ten-stringed lyre.
10 You give victory to kings and have rescued David your servant.
11 Rescue me from the hurtful sword and deliver me from the hand of foreign peoples,
12 Whose mouths speak deceitfully and whose right hand is raised in falsehood.
13 May our sons be like plants well nurtured from their youth, and our daughters like sculptured corners of a palace.
14 May our barns be filled to overflowing with all manner of crops; may the flocks in our pastures increase by thousands and tens of thousands; may our cattle be fat and sleek.
15 May there be no breaching of the walls, no going into exile, no wailing in the public squares.
16 Happy are the people of whom this is so! happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
Evening Psalms
Psalm 104 Benedic, anima mea
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; O LORD my God, how excellent is your greatness! you are clothed with majesty and splendor.
2 You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak and spread out the heavens like a curtain.
3 You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above; you make the clouds your chariot; you ride on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers and flames of fire your servants.
5 You have set the earth upon its foundations, so that it never shall move at any time.
6 You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; the waters stood higher than the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
8 They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath, to the places you had appointed for them.
9 You set the limits that they should not pass; they shall not again cover the earth.
10 You send the springs into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.
11 All the beasts of the field drink their fill from them, and the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the air make their nests and sing among the branches.
13 You water the mountains from your dwelling on high; the earth is fully satisfied by the fruit of your works.
14 You make grass grow for flocks and herds and plants to serve mankind;
15 That they may bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden our hearts,
16 Oil to make a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen the heart.
17 The trees of the LORD are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,
18 In which the birds build their nests, and in whose tops the stork makes his dwelling.
19 The high hills are a refuge for the mountain goats, and the stony cliffs for the rock badgers.
20 You appointed the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows the time of its setting.
21 You make darkness that it may be night, in which all the beasts of the forest prowl.
22 The lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God.
23 The sun rises, and they slip away and lay themselves down in their dens.
24 Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening.
25 O LORD, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
26 Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, creatures both small and great.
27 There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it.
28 All of them look to you to give them their food in due season.
29 You give it to them; they gather it; you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
30 You hide your face, and they are terrified; you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.
31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth.
32 May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; may the LORD rejoice in all his works.
33 He looks at the earth and it trembles; he touches the mountains and they smoke.
34 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being.
35 May these words of mine please him; I will rejoice in the LORD.
36 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked be no more.
37 Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!
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