Job 9:1-1, 10:1-22
Then Job answered: "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see? Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand? Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me. Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. If I sin, you watch me, and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. "Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness."
Acts 11:1-18
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."
John 8:12-20
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." Then the Pharisees said to him, "You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid." Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf." Then they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Morning Psalms
Psalm 20 Exaudiat te Dominus
1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble, the Name of the God of Jacob defend you;
2 Send you help from his holy place and strengthen you out of Zion;
3 Remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice;
4 Grant you your heart's desire and prosper all your plans.
5 We will shout for joy at your victory and triumph in the Name of our God; may the LORD grant all your requests.
6 Now I know that the LORD gives victory to his anointed; he will answer him out of his holy heaven, with the victorious strength of his right hand.
7 Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call upon the Name of the LORD our God.
8 They collapse and fall down, but we will arise and stand upright.
9 O LORD, give victory to the king and answer us when we call.
Psalm 21 Domine, in virtute tua
1 The king rejoices in your strength, O LORD; how greatly he exults in your victory!
2 You have given him his heart's desire; you have not denied him the request of his lips.
3 For you meet him with blessings of prosperity, and set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him: length of days, for ever and ever.
5 His honor is great, because of your victory; splendor and majesty have you bestowed upon him.
6 For you will give him everlasting felicity and will make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king puts his trust in the LORD; because of the loving-kindness of the Most High, he will not fall.
8 Your hand will lay hold upon all your enemies; your right hand will seize all those who hate you.
9 You will make them like a fiery furnace at the time of your appearing, O LORD;
10 You will swallow them up in your wrath, and fire shall consume them.
11 You will destroy their offspring from the land and their descendants from among the peoples of the earth.
12 Though they intend evil against you and devise wicked schemes, yet they shall not prevail.
13 For you will put them to flight and aim your arrows at them.
14 Be exalted, O LORD, in your might; we will sing and praise your power.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 110 Dixit Dominus
1 The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."
2 The LORD will send the scepter of your power out of Zion, saying, "Rule over your enemies round about you.
3 Princely state has been yours from the day of your birth; in the beauty of holiness have I begotten you, like dew from the womb of the morning."
4 The LORD has sworn and he will not recant: "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
5 The Lord who is at your right hand will smite kings in the day of his wrath; he will rule over the nations.
6 He will heap high the corpses; he will smash heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook beside the road; therefore he will lift high his head.
Psalm 116 Dilexi, quoniam
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.
2 The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow.
3 Then I called upon the Name of the LORD: "O LORD, I pray you, save my life."
4 Gracious is the LORD and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
5 The LORD watches over the innocent; I was brought very low, and he helped me.
6 Turn again to your rest, O my soul. for the LORD has treated you well.
7 For you have rescued my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
8 I will walk in the presence of the LORD in the land of the living.
9 I believed, even when I said, "I have been brought very low." In my distress I said, "No one can be trusted."
10 How shall I repay the LORD for all the good things he has done for me?
11 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the LORD.
12 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
13 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his servants.
14 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant and the child of your handmaid; you have freed me from my bonds.
15 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the LORD.
16 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
17 In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
Psalm 117 Laudate Dominum
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations; laud him, all you peoples.
2 For his loving-kindness toward us is great, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures for ever. Hallelujah!
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