Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] Of Asaph.

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
²Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
³Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
⁴this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
I heard an unknown voice say:
⁶"I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸Hear me, my people, and I will warn you-
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
⁹You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
¹⁰I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
¹¹"But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
¹³If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
¹⁴how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

---

1 Kings 17:1-16

Elijah Announces a Great Drought

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe^[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."

Elijah Fed by Ravens
²Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ³"Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. ⁴You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there." ⁵So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. ⁶The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah Fed by Ravens
⁷Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹"Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food." ¹⁰So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" ¹¹As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread." ¹²"As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread-only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it-and die." ¹³Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.'" ¹⁵She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

---

Ephesians 5:1-14

¹Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person-such a person is an idolater-has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

⁷Therefore do not be partners with them. ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord.

¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible-and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴This is why it is said: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] Of Asaph.

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
²Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
³Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
⁴this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
I heard an unknown voice say:
⁶"I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸Hear me, my people, and I will warn you-
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
⁹You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
¹⁰I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
¹¹"But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
¹³If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
¹⁴how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

---

Ruth 2

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

¹Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. ²And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter." ³So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. ⁴Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The Lord be with you!" "The Lord bless you!" they answered. ⁵Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, "Who does that young woman belong to?"

⁶The overseer replied, "She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter." ⁸So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.

⁹Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." ¹⁰At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me-a foreigner?" ¹¹Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband-how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹²May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

¹³"May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant-though I do not have the standing of one of your servants." ¹⁴At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her.

¹⁶Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." ¹⁷So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. ¹⁸She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said. ²⁰"The Lord bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers." ²¹Then Ruth the Moabite said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'"

²²Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else's field you might be harmed." ²³So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

---

2 Peter 3:14-18

¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. ¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] Of Asaph.

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
²Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
³Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
⁴this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
I heard an unknown voice say:
⁶"I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
⁷In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸Hear me, my people, and I will warn you-
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
⁹You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
¹⁰I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
¹¹"But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹²So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
¹³If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
¹⁴how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
¹⁵Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
¹⁶But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

---

Jeremiah 31:1-6

¹At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.² This is what the Lord says: The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.³The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.⁴ I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.⁵ Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.⁶ There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, 'Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.'

---

John 6:35-40

³⁵Then Jesus declared,"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.⁴⁰ For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."

Psalm 34:9-14

⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

---

Job 11

Zophar

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
² "Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated?
³ Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
⁴ You say to God, 'My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.'
⁵ Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
that he would open his lips against you
⁶ and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
⁷ "Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
⁸ They are higher than the heavens above-what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths below-what can you know?
⁹ Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
¹⁰ "If he comes along and confines you in prison
and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
¹¹ Surely he recognizes deceivers;
and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
¹² But the witless can no more become wise
than a wild donkey's colt can be born human.
¹³ "Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
¹⁴ if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
¹⁵ then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
you will stand firm and without fear.
¹⁶ You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
¹⁷ Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
¹⁸ You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
¹⁹ You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
and many will court your favor.
²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their hope will become a dying gasp."

---

Acts 6:8-15

Stephen Seized

⁸Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.⁹Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia-who began to argue with Stephen.¹⁰But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.¹¹Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God."

¹²So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.¹³They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.¹⁴For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."¹⁵All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Psalm 34:9-14

⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

---

Job 12

Job

¹ Then Job replied:
² "Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
and wisdom will die with you!
³ But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?
⁴ "I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called on God and he answered-
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
⁵ Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
⁶ The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure-
those God has in his hand.
⁷ "But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹ Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
¹³ "To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
¹⁴ What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
those he imprisons cannot be released.
¹⁵ If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
¹⁶ To him belong strength and insight;
both deceived and deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads rulers away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth around their waist.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows officials long established.
²⁰ He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.
²² He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings utter darkness into the light.
²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.

---

Romans 16:17-20

¹⁷I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.¹⁹Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Psalm 34:9-14

⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

---

Job 13:1-19

¹"My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
²What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
³"But I desire to speak to the Almighty
and to argue my case with God.
⁴You, however, smear me with lies;
you are worthless physicians, all of you!
⁵If only you would be altogether silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
⁶"Hear now my argument;
listen to the pleas of my lips.
⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?
⁸Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?
⁹Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?
¹⁰ He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.
¹¹Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?
¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
¹³"Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.
¹⁴Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?
¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely[a] defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!
¹⁷Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears.
¹⁸ Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.
¹⁹Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

---

John 4:7-26

⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

¹¹"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?"

¹³Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." ¹⁶He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

¹⁷"I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus said to her,"You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

¹⁹"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

²¹"Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." ²⁵The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." ²⁶Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you-I am he."

Psalm 34:9-14

⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

---

Proverbs 9:1-6

Invitations of Wisdom and Folly

¹Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up its seven pillars.
²She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
³She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city.
⁴"Let all who are simple come to my house!"
To those who have no sense she says,
⁵"Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight."

---

Ephesians 5:15-20

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise,¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

---

John 6:51-58

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"⁵³Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."