Psalm 82

¹God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
²“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
³Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
⁴Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
⁵They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
⁷nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!

Old Testament Reading Job 33:1–18

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job,
and listen to all my words.
²Behold, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.
³My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
⁴The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.
⁶Behold, I am toward God as you are;
I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.
⁷Behold, no fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy upon you.
⁸“Surely you have spoken in my ears,
and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression;
I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy,
¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks
and watches all my paths.’
¹²“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you,
for God is greater than man.
¹³Why do you contend against him,
saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s words’?
¹⁴For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though man does not perceive it.
¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
while they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶then he opens the ears of men
and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷that he may turn man aside from his deed
and conceal pride from a man;
¹⁸he keeps back his soul from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword.”

New Testament Reading John 10:22–42

²²At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

³¹The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” ³³The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” ³⁹Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

⁴⁰He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. ⁴¹And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” ⁴²And many believed in him there.