Psalm 116:1–9

¹I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
²Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
³The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
⁶The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
⁹I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Old Testament Reading Job 33:19—34:9

¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed
and with continual strife in his bones,
²⁰so that his life loathes bread,
and his appetite the choicest food.
²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
and his bones that were not seen stick out.
²²His soul draws near the pit,
and his life to those who bring death.
²³If there be for him an angel,
a mediator, one of the thousand,
to declare to man what is right for him,
²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
I have found a ransom;
²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
²⁶then man prays to God, and he accepts him;
he sees his face with a shout of joy,
and he restores to man his righteousness.
²⁷He sings before men and says:
‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
and it was not repaid to me.
²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,
and my life shall look upon the light.’
²⁹“Behold, God does all these things,
twice, three times, with a man,
³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit,
that he may be lighted with the light of life.
³¹Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
³²If you have any words, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.
³³If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹Then Elihu answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
³for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
⁴Let us choose what is right;
let us know among ourselves what is good.
⁵For Job has said, ‘I am in the right,
and God has taken away my right;
⁶in spite of my right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
⁷What man is like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
⁸who travels in company with evildoers
and walks with wicked men?
⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
that he should take delight in God.’”

New Testament Reading John 11:1–16

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” ¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”