Psalm 41:1–2, 7–13

¹Blessèd is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessèd in the land;
you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;
they imagine the worst for me.

⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹²But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.

¹³Blessèd be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Old Testament Reading Job 41:1–20, 31–34

¹ “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
²Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
³Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
⁴Will he make a covenant with you
to take him for your servant forever?
⁵Will you play with him as with a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
⁶Will traders bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
⁷Can you fill his skin with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
⁸Lay your hands on him;
remember the battle—you will not do it again!
⁹ Behold, the hope of a man is false;
he is laid low even at the sight of him.
¹⁰No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
¹¹Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
¹²“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
¹³Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who would come near him with a bridle?
¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror.
¹⁵His back is made of rows of shields,
shut up closely as with a seal.
¹⁶One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
¹⁷They are joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
¹⁸His sneezings flash forth light,
and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
¹⁹Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap forth.
²⁰Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. . . .

³¹He makes the deep boil like a pot;
he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
³²Behind him he leaves a shining wake;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
³³On earth there is not his like,
a creature without fear.
³⁴He sees everything that is high;
he is king over all the sons of pride.”

New Testament Reading Jonah 4

¹But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. ²And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. ³Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

⁵Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. ⁶Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. ⁷But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. ⁸When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”