Psalm 16:1, 4–6, 9–11

¹Preserve me, O God,
for in you I take refuge.

⁴The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Old Testament Reading Job 15:1–23, 30–35

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
and fill his belly with the east wind?
³Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which he can do no good?
⁴But you are doing away with the fear of God
and hindering meditation before God.
⁵For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
⁶Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
⁷“Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
⁹What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
¹⁰Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
older than your father.
¹¹Are the comforts of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
¹²Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
¹³that you turn your spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
¹⁴What is man, that he can be pure?
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
¹⁵Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
¹⁶how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks injustice like water!
¹⁷“I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
¹⁸(what wise men have told,
without hiding it from their fathers,
¹⁹to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them).
²⁰The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
²¹Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
²²He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
²³He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand; . . .

³⁰he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
³¹Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
³²It will be paid in full before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
³³He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
³⁴For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their womb prepares deceit.”

New Testament Reading John 6:60–71

⁶⁰When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

⁶⁶After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.