Psalm 112

¹Praise the Lord!
Blessèd is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
²His offspring will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
⁵It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
⁷He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
⁸His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
⁹He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn is exalted in honor.
¹⁰The wicked man sees it and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
the desire of the wicked will perish!

Old Testament Reading Job 20:1–23, 29

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my thoughts answer me,
because of my haste within me.
³I hear censure that insults me,
and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴Do you not know this from of old,
since man was placed on earth,
⁵that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens,
and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷he will perish forever like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more,
nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,
and his hands will give back his wealth.
¹¹His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
but it will lie down with him in the dust.
¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
¹³though he is loath to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
¹⁴yet his food is turned in his stomach;
it is the venom of cobras within him.
¹⁵He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;
the tongue of a viper will kill him.
¹⁷He will not look upon the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
¹⁸He will give back the fruit of his toil
and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
he will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
he has seized a house that he did not build.
²⁰“Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
²¹There was nothing left after he had eaten;
therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²²In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
²³To fill his belly to the full
God will send his burning anger against him
and rain it upon him into his body. . . .

²⁹This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
the heritage decreed for him by God.”

New Testament Reading John 8:21–38

²¹So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²²So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” ²⁷They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ³⁸I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”