February 20th, 2021

Saturday of Quinquagesima

Collect
Morning Psalm · Ps. 26
First Reading · Job 15:1-23; Job 15:30-35
Evening Psalm · Ps. 27
Second Reading · John 6:60-71

Collect

O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers and, having set us free from the bonds of our sins, deliver us from every evil; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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Morning Psalm · Ps. 26

I Will Bless the Lord

Of David.

26 Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
²Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.^[a]
³For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

⁴I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
⁵I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.

⁶I wash my hands in innocence
and go around your altar, O Lord,
⁷proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.

⁸O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.
⁹Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
¹⁰in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
¹²My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

Footnotes:

Psalm 26:2 Hebrew test my kidneys and my heart

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First Reading · Job 15:1-23; Job 15:30-35

Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God

15 Then 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^[a]
    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^[b] 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;

Footnotes:

Job 15:4 Hebrew lacks of God
Job 15:15 Hebrew he

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.”

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Evening Psalm · Ps. 27

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold^[a] of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

²When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

³Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet^[b] I will be confident.

⁴One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire^[c] in his temple.

⁵For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.

⁶And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

⁷Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸You have said, “Seek^[d] my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”^[e]
⁹    Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation!
¹⁰For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
    but the Lord will take me in.

¹¹Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on a level path
    because of my enemies.
¹²Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they breathe out violence.

¹³I believe that I shall look^[f] upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!
¹⁴Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Footnotes:

Psalm 27:1 Or refuge
Psalm 27:3 Or in this
Psalm 27:4 Or meditate
Psalm 27:8 The command (seek) is addressed to more than one person
Psalm 27:8 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
Psalm 27:13 Other Hebrew manuscripts Oh! Had I not believed that I would look

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Second Reading · John 6:60-71

The Words of Eternal Life

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 no help at all. 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.