Thursday in Season after Pentecost

FIRST READING

Job 38:1-11

Verse 1. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: Verse 2. “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge? Verse 3. Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. Verse 4. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Verse 5. Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it? Verse 6. On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone, Verse 7. while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Verse 8. Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, Verse 9. when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, Verse 10. when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors, Verse 11. and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

PSALM

Psalm 8

For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.

From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger.

When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place —

what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?

You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:

all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

SECOND READING

2 Timothy 1:8-12a

Verse 8. So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Verse 9. He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began. Verse 10. And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel, Verse 11. to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. Verse 12. For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.