Mark 8:1–13; 1 Corinthians 13; Psalm 89:19–52; Judges 17–18

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Mark 8:1–13

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

lIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, mI have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? And he asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, nSeven. And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and ohaving given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And phaving blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And qthey ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, nseven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into rthe boat with his disciples and went to the district of sDalmanutha.1

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

11 tThe Pharisees came and began to argue with him, useeking from him va sign from heaven wto test him. 12 And xhe sighed deeply yin his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. 13 And zhe left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.


1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, bso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. cIf I give away all I have, and dif I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.

eLove is patient and fkind; love gdoes not envy or boast; it his not arrogant or rude. It idoes not insist on its own way; it jis not irritable or resentful;2 it kdoes not rejoice at wrongdoing, but lrejoices with the truth. mLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, eendures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For nwe know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For pnow we see in a mirror dimly, but qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as rI have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


Psalm 89:19–52

19  uOf old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,1 and said:

I have vgranted help to one who is wmighty;

I have exalted one xchosen from the people.

20  yI have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have zanointed him,

21  so that my ahand shall be established with him;

my arm also shall strengthen him.

22  The enemy shall not outwit him;

bthe wicked shall not humble him.

23  I will ccrush his foes before him

and strike down those who hate him.

24  My dfaithfulness and my dsteadfast love shall be with him,

and in my name shall his ehorn be exalted.

25  I will set his hand on fthe sea

and his right hand on fthe rivers.

26  He shall cry to me, You are my gFather,

my God, and hthe Rock of my salvation.

27  And I will make him the ifirstborn,

jthe highest of the kings of the earth.

28  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,

and my kcovenant will stand firm2 for him.

29  I will establish his loffspring forever

and his lthrone as mthe days of the heavens.

30  nIf his children forsake my law

and do not walk according to my rules,3

31  if they violate my statutes

and do not keep my commandments,

32  then I will punish their transgression with othe rod

and their iniquity with stripes,

33  but I will not remove from him my steadfast love

or be false to my faithfulness.

34  I will not violate my kcovenant

or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35  Once for all I have sworn pby my holiness;

I will not qlie to David.

36  His loffspring shall endure forever,

rhis lthrone as long as sthe sun before me.

37  Like sthe moon it shall be established forever,

ta faithful witness in the skies. Selah

38  But now you have ucast off and rejected;

you are full of wrath against your vanointed.

39  You have wrenounced xthe covenant with your servant;

you have ydefiled his zcrown in the dust.

40  You have abreached all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

41  aAll who pass by plunder him;

he has become bthe scorn of his neighbors.

42  You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43  You have also turned back the edge of his sword,

and you have not made him stand in battle.

44  You have made his splendor to cease

and cast his throne to the ground.

45  You have cut short cthe days of his youth;

you have dcovered him with shame. Selah

46  eHow long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath fburn like fire?

47  gRemember hhow short my itime is!

For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

48  jWhat man can live and never ksee death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of lSheol? Selah

49  Lord, where is your msteadfast love of old,

which by your mfaithfulness you swore to David?

50  nRemember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,

and how I bear in my oheart the insults4 of all the many nations,

51  with which your enemies mock, O Lord,

with which they mock pthe footsteps of your qanointed.

52  rBlessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.


Judges 17–18

Micah and the Levite

There was a man of tthe hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, uBlessed be my son by the Lord. And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make va carved image and wa metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you. So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother xtook 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made yan ephod and zhousehold gods, and aordained1 one of his sons, who became his priest. bIn those days there was no king in Israel. cEveryone did what was right in his own eyes.

Now there was a young man of dBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to ethe hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place. 10 And Micah said to him, Stay with me, and be to me fa father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living. And the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite gwas content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 And Micah hordained the Levite, and the young man ibecame his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.

Danites Take the Levite and the Idol

jIn those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days kthe tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, lfrom Zorah and from Eshtaol, mto spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, Go and explore the land. And they came nto the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here? And he said to them, This is how Micah dealt with me: ohe has hired me, and I have become his priest. And they said to him, pInquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed. And the priest said to them, qGo in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.

Then the five men departed and came to rLaish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, squiet and unsuspecting, lacking2 nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how tthey were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. And when they came to their brothers at uZorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, What do you report? They said, vArise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. wAnd will you do nothing? xDo not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. 10 As soon as you go, you will come to an yunsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, za place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.

11 So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, aarmed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, 12 and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called bMahaneh-dan3 to this day; behold, it is west of cKiriath-jearim. 13 And they passed on from there to dthe hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

14 Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, Do you know that ein these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do. 15 And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and fasked him about his welfare. 16 Now the 600 men of the Danites, garmed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 And hthe five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took ithe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. 18 And when these went into Micah’s house and took ithe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, What are you doing? 19 And they said to him, Keep quiet; jput your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us ka father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel? 20 And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

21 So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and lthe goods in front of them. 22 When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. 23 And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company? 24 And he said, mYou take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, What is the matter with you? 25 And the people of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household. 26 Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

27 But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people nquiet and unsuspecting, and ostruck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer because it was pfar from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to qBeth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 And they named the city rDan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but sthe name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, tson of Moses,4 uand his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day vof the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, was long as the house of God was at Shiloh.