Dig deeper! 

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

• Identify one FACT that stands out to you from the reading.
• Consider how you REACT to this fact.  What is God saying to you specifically?  How do you think or feel about it?  Personalize the truth to your own life.
• What is God calling you to ACT upon?  How can you put God’s Word into practice in your own life?  What will you do about this truth today?

Mark 6:30-56

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

³¹Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

³³But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

³⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late.

³⁶Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages ! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five–and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²They all ate and were satisfied,

⁴³and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.

⁴⁴The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

⁴⁵Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

⁴⁶After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.

⁴⁸He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them,

⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,

⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified.

⁵¹Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed,

⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.

⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus.

⁵⁵They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶And wherever he went–into villages, towns or countryside–they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 24-28

24“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

²Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.

³They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁴They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.

⁶They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

⁸They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

⁹The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹¹They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

¹²The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.

¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.

¹⁶In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.

¹⁷For all of them, deep darkness is their morning ; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.

¹⁹As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; evil men are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.

²¹They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow show no kindness.

²²But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

²³He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.

²⁴For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”

25Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

³Can his forces be numbered? Upon whom does his light not rise?

⁴How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

⁵If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

⁶how much less man, who is but a maggot- a son of man, who is only a worm!”

26Then Job replied:

²“How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the arm that is feeble!

³What advice you have offered to one without wisdom! And what great insight you have displayed!

⁴Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

⁵“The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

⁶Death is naked before God; Destruction lies uncovered.

⁷He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

⁸He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

⁹He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it.

¹⁰He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.

¹³By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

¹⁴And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

27And Job continued his discourse:

²“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul,

³as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils,

⁴my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will utter no deceit.

⁵I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity.

⁶I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

⁷“May my enemies be like the wicked, my adversaries like the unjust!

⁸For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

⁹Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him?

¹⁰Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹¹“I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?

¹³“Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:

¹⁴However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat.

¹⁵The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them.

¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay,

¹⁷what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver.

¹⁸The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman.

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

²²It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.

²³It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.

28“There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.

²Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.

³Man puts an end to the darkness; he searches the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.

⁴Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft, in places forgotten by the foot of man; far from men he dangles and sways.

⁵The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire;

⁶sapphires come from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold.

⁷No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon’s eye has seen it.

⁸Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there.

⁹Man’s hand assaults the flinty rock and lays bare the roots of the mountains.

¹⁰He tunnels through the rock; his eyes see all its treasures.

¹¹He searches the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light.

¹²“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?

¹³Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver.

¹⁶It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphires.

¹⁷Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold.

¹⁸Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold.

²⁰“Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air.

²²Destruction and Death say, ‘Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.’

²³God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,

²⁴for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters,

²⁶when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,

²⁷then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it.

²⁸And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 21-23

21Then Job replied:

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.

³Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.

⁴“Is my complaint directed to man? Why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth.

⁶When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

⁸They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them.

¹⁰Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

¹¹They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.

¹²They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’

¹⁶But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁷“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?

¹⁸How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?

¹⁹It is said, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his sons.’ Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!

²⁰Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about the family he leaves behind when his allotted months come to an end?

²²“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?

²³One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,

²⁴his body well nourished, his bones rich with marrow.

²⁵Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.

²⁶Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.

²⁷“I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

²⁸You say, ‘Where now is the great man’s house, the tents where wicked men lived?’

²⁹Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-

³⁰that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, that he is delivered from the day of wrath?

³¹Who denounces his conduct to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?

³²He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

³³The soil in the valley is sweet to him; all men follow after him, and a countless throng goes before him.

³⁴“So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise man benefit him?

³What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?

⁶You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,

⁸though you were a powerful man, owning land- an honored man, living on it.

⁹And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.

¹⁰That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,

¹¹why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!

¹³Yet you say, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old path that evil men have trod?

¹⁶They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁹“The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.’

²¹“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.

²²Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent

²⁴and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.

²⁶Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast.

³⁰He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

23Then Job replied:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

³If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!

⁴I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.

⁶Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me.

⁷There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.

⁹When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹¹My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

¹⁴He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.

¹⁵That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 17-20

17My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.

²Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?

⁴You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵If a man denounces his friends for reward, the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

⁷My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

⁸Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

⁹Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰“But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.

¹²These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, ‘Light is near.’

¹³If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

¹⁴if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

¹⁶Will it go down to the gates of death ? Will we descend together into the dust?”

18Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.

³Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵“The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.

⁶The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out.

⁷The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down.

⁸His feet thrust him into a net and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path.

¹¹Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step.

¹²Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls.

¹³It eats away parts of his skin; death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

¹⁴He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

¹⁶His roots dry up below and his branches wither above.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness and is banished from the world.

¹⁹He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived.

²⁰Men of the west are appalled at his fate; men of the east are seized with horror.

²¹Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who knows not God.”

19Then Job replied:

²“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

³Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

⁵If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,

⁶then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

⁷“Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

⁹He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

¹⁰He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.

¹¹His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.

¹²His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

¹³“He has alienated my brothers from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

¹⁴My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien.

¹⁶I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers.

¹⁸Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

¹⁹All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.

²⁰I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.

²¹“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

²²Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,

²⁴that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

²⁵I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

²⁷I myself will see him with my own eyes-I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸“If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him, ‘

²⁹you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment. “

20Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.

³I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.

⁴“Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth,

⁵that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

⁶Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.

¹⁰His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.

¹¹The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,

¹³though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.

¹⁵He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him.

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

¹⁹For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.

²⁰“Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure.

²¹Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure.

²²In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him.

²³When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him.

²⁴Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.

²⁵He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him;

²⁶total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

²⁹Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 14-16

14“Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

²He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

³Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?

⁴Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

⁵Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

⁶So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.

⁷“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

⁸Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,

⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

¹⁰But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

¹¹As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

¹²so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

¹³“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

¹⁵You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.

¹⁶Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.

¹⁷My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.

¹⁸“But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope.

²⁰You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away.

²¹If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.

²²He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

³Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?

⁴But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.

⁵Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.

⁷“Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?

¹⁰The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.

¹¹Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?

¹²Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

¹³so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴“What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?

¹⁵If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

¹⁶how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!

¹⁷“Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,

¹⁸what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers

¹⁹(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them):

²⁰All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.

²¹Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.

²²He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.

²³He wanders about-food for vultures ; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,

²⁵because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

²⁶defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷“Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,

²⁸he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.

²⁹He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

³⁰He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

³¹Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.

³²Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.

³³He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

³⁴For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.

³⁵They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

16Then Job replied:

²“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!

³Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?

⁴I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.

⁵But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.

⁷Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.

⁸You have bound me-and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

⁹God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

¹⁰Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.

¹¹God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

¹²All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;

¹³his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.

¹⁴Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes;

¹⁷yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

²⁰My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;

²¹on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.

²²“Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 10-13

10“I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me.

³Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?

⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

⁵Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a man,

⁶that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin-

⁷though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

⁸“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?

⁹Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?

¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,

¹¹clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?

¹²You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

¹³“But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind:

¹⁴If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.

¹⁵If I am guilty-woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction.

¹⁶If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.

¹⁷You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.

¹⁸“Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

¹⁹If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

²⁰Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy

²¹before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow,

²²to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

11Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²“Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated?

³Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock?

⁴You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’

⁵Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you

⁶and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

⁷“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are higher than the heavens-what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave -what can you know?

⁹Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

¹⁰“If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him?

¹¹Surely he recognizes deceitful men; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?

¹²But a witless man can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born a man.

¹³“Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him,

¹⁴if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,

¹⁵then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.

¹⁶You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.

¹⁷Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning.

¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.”

12Then Job replied:

²“Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

³But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

⁴“I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

⁵Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure- those who carry their god in their hands.

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?

¹²Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

¹⁶To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established.

²⁰He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

²²He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.

²³He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

²⁵They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

13“My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

⁴You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

⁵If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

⁶Hear now my argument; listen to the plea of my lips.

⁷Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

⁸Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

⁹Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive men?

¹⁰He would surely rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality.

¹¹Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³“Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.

¹⁴Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

¹⁶Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him!

¹⁷Listen carefully to my words; let your ears take in what I say.

¹⁸Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.

¹⁹Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰“Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you:

²¹Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.

²²Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply.

²³How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.

²⁴Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

²⁵Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff?

²⁶For you write down bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth.

²⁷You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

²⁸“So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Job 6-9

6Then Job replied:

²“If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!

³It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas- no wonder my words have been impetuous.

⁴The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

⁵Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

⁶Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg ?

⁷I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,

⁹that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!

¹⁰Then I would still have this consolation- my joy in unrelenting pain- that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?

¹²Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?

¹³Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?

¹⁴“A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow

¹⁶when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,

¹⁷but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.

¹⁸Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go up into the wasteland and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.

²⁰They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.

²¹Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.

²²Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,

²³deliver me from the hand of the enemy, ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.

²⁵How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?

²⁶Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?

²⁷You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.

²⁸“But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?

²⁹Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.

³⁰Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?

7“Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man?

²Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages,

³so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

⁴When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.

⁵My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.

⁶“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

⁷Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.

⁸The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more.

⁹As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return.

¹⁰He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.

¹¹“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.

¹⁶I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

¹⁷“What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention,

¹⁸that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?

¹⁹Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant?

²⁰If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?

²¹Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

8Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²“How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

⁵But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,

⁶if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.

⁷Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.

⁸“Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned,

⁹for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?

¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?

¹²While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.

¹⁴What he trusts in is fragile ; what he relies on is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold.

¹⁶He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;

¹⁷it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones.

¹⁸But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, ‘I never saw you.’

¹⁹Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow.

²⁰“Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

²²Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”

9Then Job replied:

²“Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can a mortal be righteous before God?

³Though one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

⁴His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

⁵He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.

⁷He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

¹¹When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

¹²If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

¹⁴“How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him?

¹⁵Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing.

¹⁷He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason.

¹⁸He would not let me regain my breath but would overwhelm me with misery.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who will summon him ?

²⁰Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

²¹“Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

²²It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵“My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.

²⁶They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey.

²⁷If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’

²⁸I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with washing soda,

³¹you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me.

³²“He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

³³If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both,

³⁴someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

³⁵Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.  

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

Job 1-5

1In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

²He had seven sons and three daughters,

³and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

⁴His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

⁵When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

⁶One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came with them.

⁷The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord , “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

⁸Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

⁹“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.

¹⁰“Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.

¹¹But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

¹²The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord .

¹³One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,

¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,

¹⁵and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,

¹⁹when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

²⁰At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship

²¹and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

²²In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

2On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.

²And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord , “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

⁴“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.

⁵But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

⁶The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

⁸Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁰He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

¹¹When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

¹²When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

3After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²He said:

³“May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’

⁴That day-may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it.

⁵May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light.

⁶That night-may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

⁷May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

⁸May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

⁹May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,

¹⁰for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

¹³For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

¹⁵with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

²⁰“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

²²who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?

²³Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

²⁴For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water.

²⁵What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

²⁶I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

4Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²“If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?

³Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.

⁴Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.

⁵But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

⁶Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

⁷“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

⁸As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.

⁹At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.

¹⁰The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

¹¹The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²“A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.

¹³Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.

¹⁵A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

¹⁶It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:

¹⁷‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,

¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!

²⁰Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.

²¹Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’

5“Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

²Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

³I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.

⁴His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

⁵The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

⁶For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

⁷Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.

⁹He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

¹⁰He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside.

¹¹The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹²He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

¹³He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

¹⁴Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

¹⁷“Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you.

²⁰In famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

²¹You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.

²²You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.

²³For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.

²⁵You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season.

²⁷“We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.  

In this passage…

• What do I learn about God?
• What do I learn about man?
• Is there an example to follow?
• What does God want me to believe?

Genesis 8-11

8But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

²Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.

³The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,

⁴and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark

⁷and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.

⁹But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.

¹⁰He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

¹¹When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

¹²He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

¹³By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah,

¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

¹⁷Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you-the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground-so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.”

¹⁸So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.

¹⁹All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds-everything that moves on the earth-came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

²¹The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

²²“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

9Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

²The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

⁵And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

⁶“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

⁷As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

⁹“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you

¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth.

¹¹I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

¹⁴Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

¹⁶Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)

¹⁹These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.

²⁰Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.

²¹When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.

²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

²³But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,

²⁵he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.”

²⁶He also said, “Blessed be the Lord , the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

²⁷May God extend the territory of Japheth ; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.”

²⁸After the flood Noah lived 350 years.

²⁹Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

10This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood. The Japhethites

²The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

⁴The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.

⁵(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.) The Hamites

⁶The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.

⁹He was a mighty hunter before the Lord ; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord .”

¹⁰The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

¹¹From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah

¹²and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

¹³Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites,

¹⁴Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

¹⁵Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

¹⁶Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites,

¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites,

¹⁸Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered

¹⁹and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. The Semites

²¹Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

²²The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech.

²⁴Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.

²⁵Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

²⁶Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

²⁹Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

³⁰The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

³¹These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

³²These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

11Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

²As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

³They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.

⁶The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

⁹That is why it was called Babel -because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

¹⁰This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.

¹¹And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.

¹³And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.

¹⁵And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.

¹⁷And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.

¹⁹And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.

²¹And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.

²³And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.

²⁵And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

²⁸While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.

²⁹Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

³⁰Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.

³¹Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

³²Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

Please note: we are aware of an issue where the embedded YouTube link does always work in the email version. We are working to resolve the issue and appreciate your patience. You can always access each days posts at bible.kingstreetchurch.com

Welcome to the 2025 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following the Bible Recap plan.  

In this passage…

• What do I learn about God?
• What do I learn about man?
• Is there an example to follow?
• What does God want me to believe?

Genesis 4-7

4Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”

²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord .

⁴But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

⁸Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

¹¹Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹²When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the Lord , “My punishment is more than I can bear.

¹⁴Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Not so ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

¹⁶So Cain went out from the Lord ‘s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

²²Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

²⁵Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

²⁶Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord .

5This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

²He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man. “

³When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

⁴After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

⁵Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

⁶When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.

⁷And after he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

⁸Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.

⁹When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.

¹⁰And after he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹¹Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.

¹²When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.

¹³And after he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.

¹⁶And after he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁷Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.

¹⁹And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

²²And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

²³Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.

²⁴Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.

²⁶And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁷Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

²⁸When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.

²⁹He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.”

³⁰After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters.

³¹Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.

³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

6When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them,

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

³Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

⁵The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

⁶The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

⁷So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.”

⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord .

⁹This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

¹⁰Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.

¹²God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

¹³So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

¹⁴So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

¹⁵This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.

¹⁶Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

¹⁷I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

²⁰Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

²¹You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

²²Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

7The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

²Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,

³and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

⁴Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.

⁷And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

⁸Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,

⁹male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

¹⁰And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

¹²And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.

¹⁴They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.

¹⁵Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

¹⁶The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

¹⁸The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

¹⁹They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

²⁰The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. ,

²¹Every living thing that moved on the earth perished-birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.

²²Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

²³Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

²⁴The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.