Job 19:1–29 (NIV84)

¹ Then Job replied: ² “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? ³ Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me. ⁴ If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone. ⁵ If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, ⁶ then 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. ⁸ He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness. ⁹ He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. ¹⁰ He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. ¹¹ His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies. ¹² His 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. ¹⁴ My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵ My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien. ¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth. ¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers. ¹⁸ Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. ¹⁹ All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. ²⁰ I 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. ²² Why 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, ²⁴ that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! ²⁵ I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. ²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; ²⁷ I 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,’ ²⁹ you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.”

Luke 5:1–11 (NIV84)

¹ One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, ² he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.