the upright, and in the congregation.
He hath given food unto them that fear him:
He will ever be mindful of his promise.
Holy and reverend is his name. Amen."

While they ate, James asked, "Father, who is in the other boat this
morning?" Zebedee hired men to work for him.

"Old Gideon the farmer, with our new man, a gentile from Sidon."

"Why in the world did you hire a gentile, father?" asked John sharply.

"Well, son, he is young and strong. He is willing to work for us." He
paused. "But I couldn't help wondering where he came from."

"Did you ask him?"

"No. He wouldn't answer questions about himself. But he knew fishing."
John shook his head.

"I don't like it, father. Jews have no business working with gentiles.
And besides, if he is a runaway slave, we might get into trouble."

"Now look, son. Half the people in Galilee are gentiles. Every day we
see them. What harm is there in working with them?"

"Here comes the other boat," said Simon. The sun was driving away the
mist; Simon pointed to a fishing boat drawing closer to the shore.

"Did you do any better than we did, Gideon?" called Zebedee.

As the old farmer came toward them, the men could tell that his body was
rugged in spite of stooped shoulders. "No better; maybe worse. It's
getting as hard to make a living on the lake as by plowing the land."

The newcomers sat down and hungrily ate the fish that Simon handed them.

"Zebedee says there may be riots if the wheat is poor," said Simon.
"What do you think of the crop, Gideon?"

Gideon squinted toward the hills as though looking at the fields that
lay beyond them. "My guess is that there will be enough." He frowned.
"Enough, that is, if the landlords don't grab it all."

James glanced at Simon, concealing a smile. Old Gideon never got tired
of scolding the big landowners.

"Before I was forced off my farm we had plenty to eat, even in dry
weather." He shook his finger. "And mind you, I had only five acres!
Now look what has happened!" He pounded his knee. "A man can hardly feed
his family with ten acres. Why? Taxes and more taxes!" He counted on his
fingers. "First, Herod takes one fourth of all our grain. That goes into
the bellies of the Romans. Then there is the tithe. That takes enough to
feed a hired man! Then we pay the Temple tax to feed the priests. They
get the first-born of all the sheep too. When a man's first son is born,
he must make a big gift to the synagogue. Far