Open Word

FIRST READING

Isaiah 42:14-21

Verse 14. “I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant. Verse 15. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes. Verse 16. I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them. Verse 17. But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame. Verse 18. Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see! Verse 19. Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD? Verse 20. Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.” Verse 21. The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.

PSALM

Psalm 146

Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.

When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,

the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah!

SECOND READING

Colossians 1:9-14

Verse 9. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, Verse 10. so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Verse 11. being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully Verse 12. giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. Verse 13. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, Verse 14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.