Friday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Genesis 35:1-4

Verse 1. Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” Verse 2. So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. Verse 3. Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.” Verse 4. So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

PSALM

Psalm 86:1-10

A prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I call to You all day long.

Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and attend to my plea for mercy.

In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me.

O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours.

All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 18:18-23

Verse 18. Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.” Verse 19. Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying! Verse 20. Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them. Verse 21. Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. Verse 22. Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet. Verse 23. But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

PSALM

Psalm 69:7-10, 16-18

For I have endured scorn for Your sake, and shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,

because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.

Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving devotion is good; turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.

Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!

Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ransom me because of my foes.

SECOND READING

Acts 5:17-26

Verse 17. Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They went out Verse 18. and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. Verse 19. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying, Verse 20. “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life.” Verse 21. At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full assembly of the elders of Israel— and sent to the jail for the apostles. Verse 22. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they returned with the report: Verse 23. “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards posted at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” Verse 24. When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening. Verse 25. Then someone came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!” Verse 26. At that point, the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles — but not by force, for fear the people would stone them.