Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Genesis 33:1-17

Verse 1. Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. Verse 2. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. Verse 3. But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. Verse 4. Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept. Verse 5. When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.” Verse 6. Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Verse 7. Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down. Verse 8. “What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered. Verse 9. “I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.” Verse 10. But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. Verse 11. Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted. Verse 12. Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” Verse 13. But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die. Verse 14. Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” Verse 15. “Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” Verse 16. So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir, Verse 17. but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

PSALM

Psalm 139:13-18

For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!

If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Zephaniah 3:1-13

Verse 1. Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! Verse 2. She heeded no voice; she accepted no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she has not drawn near to her God. Verse 3. Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning. Verse 4. Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law. Verse 5. The LORD within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame. Verse 6. “I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant. Verse 7. I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me and accept correction.’ Then her dwelling place would not be cut off despite all for which I punished her. But they rose early to corrupt all their deeds. Verse 8. Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation — all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy. Verse 9. For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. Verse 10. From beyond the rivers of Cush My worshipers, My scattered people, will bring Me an offering. Verse 11. On that day you will not be put to shame for any of the deeds by which you have transgressed against Me. For then I will remove from among you those who rejoice in their pride, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain. Verse 12. But I will leave within you a meek and humble people, and they will trust in the name of the LORD. Verse 13. The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or speak lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths. But they will feed and lie down, with no one to make them tremble.”

PSALM

Psalm 75

For the choirmaster: To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A song. We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your Name is near. The people declare Your wondrous works.

“When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.

When the earth and all its dwellers quake, it is I who bear up its pillars.

I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.

Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,

but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.

But I will proclaim Him forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

“All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

SECOND READING

Galatians 4:21-5:1

Verse 21. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? Verse 22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. Verse 23. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise. Verse 24. These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. Verse 25. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. Verse 26. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Verse 27. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” Verse 28. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. Verse 29. At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now. Verse 30. But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Verse 31. Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Verse 1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.