Thursday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Exodus 23:1-9

Verse 1. “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. Verse 2. You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Verse 3. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. Verse 4. If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. Verse 5. If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it. Verse 6. You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. Verse 7. Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty. Verse 8. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Verse 9. Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

PSALM

Psalm 19

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard,

their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.

Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course,

it rises at one end of the heavens and runs its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.

Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 2:14-22

Verse 14. Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey? Verse 15. The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant. Verse 16. The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head. Verse 17. Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way? Verse 18. Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile ? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates ? Verse 19. Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” Verse 20. “For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute. Verse 21. I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine? Verse 22. Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,”

PSALM

Psalm 80:7-15

Restore us, O God of Hosts, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

You uprooted a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and transplanted it.

You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

It sent out its branches to the Sea, and its shoots toward the River.

Why have You broken down its walls, so that all who pass by pick its fruit?

The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

Return, O God of Hosts, we pray! Look down from heaven and see! Attend to this vine—

the root Your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself.

SECOND READING

Colossians 2:16-23

Verse 16. Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. Verse 17. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. Verse 18. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. Verse 19. He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. Verse 20. If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: Verse 21. “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? Verse 22. These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Verse 23. Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.