Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

Verse 1. Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully. Verse 2. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Verse 3. He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today. Verse 4. The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. Verse 5. At that time I was standing between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. And He said: Verse 6. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Verse 7. You shall have no other gods before Me. Verse 8. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. Verse 9. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Verse 10. but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Verse 11. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. Verse 12. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Verse 13. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, Verse 14. but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work— neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do. Verse 15. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Verse 16. Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Verse 17. You shall not murder. Verse 18. You shall not commit adultery. Verse 19. You shall not steal. Verse 20. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Verse 21. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

PSALM

Psalm 119:49-56

Remember Your word to Your servant, upon which You have given me hope.

This is my comfort in affliction, that Your promise has given me life.

The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn from Your law.

I remember Your judgments of old, O LORD, and in them I find comfort.

Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.

Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage.

In the night, O LORD, I remember Your name, that I may keep Your law.

This is my practice, for I obey Your precepts.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 19:10-14

Verse 10. Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. Verse 11. It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage. Verse 12. But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them. Verse 13. Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. Verse 14. Fire has gone out from its main branch and devoured its fruit; on it no strong branch remains fit for a ruler’s scepter.’ This is a lament and shall be used as a lament.”

PSALM

Psalm 144

Of David. Blessed be the LORD, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him?

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,

whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

I will sing to You a new song, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You —

to Him who gives victory to kings, who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.

Set me free and rescue me from the grasp of foreigners, whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.

Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets.

Blessed are the people of whom this is so; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

SECOND READING

1 Peter 2:4-10

Verse 4. As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, Verse 5. you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Verse 6. For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” Verse 7. To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” Verse 8. and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word— and to this they were appointed. Verse 9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Verse 10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.