Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Joshua 2:15-24

Verse 15. Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window, since the house where she lived was built into the wall of the city. Verse 16. “Go to the hill country,” she said, “so that your pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there for three days until they have returned; then go on your way.” Verse 17. The men said to her, “We will not be bound by this oath you made us swear Verse 18. unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother and brothers and all your family into your house. Verse 19. If anyone goes out the door of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if a hand is laid on anyone with you in the house, his blood will be on our heads. Verse 20. And if you report our mission, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.” Verse 21. “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. And when they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord in the window. Verse 22. So the spies went out into the hill country and stayed there three days, until their pursuers had returned without finding them, having searched all along the road. Verse 23. Then the two men started back, came down from the hill country, and crossed the river. So they came to Joshua son of Nun and reported all that had happened to them. Verse 24. “The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

PSALM

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy

and gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.

They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.

He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live.

He turns rivers into deserts, springs of water into thirsty ground,

and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.

He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.

He causes the hungry to settle there, that they may establish a city in which to dwell.

They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Malachi 1:6-2:9

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

PSALM

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to the place where You dwell.

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

SECOND READING

Matthew 23:13-28

Verse 13. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter. Verse 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Verse 16. Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ Verse 17. You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? Verse 18. And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ Verse 19. You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? Verse 20. So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. Verse 21. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it. Verse 22. And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it. Verse 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. Verse 24. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Verse 25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Verse 26. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well. Verse 27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. Verse 28. In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.