Saturday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Judges 5:1-12

Verse 1. On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: Verse 2. “When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the LORD. Verse 3. Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel. Verse 4. O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water. Verse 5. The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel. Verse 6. In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways. Verse 7. Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel. Verse 8. When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel. Verse 9. My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the LORD! Verse 10. You who ride white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, ponder Verse 11. the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates: Verse 12. ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, O Barak, and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

PSALM

Psalm 123

A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.

As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are on the LORD our God until He shows us mercy.

Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt.

We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 7:10-27

Verse 10. Behold, the day is here! It has come! Doom has gone out, the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed. Verse 11. Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness. None of them will remain: none of their multitude, none of their wealth, and nothing of value. Verse 12. The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is upon the whole multitude. Verse 13. The seller will surely not recover what he sold while both remain alive. For the vision concerning the whole multitude will not be revoked, and because of their iniquity, not one of them will preserve his life. Verse 14. They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one goes to war, for My wrath is upon the whole multitude. Verse 15. The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. Verse 16. The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity. Verse 17. Every hand will go limp, and every knee will turn to water. Verse 18. They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved. Verse 19. They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity. Verse 20. His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them. Verse 21. And I will hand these things over as plunder to foreigners and loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile them. Verse 22. I will turn My face away from them, and they will defile My treasured place. Violent men will enter it, and they will defile it. Verse 23. Forge the chain, for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence. Verse 24. So I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will end the pride of the mighty, and their holy places will be profaned. Verse 25. Anguish is coming! They will seek peace, but find none. Verse 26. Disaster upon disaster will come, and rumor after rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction from the priests will perish, as will counsel from the elders. Verse 27. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

PSALM

Psalm 90:1-8, 12

A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations.

Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”

For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—

in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.

You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

SECOND READING

Matthew 12:43-45

Verse 43. When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Verse 44. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and put in order. Verse 45. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”