Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 31:10-14

Verse 10. Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock. Verse 11. For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him. Verse 12. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD — the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish. Verse 13. Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow. Verse 14. I will fill the souls of the priests abundantly, and will fill My people with My goodness,”

PSALM

Psalm 28

Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.

Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.

Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.

Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.

Blessed be the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.

The LORD is the strength of His people, a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.

Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them forever.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 33:7-20

Verse 7. As for you, O son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word from My mouth and give them the warning from Me. Verse 8. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity, yet I will hold you accountable for his blood. Verse 9. But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from it, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life. Verse 10. Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’ Verse 11. Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ Verse 12. Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’ Verse 13. If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed. Verse 14. But if I tell the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right— Verse 15. if he restores a pledge, makes restitution for what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without practicing iniquity— then he will surely live; he will not die. Verse 16. None of the sins he has committed will be held against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live. Verse 17. Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. Verse 18. If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. Verse 19. But if a wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of this. Verse 20. Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”

PSALM

Psalm 7

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. O LORD my God, I take refuge in You; save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,

or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

O LORD my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,

if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,

then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust.

Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

Let the assembled peoples gather around You; take Your seat over them on high.

The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity.

Put an end to the evil of the wicked, but establish the righteous, O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.

My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation each day.

If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.

He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire.

Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.

His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.

I will thank the LORD for His righteousness and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

SECOND READING

John 5:19-40

Verse 19. So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does. Verse 20. The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these. Verse 21. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes. Verse 22. Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, Verse 23. so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Verse 24. Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life. Verse 25. Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Verse 26. For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. Verse 27. And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Verse 28. Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice Verse 29. and come out — those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Verse 30. I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Verse 31. If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid. Verse 32. There is another who testifies about Me, and I know that His testimony about Me is valid. Verse 33. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. Verse 34. Even though I do not accept human testimony, I say these things so that you may be saved. Verse 35. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light. Verse 36. But I have testimony more substantial than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works I am doing — testify about Me that the Father has sent Me. Verse 37. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, Verse 38. nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. Verse 39. You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, Verse 40. yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.