Open Word

FIRST READING

1 Chronicles 11:1-9

Verse 1. Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood. Verse 2. Even in times past, while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And the LORD your God said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’” Verse 3. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where David made a covenant with them before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD through Samuel. Verse 4. Then David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus), where the Jebusites inhabited the land. Verse 5. The people of Jebus said to David, “You will never get in here.” Nevertheless , David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David). Verse 6. Now David had said, “Whoever is the first to strike down a Jebusite will become chief commander.” And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and he became the chief. Verse 7. So David took up residence in the fortress; that is why it was called the City of David. Verse 8. He built up the city around it, from the supporting terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city. Verse 9. And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of Hosts was with him.

PSALM

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.

In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,

where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.

For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

SECOND READING

Revelation 7:13-17

Verse 13. Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” Verse 14. “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Verse 15. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. Verse 16. ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’ Verse 17. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ ”