Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

1 Samuel 13:23-14:23

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

PSALM

Psalm 53

For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.

God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.

All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon God.

There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When God restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 31:1-12

Verse 1. In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Verse 2. “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: ‘Who can be compared to your greatness? Verse 3. Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds. Verse 4. The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field. Verse 5. Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the field. Its branches multiplied, and its boughs grew long as it spread them out because of the abundant waters. Verse 6. All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade. Verse 7. It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant waters. Verse 8. The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty. Verse 9. I made it beautiful with its many branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God.’ Verse 10. Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height, Verse 11. I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it. Verse 12. Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

PSALM

Psalm 52

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.

You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth.

You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue.

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living.

The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,

“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.

I will praise You forever, because You have done it. I will wait on Your name — for it is good — in the presence of Your saints.

SECOND READING

Galatians 6:11-18

Verse 11. See what large letters I am using to write to you with my own hand! Verse 12. Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. Verse 13. For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. Verse 14. But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Verse 15. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation. Verse 16. Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God. Verse 17. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.