Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

1 Samuel 15:24-31

Verse 24. Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Verse 25. Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.” Verse 26. “I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.” Verse 27. As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. Verse 28. So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Verse 29. Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.” Verse 30. “I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.” Verse 31. So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

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

Jeremiah 22:1-9

Verse 1. This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there, Verse 2. saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David— you and your officials and your people who enter these gates. Verse 3. This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. Verse 4. For if you will indeed carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses — they and their officials and their people. Verse 5. But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself, declares the LORD, that this house will become a pile of rubble.’” Verse 6. For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited. Verse 7. I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire. Verse 8. And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’ Verse 9. Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”

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

Luke 6:43-45

Verse 43. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Verse 44. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. Verse 45. The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.