Thursday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

2 Samuel 2:1-11

Verse 1. Some time later, David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” “Go up,” the LORD answered. Then David asked, “Where should I go?” “To Hebron,” replied the LORD. Verse 2. So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. Verse 3. David also took the men who were with him, each with his household, and they settled in the towns near Hebron. Verse 4. Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.” Verse 5. So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead to tell them, “The LORD bless you, because you showed this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him. Verse 6. Now may the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness, and I will also show you the same favor because you have done this. Verse 7. Now then, be strong and courageous, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me as their king.” Verse 8. Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim, Verse 9. and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin— over all Israel. Verse 10. Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. Verse 11. And the length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

PSALM

Psalm 48

A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain.

Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be a fortress.

For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.

They saw and were astounded; they fled in terror.

Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.

With a wind from the east You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish her forever.

Within Your temple, O God, we contemplate Your loving devotion.

Your name, O God, like Your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.

Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.

March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 7:1-15

Verse 1. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Verse 2. “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. Verse 3. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. Verse 4. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ Verse 5. For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, Verse 6. if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, Verse 7. then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Verse 8. But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Verse 9. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, Verse 10. and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? Verse 11. Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD. Verse 12. But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. Verse 13. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, Verse 14. therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers. Verse 15. And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

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.

SECOND READING

1 Corinthians 4:8-13

Verse 8. Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really were kings, so that we might be kings with you! Verse 9. For it seems to me that God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession, like prisoners appointed for death. We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men. Verse 10. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. Verse 11. To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. Verse 12. We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; Verse 13. when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.