Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

2 Samuel 3:31-38

Verse 31. Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier. Verse 32. When they buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb, and all the people wept. Verse 33. And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool? Verse 34. Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. As a man falls before the wicked, so also you fell.” And all the people wept over him even more. Verse 35. Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!” Verse 36. All the people took note and were pleased. In fact, everything the king did pleased them. Verse 37. So on that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner. Verse 38. Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great prince has fallen today in Israel?

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 7:27-34

Verse 27. When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. Verse 28. Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. Verse 29. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ Verse 30. For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. Verse 31. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire — something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind. Verse 32. So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. Verse 33. The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away. Verse 34. I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”

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

Matthew 8:18-22

Verse 18. When Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea. Verse 19. And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Verse 20. Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” Verse 21. Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Verse 22. But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”