Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

1 Chronicles 14:1-2

Verse 1. Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs, stonemasons, and carpenters, to build a palace for him. Verse 2. And David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had highly exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

PSALM

Psalm 89:20-37

I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him.

No enemy will exact tribute; no wicked man will oppress him.

I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted.

I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers.

He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’

I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him, and My covenant with him will stand fast.

I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,

if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments,

I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes.

But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness.

I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness — I will not lie to David —

his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun,

like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.”

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 10:17-25

Verse 17. Gather up your belongings from this land, you who live under siege. Verse 18. For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be captured.” Verse 19. Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, “This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it.” Verse 20. My tent is destroyed, and all its ropes are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one left to pitch my tent or set up my curtains. Verse 21. For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. Verse 22. Listen! The sound of a report is coming — a great commotion from the land to the north. It will make the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt for jackals. Verse 23. I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps. Verse 24. Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice — not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing. Verse 25. Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.

PSALM

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

SECOND READING

Acts 17:16-31

Verse 16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols. Verse 17. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day. Verse 18. Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. Verse 19. So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? Verse 20. For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” Verse 21. Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas. Verse 22. Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. Verse 23. For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. Verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. Verse 25. Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. Verse 26. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. Verse 27. God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. Verse 28. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ Verse 29. Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. Verse 30. Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. Verse 31. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”