Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Song of Solomon 5:2-6:3

Verse 2. I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” Verse 3. I have taken off my robe — must I put it back on? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? Verse 4. My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him. Verse 5. I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. Verse 6. I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer. Verse 7. I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls. Verse 8. O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love. Verse 9. How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so? Verse 10. My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. Verse 11. His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. Verse 12. His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels. Verse 13. His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. Verse 14. His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is polished ivory bedecked with sapphires. Verse 15. His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. Verse 16. His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Verse 1. Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you. Verse 2. My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies. Verse 3. I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

PSALM

Psalm 144:9-15

I will sing to You a new song, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You —

to Him who gives victory to kings, who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.

Set me free and rescue me from the grasp of foreigners, whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.

Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets.

Blessed are the people of whom this is so; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Deuteronomy 4:15-20

Verse 15. So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful Verse 16. that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, Verse 17. of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, Verse 18. or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below. Verse 19. When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars— all the host of heaven— do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Verse 20. Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

PSALM

Psalm 106:1-6, 13-23, 47-48

Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.

Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise?

Blessed are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation,

that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance.

We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.

They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.

So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.

In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram.

Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked.

At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.

They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,

wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!

SECOND READING

1 Peter 2:19-25

Verse 19. For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. Verse 20. How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. Verse 21. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: Verse 22. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” Verse 23. When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. Verse 24. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” Verse 25. For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.