Season after Pentecost

Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

Wednesday, October 20, 2027

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Job 41:12-34

Verse 12. I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. Verse 13. Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? Verse 14. Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? Verse 15. His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. Verse 16. One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. Verse 17. They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. Verse 18. His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Verse 19. Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! Verse 20. Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. Verse 21. His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. Verse 22. Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. Verse 23. The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. Verse 24. His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! Verse 25. When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. Verse 26. The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. Verse 27. He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. Verse 28. No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. Verse 29. A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. Verse 30. His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. Verse 31. He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. Verse 32. He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! Verse 33. Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear! Verse 34. He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

PSALM

Psalm 75

Verse 1. For the choirmaster: To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A song. We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your Name is near. The people declare Your wondrous works.
Verse 2. “When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.
Verse 3. When the earth and all its dwellers quake, it is I who bear up its pillars.
Verse 4. I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.
Verse 5. Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”
Verse 6. For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,
Verse 7. but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.
Verse 8. For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.
Verse 9. But I will proclaim Him forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
Verse 10. “All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

1 Samuel 12:1-25

Verse 1. Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king. Verse 2. Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Verse 3. Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” Verse 4. “You have not cheated us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.” Verse 5. Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied. Verse 6. Then Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the One who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Verse 7. Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the LORD with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers. Verse 8. When Jacob went to Egypt, your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. Verse 9. But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. Verse 10. Then they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’ Verse 11. So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely. Verse 12. But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’— even though the LORD your God was your king. Verse 13. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you. Verse 14. If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the LORD your God, then all will be well. Verse 15. But if you disobey the LORD and rebel against His command, then the hand of the LORD will be against you as it was against your fathers. Verse 16. Now, therefore, present yourselves and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes. Verse 17. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.” Verse 18. So Samuel called to the LORD, and on that day the LORD sent thunder and rain. As a result, all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. Verse 19. They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.” Verse 20. “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. Verse 21. Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. Verse 22. Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own. Verse 23. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way. Verse 24. Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Verse 25. But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

PSALM

Psalm 37:23-40

Verse 23. The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
Verse 24. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.
Verse 25. I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
Verse 26. They are ever generous and quick to lend, and their children are a blessing.
Verse 27. Turn away from evil and do good, so that you will abide forever.
Verse 28. For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
Verse 29. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
Verse 30. The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
Verse 31. The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.
Verse 32. Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,
Verse 33. the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.
Verse 34. Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
Verse 35. I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
Verse 36. yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
Verse 37. Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.
Verse 38. But the transgressors will all be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.
Verse 39. The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.
Verse 40. The LORD helps and delivers them; He rescues and saves them from the wicked, because they take refuge in Him.

SECOND READING

John 13:1-17

Verse 1. It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. Verse 2. The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Verse 3. Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. Verse 4. So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. Verse 5. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him. Verse 6. He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” Verse 7. Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Verse 8. “Never shall You wash my feet!” Peter told Him. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.” Verse 9. “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!” Verse 10. Jesus told him, “Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” Verse 11. For He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.” Verse 12. When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, “Do you know what I have done for you? Verse 13. You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am. Verse 14. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. Verse 15. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Verse 16. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Verse 17. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.