Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Ruth 3:1-7

Verse 1. One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that it may be well with you? Verse 2. Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Verse 3. Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. Verse 4. When he lies down, note the place where he lies. Then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will explain to you what you should do.” Verse 5. “I will do everything you say,” Ruth answered. Verse 6. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do. Verse 7. After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

PSALM

Psalm 18:20-30

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all His ordinances are before me; I have not disregarded His statutes.

And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity.

So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.

For You, O LORD, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.

For in You I can charge an army, and with my God I can scale a wall.

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Deuteronomy 28:58-29:1

Verse 58. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name— the LORD your God— Verse 59. He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. Verse 60. He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. Verse 61. The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. Verse 62. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. Verse 63. Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Verse 64. Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Verse 65. Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. Verse 66. So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. Verse 67. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’— because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see. Verse 68. The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.” Verse 1. These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

PSALM

Psalm 51

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

SECOND READING

Acts 7:17-29

Verse 17. As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number. Verse 18. Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt. Verse 19. He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die. Verse 20. At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in the sight of God. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house. Verse 21. When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Verse 22. So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. Verse 23. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. Verse 24. And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him. Verse 25. He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not. Verse 26. The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ Verse 27. But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Verse 28. Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ Verse 29. At this remark, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner and had two sons.