Friday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Ruth 4:11-17

Verse 11. “We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. Verse 12. And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the LORD will give you by this young woman.” Verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he had relations with her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Verse 14. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel. Verse 15. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Verse 16. And Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a nurse to him. Verse 17. The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

PSALM

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat — for He gives sleep to His beloved.

Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Deuteronomy 15:1-11

Verse 1. At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. Verse 2. This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed. Verse 3. You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you. Verse 4. There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, Verse 5. if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today. Verse 6. When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none. Verse 7. If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. Verse 8. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. Verse 9. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. Verse 10. Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. Verse 11. For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

PSALM

Psalm 146

Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.

When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,

the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah!

SECOND READING

Hebrews 9:15-24

Verse 15. Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Verse 16. In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, Verse 17. because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive. Verse 18. That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. Verse 19. For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, Verse 20. saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” Verse 21. In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. Verse 22. According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Verse 23. So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Verse 24. For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.