Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Hosea 2:14-3:5

Verse 14. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly. Verse 15. There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. Verse 16. In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’ Verse 17. For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked. Verse 18. On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety. Verse 19. So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion. Verse 20. And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.” Verse 21. “On that day I will respond —” declares the LORD — “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth. Verse 22. And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. Verse 23. And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Verse 1. Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols. ” Verse 2. So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. Verse 3. Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.” Verse 4. For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol. Verse 5. Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

PSALM

Psalm 44

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.

You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.

Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.

For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.

In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever.

But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.

You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.

You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.

You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,

at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.

All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.

Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?

For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.

Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Esther 5:1-14

Verse 1. On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king’s quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing the entrance. Verse 2. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter. Verse 3. “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king inquired. “What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.” Verse 4. “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king.” Verse 5. “Hurry,” commanded the king, “and bring Haman, so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. Verse 6. And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.” Verse 7. Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request: Verse 8. If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.” Verse 9. That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. Verse 10. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh, Verse 11. Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants. Verse 12. “What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king. Verse 13. Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Verse 14. His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

PSALM

Psalm 55:16-23

But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.

Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

He redeems my soul in peace from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.

God will hear and humiliate them — the One enthroned for the ages — because they do not change and they have no fear of God.

My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.

His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.

But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

SECOND READING

Colossians 2:16-3:1

Verse 16. Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. Verse 17. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. Verse 18. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. Verse 19. He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. Verse 20. If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: Verse 21. “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? Verse 22. These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Verse 23. Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Verse 1. Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.