Season after Pentecost
Thursday in Season after Pentecost
Thursday, August 3, 2028
Semicontinuous (Track 1)
FIRST READING
Hosea 8:1-14
Verse 1. Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law. Verse 2. Israel cries out to Me, “O our God, we know You!” Verse 3. But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him. Verse 4. They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction. Verse 5. He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? Verse 6. For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria. Verse 7. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up. Verse 8. Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel. Verse 9. For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers. Verse 10. Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression of the king of princes. Verse 11. Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning. Verse 12. Though I wrote for them the great things of My law, they regarded them as something strange. Verse 13. Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt. Verse 14. Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.
PSALM
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Complementary (Track 2)
FIRST READING
Proverbs 23:1-11
Verse 1. When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you, Verse 2. and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite. Verse 3. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. Verse 4. Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. Verse 5. When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. Verse 6. Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies; Verse 7. for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. Verse 8. You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. Verse 9. Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Verse 10. Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, Verse 11. for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
PSALM
Psalm 49:1-12
SECOND READING
Romans 11:33-36
Verse 33. O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! Verse 34. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” Verse 35. “Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?” Verse 36. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.