Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Isaiah 9:18-10:4

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

PSALM

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23

A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets.

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.

He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:

“Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rightly orders his way, I will show the salvation of God.”

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

Verse 1. There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: Verse 2. God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction. Verse 3. A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. Verse 4. For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. Verse 5. The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man, Verse 6. even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

PSALM

Psalm 33:12-22

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance!

The LORD looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.

From His dwelling place He gazes on all who inhabit the earth.

He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.

No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.

Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion

to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.

For our hearts rejoice in Him, since we trust in His holy name.

May Your loving devotion rest on us, O LORD, as we put our hope in You.

SECOND READING

Acts 7:1-8

Verse 1. Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” Verse 2. And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, Verse 3. and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’ Verse 4. So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living. Verse 5. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child. Verse 6. God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. Verse 7. ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’ Verse 8. Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.