Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Isaiah 3:18-4:6

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

PSALM

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Rally Your mighty power and come to save us.

You uprooted a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and transplanted it.

You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

It sent out its branches to the Sea, and its shoots toward the River.

Why have You broken down its walls, so that all who pass by pick its fruit?

The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

Return, O God of Hosts, we pray! Look down from heaven and see! Attend to this vine—

the root Your right hand has planted, the son You have raised up for Yourself.

Your vine has been cut down and burned; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

Let Your hand be upon the man at Your right hand, on the son of man You have raised up for Yourself.

Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name.

Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

1 Samuel 6:1-16

Verse 1. When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months, Verse 2. the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.” Verse 3. They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.” Verse 4. “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Verse 5. Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land. Verse 6. Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people out so they could go on their way? Verse 7. Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. Verse 8. Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way, Verse 9. but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.” Verse 10. So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. Verse 11. Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors. Verse 12. And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh. Verse 13. Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight. Verse 14. The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. Verse 15. And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD. Verse 16. And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.

PSALM

Psalm 82

A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:

“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.

They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’

But like mortals you will die, and like rulers you will fall.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are Your inheritance.

SECOND READING

Matthew 24:15-27

Verse 15. So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), Verse 16. then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Verse 17. Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house. Verse 18. And let no one in the field return for his cloak. Verse 19. How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! Verse 20. Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath. Verse 21. For at that time there will be great tribulation, unseen from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. Verse 22. If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Verse 23. At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. Verse 24. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. Verse 25. See, I have told you in advance. Verse 26. So if they tell you, ‘There He is, in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Here He is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. Verse 27. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.