Friday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 6:20-30

Verse 20. What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.” Verse 21. Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.” Verse 22. This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth. Verse 23. They grasp the bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Zion.” Verse 24. We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor. Verse 25. Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side. Verse 26. O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. Verse 27. “I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways. Verse 28. All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt. Verse 29. The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged. Verse 30. They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”

PSALM

Psalm 71:1-6

In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.

In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.

Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.

Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

For You are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.

I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

2 Chronicles 8:12-15

Verse 12. At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the portico. Verse 13. He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts — the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 14. In keeping with the ordinances of his father David, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, and the Levites for their duties to offer praise and to minister before the priests according to the daily requirement. He also appointed gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God. Verse 15. They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests or the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

PSALM

Psalm 103:1-8

Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds —

He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,

who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

SECOND READING

Acts 17:1-9

Verse 1. When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Verse 2. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, Verse 3. explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared. Verse 4. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women. Verse 5. The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people. Verse 6. But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here, Verse 7. and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!” Verse 8. On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed. Verse 9. And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them.