Open Word

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 7:1-15

Verse 1. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Verse 2. “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. Verse 3. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. Verse 4. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ Verse 5. For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, Verse 6. if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, Verse 7. then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Verse 8. But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Verse 9. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, Verse 10. and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? Verse 11. Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD. Verse 12. But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. Verse 13. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, Verse 14. therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers. Verse 15. And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.

PSALM

Psalm 10

Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?

In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.

For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.

He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”

His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.

He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

They are crushed and beaten down; the helpless fall prey to his strength.

He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”

Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless.

Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.”

But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.

The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.

You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 20:1-17

Verse 1. In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me. Verse 2. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Verse 3. “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Have you come to inquire of Me? As surely as I live, I will not be consulted by you, declares the Lord GOD. Verse 4. Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers Verse 5. and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’ Verse 6. On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. Verse 7. And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’ Verse 8. But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt. Verse 9. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. Verse 10. So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. Verse 11. And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances— for the man who does these things will live by them. Verse 12. I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Verse 13. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances— though the man who does these things will live by them — and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness. Verse 14. But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Verse 15. Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them— a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands — Verse 16. because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols. Verse 17. Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or bring them to an end in the wilderness.

PSALM

Psalm 109:21-31

But You, O GOD, the Lord, deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name; deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.

For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.

I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.

I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to Your loving devotion.

Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.

Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

With my mouth I will thank the LORD profusely; I will praise Him in the presence of many.

For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

SECOND READING

Hebrews 3:7-4:11

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.