Thursday in Season after Pentecost

Semicontinuous (Track 1)

FIRST READING

Jeremiah 12:14-13:11

Verse 14. This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. Verse 15. But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land. Verse 16. And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’— just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal— then they will be established among My people. Verse 17. But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.” Verse 1. This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” Verse 2. So I bought a loincloth in accordance with the word of the LORD, and I put it around my waist. Verse 3. Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: Verse 4. “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.” Verse 5. So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD had commanded me. Verse 6. Many days later the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and get the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” Verse 7. So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined— of no use at all. Verse 8. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Verse 9. “This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. Verse 10. These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth — of no use at all. Verse 11. For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.

PSALM

Psalm 79:1-9

A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,

for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.

Complementary (Track 2)

FIRST READING

Exodus 23:1-9

Verse 1. “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. Verse 2. You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Verse 3. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. Verse 4. If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. Verse 5. If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it. Verse 6. You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. Verse 7. Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty. Verse 8. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Verse 9. Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

PSALM

Psalm 113

Hallelujah! Give praise, O servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD.

Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forevermore.

From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.

The LORD is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God, the One enthroned on high?

He humbles Himself to behold the heavens and the earth.

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.

He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!

SECOND READING

Romans 3:1-8

Verse 1. What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Verse 2. Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. Verse 3. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Verse 4. Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.” Verse 5. But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. Verse 6. Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? Verse 7. However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Verse 8. Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!