Season after Pentecost
Thursday in Season after Pentecost
Thursday, October 19, 2028
Semicontinuous (Track 1)
FIRST READING
Jeremiah 26:1-15
Verse 1. At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: Verse 2. “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word. Verse 3. Perhaps they will listen and turn— each from his evil way of life— so that I may relent of the disaster I am planning to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds. Verse 4. And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you, Verse 5. and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen, Verse 6. then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’” Verse 7. Now the priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD, Verse 8. and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die! Verse 9. How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this house will become like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted!” And all the people assembled against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. Verse 10. When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king’s palace to the house of the LORD and sat there at the entrance of the New Gate. Verse 11. Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!” Verse 12. But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Verse 13. So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you. Verse 14. As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right. Verse 15. But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the LORD has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”
PSALM
Psalm 119:97-104
Complementary (Track 2)
FIRST READING
Isaiah 54:11-17
Verse 11. “O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires. Verse 12. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. Verse 13. Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity. Verse 14. In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you. Verse 15. If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you. Verse 16. Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc. Verse 17. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,”
PSALM
Psalm 121
SECOND READING
Acts 17:22-34
Verse 22. Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. Verse 23. For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. Verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. Verse 25. Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. Verse 26. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. Verse 27. God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. Verse 28. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ Verse 29. Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. Verse 30. Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. Verse 31. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” Verse 32. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.” Verse 33. At that, Paul left the Areopagus. Verse 34. But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.