Isaiah 1.19-2.3
(6th Hour)
19And if you⌃ be willing, and listen to me, you⌃ shall eat the good of the land:
20but if you⌃ be not willing, nor listen to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
21How has the faithful city Sion, once full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers.
22Your silver is worthless, your wine merchants mix the wine with water.
23Your princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.
24Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty men of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against my adversaries, and I will execute judgment on my enemies.
25And I will bring my hand upon you, and purge you completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from you all transgressors.
26And I will establish your judges as before, and your counselors as at the beginning: and afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city of Sion.
27For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.
28And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed.
29For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted.
30For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water.
31And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench them.
1The word which came to Esaias the son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem.
2For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it.
3And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
Genesis 1.14-23
(Vespers)
14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.
15And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so.
16And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also.
17And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth,
18and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20And God said, Let the waters bring forth reptiles having life, and winged creatures flying above the earth in the firmament of heaven, and it was so.
21And God made great whales, and every living reptile, which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every creature that flies with wings according to its kind, and God saw that they were good.
22And God blessed them saying, Increase and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the creatures that fly be multiplied on the earth.
23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
Proverbs 1.20-33
(Vespers)
20Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly.
21And she makes proclamation on the top of the walls, and sits by the gates of princes; and at the gates of the city boldly says,
22So long as the simple cleave to justice, they shall not be ashamed: but the foolish being lovers of haughtiness, having become ungodly have hated knowledge, and are become subject to reproofs.
23Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of my breath, and I will instruct you in my speech.
24Since I called, and you⌃ did not listen; and I spoke at length, and you⌃ gave no heed;
25but you⌃ set at nothing my counsels, and disregarded my reproofs;
26therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; and I will rejoice against you when ruin comes upon you:
27yes when dismay suddenly comes upon you, and your overthrow shall arrive like a tempest; and when tribulation and distress shall come upon you, or when ruin shall come upon you.
28For it shall be that when you⌃ call upon me, I will not listen to you: wicked men shall seek me, but shall not find me.
29For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the word of the Lord:
30neither would they attend to my counsels, but derided my reproofs.
31Therefore shall they eat the fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own ungodliness.
32For because they wronged the simple, they shall be slain; and an inquisition shall ruin the ungodly.
33But he that hearkens to me shall dwell in confidence, and shall rest securely from all evil.
Isaiah 43.9-14
(Vespers, Martyrs)
9All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them: who will declare these things? or who will declare to you things from the beginning? let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth.
10Be you⌃ my witnesses, and I too am a witness, says the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you⌃ may know, and believe, and understand that I am he: before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none.
11I am God; and beside me there is no Saviour.
12I have declared, and have saved; I have reproached, and there was no strange god among you: you⌃ are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God,
13even from the beginning; and there is none that can deliver out of my hands: I will work, and who shall turn it back?
14Thus says the Lord God that redeems you, the Holy One of Israel; for your sakes I will send to Babylon, and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships.
Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9
(Vespers, Martyrs)
1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.
2In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,
3And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.
4For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.
5And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.
6As gold in the furnace has he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.
7And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.
8They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
9They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he has care for his elect.
Wisdom of Solomon 5.15-6.3
(Vespers, Martyrs)
15But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.
16Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.
17He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armor, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.
18He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.
19He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.
20His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.
21Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.
22And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.
23Yes, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.
1Hear therefore, O you⌃ kings, and understand; learn, you⌃ that be judges of the ends of the earth.
2Give ear, you⌃ that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations.
3For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.
Luke 21.12-19
(Matins Gospel, Martyrs)
12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
13It will turn out as a testimony for you.
14Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer,
15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
16You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.
17You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.
18And not a hair of your head will perish.
19“By your endurance you will win your lives.
Hebrews 12.1-10
(Epistle, Martyrs)
1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.
5You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children.
9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
Matthew 20.1-16
(Gospel, Martyrs)
1“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
4He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.
5Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
6About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
7“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’
8“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
9“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
10When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
11When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
12saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’
13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?
14Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
16So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”