Isaiah 49.6-10 (6th Hour)

6And he said to me, It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel: behold, I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth. 7Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the God of Israel, Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes: kings shall behold him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord's sake: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen you. 8Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I succored you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages: 9saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth; and bidding them that are in darkness show themselves. They shall be fed in all the ways, and in all the paths shall be their pasture. 10They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall he lead them.

Genesis 31.3-16 (Vespers)

3And the Lord said to Jacob, Return to the land of your father, and to your family, and I will be with you. 4And Jacob sent and called Lea and Rachel to the plain where the flocks were. 5And he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father was with me. 6And you⌃ too know that with all my might I have served your father. 7But your father deceived me, and changed my wages for the ten lambs, yet God gave him not power to hurt me. 8If he should say thus, The speckled shall be your reward, then all the cattle would bear speckled; and if he should say, The white shall be your reward, then would all the cattle bear white. 9So God has taken away all the cattle of your father, and given them to me. 10And it came to pass when the cattle conceived and were with young, that I saw with my eyes in sleep, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots. 11And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob; and I said, What is it? 12And he said, Look up with your eyes, and behold the he-goats and the rams leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, speckled and variegated and spotted with ash-colored spots; for I have seen all things that Laban does to you. 13I am God that appeared to you in the place of God where you anointed a pillar to me, and vowed to me there a vow; now then arise and depart out of this land, depart into the land of your nativity, and I will be with you. 14And Rachel and Lea answered and said to him, Have we yet a part or inheritance in the house of our father? 15Are we not considered strangers by him? for he has sold us, and quite devoured our money. 16All the wealth and the glory which God has taken from our father, it shall be our's and our children's; now then do whatever God has said to you.

Proverbs 21.3-21 (Vespers)

3To do justly and to speak truth, are more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices. 4A high-minded man is stout-hearted in his pride; and the lamp of the wicked is sin. 6He that gathers treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity on to the snares of death. 7Destruction shall lodge with the ungodly; for they refuse to do justly. 8To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right. 9It is better to dwell in a corner on the house-top, than in plastered rooms with unrighteousness, and in an open house. 10The soul of the ungodly shall not be pitied by any man. 11When an intemperate man is punished the simple becomes wiser: and a wise man understanding will receive knowledge. 12A righteous man understands the hearts of the ungodly: and despises the ungodly for their wickedness. 13He that stops his ears from hearing the poor, himself also shall cry, and there shall be none to hear him. 14A secret gift calms anger: but he that forbears to give stirs up strong wrath. 15It is the joy of the righteous to do judgment: but a holy man is abominable with evil-doers. 16A man that wanders out of the way of righteousness, shall rest in the congregation of giants. 17A poor man loves mirth, loving wine and oil in abundance; 18and a transgressor is the abomination of a righteous man. 19It is better to dwell in a wilderness than with a quarrelsome and talkative and passionate woman. 20A desirable treasure will rest on the mouth of the wise; but foolish men will swallow it up. 21The way of righteousness and mercy will find life and glory.

James 1.1-12 (Vespers, St Mark)

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; 10and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. 11For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

12Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.

James 1.13-27 (Vespers, St Mark)

13Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. 18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 21Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

26If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 2.1-13 (Vespers, St Mark)

1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. 2For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, 3and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” 4haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? 7Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

8However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.