Evening Prayer: July 30th, 2023

Ezekiel 28

28 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “Because your heart is proud,
    and you have said, ‘I am a god,
  I sit in the seat of the gods,
    in the heart of the seas,’
  yet you are but a man, and no god,
    though you make your heart like the heart of a god—
3   you are indeed wiser than Daniel;
    no secret is hidden from you;
4   by your wisdom and your understanding
    you have made wealth for yourself,
  and have gathered gold and silver
    into your treasuries;
5   by your great wisdom in your trade
    you have increased your wealth,
    and your heart has become proud in your wealth—
6   therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
  Because you make your heart
    like the heart of a god,
7   therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you,
    the most ruthless of the nations;
  and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom
    and defile your splendor.
8   They shall thrust you down into the pit,
    and you shall die the death of the slain
    in the heart of the seas.
9   Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’
    in the presence of those who kill you,
  though you are but a man, and no god,
    in the hands of those who slay you?
10   You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
    by the hand of foreigners;
    for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.”

11 Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “You were the signet of perfection,
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13   You were in Eden, the garden of God;
    every precious stone was your covering,
  sardius, topaz, and diamond,
    beryl, onyx, and jasper,
  sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
    and crafted in gold were your settings
    and your engravings.
  On the day that you were created
    they were prepared.
14   You were an anointed guardian cherub.
    I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
    in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15   You were blameless in your ways
    from the day you were created,
    till unrighteousness was found in you.
16   In the abundance of your trade
    you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
  so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
    and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub,
    from the midst of the stones of fire.
17   Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
    you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
  I cast you to the ground;
    I exposed you before kings,
    to feast their eyes on you.
18   By the multitude of your iniquities,
    in the unrighteousness of your trade
    you profaned your sanctuaries;
  so I brought fire out from your midst;
    it consumed you,
  and I turned you to ashes on the earth
    in the sight of all who saw you.
19   All who know you among the peoples
    are appalled at you;
  you have come to a dreadful end
    and shall be no more forever.”

20 The word of the LORD came to me: 21 “Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against her 22 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,
    and I will manifest my glory in your midst.
  And they shall know that I am the LORD
    when I execute judgments in her
    and manifest my holiness in her;
23   for I will send pestilence into her,
    and blood into her streets;
  and the slain shall fall in her midst,
    by the sword that is against her on every side.
  Then they will know that I am the LORD.

24 “And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.

25 “Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.”

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.
Please pause the service if you would like more time.

Mark 4

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

  “‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
  lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.