Prayer Before Reading Holy Scripture

O Master Who loves mankind, illuminate our hearts with the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open the eyes of our mind to understand the teachings of Your Gospel. Instill in us also the fear of Your blessed commandments, that we may overcome all carnal desires, entering upon a spiritual life and understanding and acting in all things according to Your holy will. For You are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies, O Christ God, and to You we give glory together with Your eternal Father and Your all-holy, gracious and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 5:16-25

But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.

Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture, and in the waste places of the fat ones strangers shall eat.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope;

that say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it.”

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; he has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 4:16-26

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son; Enoch.

To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujae00begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.

Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.

And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.

And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; O wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy- sevenfold.”

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

Old Testament Reading: Proverbs 5:15-6:3

Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?

Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you.

Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love.

For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, and be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths.

His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin.

He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,

you are snared by the words of your own mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth.

So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: go and humble yourself; plead with your friend.

Saints and Feasts

Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem; Theodora the Righteous; Pionios the Presbyter; George the New Wonderworker of Constantinople; Trophimos and Thallos the Martyrs