Evening Prayer, Rite Two for Wednesday, February 19, 2025

February 19, 2025

Wednesday In The Week Of 6 Epiphany

Psalm 141:2

Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Confession of Sin

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Invitatory and Psalter

Officiant: O God, make speed to save us.
People: O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Alleluia.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious Light,

pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,

O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

The Psalm or Psalms Appointed

Psalm 119:121-144

My flesh trembles with dread of you; *

I am afraid of your judgments.

Ayin Feci judicium

I have done what is just and right; *

do not deliver me to my oppressors.

Be surety for your servant's good; *

let not the proud oppress me.

My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation *

and for your righteous promise.

Deal with your servant according to your loving-kindness *

and teach me your statutes.

I am your servant; grant me understanding, *

that I may know your decrees.

It is time for you to act, O LORD, *

for they have broken your law.

Truly, I love your commandments *

more than gold and precious stones.

I hold all your commandments to be right for me; *

all paths of falsehood I abhor.

Pe Mirabilia

Your decrees are wonderful; *

therefore I obey them with all my heart.

When your word goes forth it gives light; *

it gives understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant; *

I long for your commandments.

Turn to me in mercy, *

as you always do to those who love your Name.

Steady my footsteps in your word; *

let no iniquity have dominion over me.

Rescue me from those who oppress me, *

and I will keep your commandments.

Let your countenance shine upon your servant *

and teach me your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears, *

because people do not keep your law.

Sadhe Justus es, Domine

You are righteous, O LORD, *

and upright are your judgments.

You have issued your decrees *

with justice and in perfect faithfulness.

My indignation has consumed me, *

because my enemies forget your words.

Your word has been tested to the uttermost, *

and your servant holds it dear.

I am small and of little account, *

yet I do not forget your commandments.

Your justice is an everlasting justice *

and your law is the truth.

Trouble and distress have come upon me, *

yet your commandments are my delight.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lessons

Gen 31:25-50

Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsfolk camped in the hill country of Gilead. Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword. Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre. And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? What you have done is foolish. It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ Even though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?” Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsfolk, point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered Rachel’s. Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt all about in the tent, but did not find them. And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched, but did not find the household gods.

Then Jacob became angry, and upbraided Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? Although you have felt about through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsfolk and your kinsfolk, so that they may decide between us two. These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. That which was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. It was like this with me: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

Laban and Jacob Make a Covenant

Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about their children whom they have borne? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me.” So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his kinsfolk, “Gather stones,” and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he called it Galeed, and the pillar Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other. If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else is with us, remember that God is witness between you and me.”

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.