Evening Prayer

Wednesday after Lectionary 21
Wednesday, August 26, 2026

The Invitatory and Psalter

O God, make speed to save us.

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 forever. 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.

Psalm 18:1–3, 20–32 Diligam te, Domine

I love you, O Lord my strength, *

O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.

My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, *

my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge;

you are worthy of praise.

I will call upon the Lord, *

and so shall I be saved from my enemies.

The Lord rewarded me because of my righteous dealing; *

because my hands were clean he rewarded me;

For I have kept the ways of the Lord *

and have not offended against my God;

For all his judgments are before my eyes, *

and his decrees I have not put away from me;

For I have been blameless with him *

and have kept myself from iniquity;

Therefore the Lord rewarded me according to my righteous dealing, *

because of the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

With the faithful you show yourself faithful, O God; *

with the forthright you show yourself forthright.

With the pure you show yourself pure, *

but with the crooked you are wily.

You will save a lowly people, *

but you will humble the haughty eyes.

You, O Lord, are my lamp; *

my God, you make my darkness bright.

With you I will break down an enclosure; *

with the help of my God I will scale any wall.

As for God, his ways are perfect;

the words of the Lord are tried in the fire; *

he is a shield to all who trust in him.

For who is God, but the Lord? *

who is the Rock, except our God?

It is God who girds me about with strength *

and makes my way secure.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

The Lessons

First Lesson Isaiah 28:14–22 (NRSV)

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not come to us;

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God,

See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:

“One who trusts will not panic.”

¹⁷And I will make justice the line,

and righteousness the plummet;

hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.

¹⁸Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

you will be beaten down by it.

¹⁹As often as it passes through, it will take you;

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it.

²¹For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim,

he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

²²Now therefore do not scoff,

or your bonds will be made stronger;

for I have heard a decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.

The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.