A reading from
the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 54:5-14
The One who has become your husband is your Maker;/ his name is the Lord of hosts;/ your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,/ called God of all the earth./ The Lord calls you back,/ like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,/ a wife married in youth and then cast off,/ says your God./ For a brief moment I abandoned you,/ but with great tenderness I will take you back./ In an outburst of wrath, for a moment/ I hid my face from you;/ but with enduring love I take pity on you,/ says the Lord, your redeemer./ This is for me like the days of Noah,/ when I swore that the waters of Noah/ should never again deluge the earth;/ so I have sworn not to be angry with you,/ or to rebuke you./ Though the mountains leave their place/ and the hills be shaken,/ my love shall never leave you/ nor my covenant of peace be shaken,/ says the Lord, who has mercy on you./ O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled,/ I lay your pavements in carnelians,/ and your foundations in sapphires;/ I will make your battlements of rubies,/ your gates of carbuncles,/ and all your walls of precious stones./ All your children shall be taught by the Lord,/ and great shall be the peace of your children./ In justice shall you be established,/ far from the fear of oppression,/ where destruction cannot come near you.
The word of the Lord.
