A reading from
the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
The way of the just is smooth;/ the path of the just you make level./ Yes, for your way and your judgments, O Lord,/ we look to you;/ Your name and your title/ are the desire of our souls./ My soul yearns for you in the night,/ yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you;/ When your judgment dawns upon the earth,/ the world’s inhabitants learn justice./ O Lord, you mete out peace to us,/ for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.
O Lord, oppressed by your punishment,/ we cried out in anguish under your chastising./ As a woman about to give birth/ writhes and cries out in her pains,/ so were we in your presence, O Lord./ We conceived and writhed in pain,/ giving birth to wind;/ Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,/ the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth./ But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;/ awake and sing, you who lie in the dust./ For your dew is a dew of light,/ and the land of shades gives birth.
The word of the Lord.
