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.

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A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 55:1-11

Thus says the Lord:/ All you who are thirsty,/ come to the water!/ You who have no money,/ come, receive grain and eat;/ come, without paying and without cost,/ drink wine and milk!/ Why spend your money for what is not bread,/ your wages for what fails to satisfy?/ Heed me, and you shall eat well,/ you shall delight in rich fare./ Come to me heedfully,/ listen, that you may have life./ I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,/ the benefits assured to David./ As I made him a witness to the peoples,/ a leader and commander of nations,/ so shall you summon a nation you knew not,/ and nations that knew you not shall run to you,/ because of the Lord, your God,/ the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

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A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord God has given me/ a well-trained tongue,/ That I might know how to speak to the weary/ a word that will rouse them./ Morning after morning/ he opens my ear that I may hear;/ And I have not rebelled,/ have not turned back./ I gave my back to those who beat me,/ my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;/ My face I did not shield/ from buffets and spitting.

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A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 49:1-6

Hear me, O islands,/ listen, O distant peoples./ The Lord called me from birth,/ from my mother’s womb he gave me my name./ He made of me a sharp-edged sword/ and concealed me in the shadow of his arm./ He made me a polished arrow,/ in his quiver he hid me./ You are my servant, he said to me,/ Israel, through whom I show my glory.

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