April 8th : Night VigilFourth reading With everlasting love the Lord your redeemer has taken pity on youA Reading from the Book of Isaiah 54:5-14

April 8th :  Night Vigil

Fourth reading 

With everlasting love the Lord your redeemer has taken pity on you

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah 54:5-14 

Thus says the Lord:

Now your creator will be your husband,

his name, the Lord of Hosts;

your redeemer will be the Holy One of Israel,

he is called the God of the whole earth.

Yes, like a forsaken wife, distressed in spirit,

the Lord calls you back.

Does a man cast off the wife of his youth?

says your God.

I did forsake you for a brief moment,

but with great love will I take you back.

In excess of anger, for a moment

I hid my face from you.

But with everlasting love I have taken pity on you,

says the Lord, your redeemer.

I am now as I was in the days of Noah

when I swore that Noah’s waters

should never flood the world again.

So now I swear concerning my anger with you

and the threats I made against you;

for the mountains may depart,

the hills be shaken,

but my love for you will never leave you

and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken,

says the Lord who takes pity on you.

Unhappy creature, storm-tossed, disconsolate,

see, I will set your stones on carbuncles

and your foundations on sapphires.

I will make rubies your battlements,

your gates crystal,

and your entire wall precious stones.

Your sons will all be taught by the Lord.

The prosperity of your sons will be great.

You will be founded on integrity;

remote from oppression, you will have nothing to fear;

remote from terror, it will not approach you.

The Word of the Lord.

Psalm

Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13 

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me

  and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,

  restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,

  give thanks to his holy name.

His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.

  At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

The Lord listened and had pity.

  The Lord came to my help.

For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:

  O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.