December 14th : First ReadingI, the Lord, shall create deliveranceA Reading from the Book of Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25

December 14th :  First Reading

I, the Lord, shall create deliverance

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25 

Apart from me, all is nothing.

I am the Lord, unrivalled,

I form the light and create the dark.

I make good fortune and create calamity,

it is I, the Lord, who do all this.

Send victory like a dew, you heavens,

and let the clouds rain it down.

Let the earth open

for salvation to spring up.

Let deliverance, too, bud forth

which I, the Lord, shall create.

Yes, thus says the Lord,

creator of the heavens,

who is God,

who formed the earth and made it,

who set it firm,

created it no chaos,

but a place to be lived in:

  ‘I am the Lord, unrivalled:

  there is no other god besides me.

  A God of integrity and a saviour:

  there is none apart from me.

  Turn to me and be saved,

  all the ends of the earth,

  for I am God unrivalled.

  ‘By my own self I swear it;

  what comes from my mouth is truth,

  a word irrevocable:

  before me every knee shall bend,

  by me every tongue shall swear,

  saying, “From the Lord alone

  come victory and strength.”

  To him shall come, ashamed,

  all who raged against him.

  Victorious and glorious through the Lord shall be

  all the descendants of Israel.’

The Word of the Lord.