Sunday, February 22, 2015

plenty, even on the parched land

If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the Lord will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
Repairer of the breach, they shall call you,
Restorer of ruined homesteads.

If you hold back your foot from the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the Lord's holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice -
Then you shall delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

- from the book of Isaiah 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for this beautiful passage today, Lisa, on the first Sunday in Lent.

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