First Reading

I am the Lord, there is no other;

I form the light, and create the darkness,

I make well-being and create woe;

I, the Lord, do all these things.

Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,

like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.

Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;

let justice also spring up!

I, the Lord, have created this.

For thus says the Lord,

The creator of the heavens,

who is God,

The designer and maker of the earth

who established it,

Not creating it to be a waste,

but designing it be lived in:

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

Who announced this from the beginning

and foretold it from of old?

Was it not I, the Lord,

besides whom there is no other God?

There is no just and saving God but me.

Turn to me and be safe,

all you ends of the earth,

for I am God; there is no other!

By myself I swear,

uttering my just decree

and my unalterable word:

To me every knee shall bend;

by me every tongue shall swear,

Saying, “Only in the Lord

are just deeds and power.

Before him in shame shall come

all who vent their anger against him.

In the Lord shall be the vindication and the glory

of all the descendants of Israel.”