Theme for the Second Week  of Lent
Theme: Lord God, by your Word fill me with a spirit of hope and trust.

– Reading for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Isaiah 51:1-16

51 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    you who seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn
    and to the quarry from which you were dug.
² Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah, who bore you,
for he was but one when I called him,
    but I blessed him and made him many.
³ For the Lord will comfort Zion;
    he will comfort all her waste places
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
    her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.

⁴ Listen to me, my people,
    and give heed to me, my nation,
for a teaching will go out from me
    and my justice for a light to the peoples.
⁵ I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
    and for my arm they hope.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens
    and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and those who live on it will die like gnats,
but my salvation will be forever,
    and my deliverance will never be ended.

⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
do not fear the reproach of others,
    and do not be dismayed when they revile you.
⁸ For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my deliverance will be forever
    and my salvation to all generations.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength,
    O arm of the Lord!
Awake, as in days of old,
    the generations of long ago!
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?
¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep;
who made the depths of the sea a way
    for the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹ So the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with rejoicing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain joy and gladness,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹² I, I am he who comforts you;
    why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
    a human being who fades like grass?
¹³ You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
You fear continually all day long
    because of the fury of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction.
    But where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴ The oppressed shall speedily be released;
    they shall not die and go down to the Pit,
    nor shall they lack bread.
¹⁵ For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.
¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out the heavens
    and laying the foundations of the earth
    and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

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