Psalm 107:33-43

The Lord turneth the floods into a wilderness *

and drieth up the water-springs.

A fruitful land maketh he barren *

for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

Again, he maketh the wilderness a standing water *

and water-springs of a dry ground.

And there he setteth the hungry *

that they may build them a city to dwell in;

That they may sow their land, and plant vineyards *

to yield them fruits of increase.

He blesseth them, so that they multiply exceedingly *

and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.

And again, when they are minished, and brought low *

through oppression, through any plague, or trouble;

Though he suffer them to be evil intreated through tyrants *

and let them wander out of the way in the wilderness;

Yet helpeth he the poor out of misery *

and maketh him households like a flock of sheep.

The righteous will consider this, and rejoice *

and the mouth of all wickedness shall be stopped.

Whoso is wise will ponder these things *

and they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

(Translation: Coverdale)

A Reading

(2 Kings 19:21-36)

This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.

For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

(Translation: Authorized Version)

A period of silence may follow.

Canticle