First reading
Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in mere mortals
and makes mere flesh their strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes,
but shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
That person shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.”