[Ant 1]
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, * which shall never hold their peace day nor night, praising the Name of the Lord.

[Versum 1]
V. Let the evening prayer ascend unto thee, O Lord.
R. And let there descend upon us thy mercy.

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the book of Micheas
!Mic 1:1-3
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micheas the Morasthite, in the days of Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda: which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all ye people: and let the earth give ear, and all that is therein: and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For behold the Lord will come forth out of his place: and he will come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth.

[Responsory1]
@Tempora/Pent01-0:Responsory1

[Lectio2]
!Mic 1:4-6
4 And the mountains shall be melted under him: and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep place.
5 For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem
6 And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the valley, and will lay her foundations bare.

[Responsory2]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory2

[Lectio3]
!Mic 1:7-9
7 And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and unto the hire of a harlot they shall return.
8 Therefore will I lament and howl: I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches.
9 Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda, it hath touched the gate of my people even to Jerusalem.

[Responsory3]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory3

[Lectio4]
From the Sermon of St Basil the Great, (Archbishop of Caesarea-in-Pontus,) upon the Thirty-third Psalm. Whenever the desire to sin cometh over thee, I would that thou couldest think of the awful and overwhelming judgment-seat of Christ. There the Judge shall sit upon a throne high and lifted up. Every creature shall stand before Him, quaking because of the glory of His presence. There are we to be led up, one by one, to give account for those things which we have done in life. Presently there will be found, by the sides of those who have in life wrought much evil, dreadful and hideous angels with faces of fire, and burning breath, appointed thereto, and showing their evil will, in appearance like the night, in their despair and hatred of mankind.

[Responsory4]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory4

[Lectio5]
Think again of the bottomless pit, the impenetrable darkness, the lightless fire, burning, but not glowing the poisonous mass of worms, preying upon the flesh, ever feeding, and never filled, causing by their gnawing unbearable agony~
lastly, the greatest punishment of all, shame and confusion for ever. Have a dread of these things, and let that dread correct thee, and be as a curb to thy mind to hold it in from the hankering after sin.

[Responsory5]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory5

[Lectio6]
This fear of the Lord the Prophet hath promised to teach. But he hath not promised to teach it to all, but only to such as will hear him not to such as have fallen far away, but to such as run to him, hungry for salvation, not to such as have no part in the promises, but to such as by baptism are born children of adoption, set at peace and oneness with the Word. Come, ye children, saith he, that is to say, Draw nigh unto me by good works, all ye who by the new birth have become the worthy children of light, hearken unto me, all ye who have the ears of your heart opened, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, even the fear of that Being of Whom we have just been speaking.

[Responsory6]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory6

[Responsory7]
@Tempora/111-0:Responsory7

[Responsory8]
@Tempora/Pent01-0:Responsory8
