Send your Word, O Lord, like the rain,

Falling down upon the earth.

Send your Word.

We seek your endless grace,

With souls that hunger and thirst,

Sorrow and agonize.

We would all be lost in the dark

Without your guiding light.

 

Send your Word, O Lord, like the wind,

Blowing down upon the earth.

Send your Word.

We seek your wondrous power,

Pureness that rejects all sins,

Though they persist and cling.

Bring us to complete victory;

Set us free indeed.

 

Send your Word, O Lord, like the dew,

Coming gently upon the hills.

Send your Word.

We seek your endless love.

For life that suffers in strife

With adversaries and hurts,

Send your healing power of love;

We long for your new world.

 

Yasushige Imakoha, translated by Nobuaki Hanaoka, Japan

 

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As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”