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Psalm 100

1  O be joyful in the Lord, all the earth; ♦︎
   serve the Lord with gladness
      and come before his presence with a song.
2  Know that the Lord is God; ♦︎
   it is he that has made us and we are his;
      we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
3  Enter his gates with thanksgiving
      and his courts with praise; ♦︎
   give thanks to him and bless his name.
4  For the Lord is gracious; his steadfast love is everlasting, ♦︎
   and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.

The Degenerate City

²¹ How the faithful city
   has become a whore!
   She that was full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her—
   but now murderers!
²² Your silver has become dross,
   your wine is mixed with water.
²³ Your princes are rebels
   and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
   and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan,
   and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

²⁴ Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,
   and avenge myself on my foes!
²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;
   I will smelt away your dross as with lye
   and remove all your alloy.
²⁶ And I will restore your judges as at the first,
   and your counsellors as at the beginning.
Afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness,
   the faithful city.

²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
   and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸ But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,
   and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹ For you shall be ashamed of the oaks
   in which you delighted;
and you shall blush for the gardens
   that you have chosen.
³⁰ For you shall be like an oak
   whose leaf withers,
   and like a garden without water.
³¹ The strong shall become like tinder,
   and their work^* like a spark;
they and their work shall burn together,
   with no one to quench them.

The Visit of the Wise Men

2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men^* from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,^* and have come to pay him homage.’ ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah^* was to be born. ⁵They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
⁶ “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who is to shepherd^* my people Israel.” ’

7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men^* and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ ⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,^* until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped,^* they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

The Escape to Egypt

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ ¹⁴Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’