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Psalm 147

1  Alleluia.
      How good it is to make music for our God, ♦︎
   how joyful to honour him with praise.
2  The Lord builds up Jerusalem ♦︎
   and gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3  He heals the brokenhearted ♦︎
   and binds up all their wounds.
4  He counts the number of the stars ♦︎
   and calls them all by their names.
5  Great is our Lord and mighty in power; ♦︎
   his wisdom is beyond all telling.
6  The Lord lifts up the poor, ♦︎
   but casts down the wicked to the ground.
7  Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; ♦︎
   make music to our God upon the lyre;
8  Who covers the heavens with clouds ♦︎
   and prepares rain for the earth;
9  Who makes grass to grow upon the mountains ♦︎
   and green plants to serve our needs.
10  He gives the beasts their food ♦︎
   and the young ravens when they cry.
11  He takes no pleasure in the power of a horse, ♦︎
   no delight in human strength;
12  But the Lord delights in those who fear him, ♦︎
   who put their trust in his steadfast love.
13  Sing praise to the Lord, O Jerusalem; ♦︎
   praise your God, O Zion;
14  For he has strengthened the bars of your gates ♦︎
   and has blest your children within you.
15  He has established peace in your borders ♦︎
   and satisfies you with the finest wheat.
16  He sends forth his command to the earth ♦︎
   and his word runs very swiftly.
17  He gives snow like wool ♦︎
   and scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
18  He casts down his hailstones like morsels of bread; ♦︎
   who can endure his frost?
19  He sends forth his word and melts them; ♦︎
   he blows with his wind and the waters flow.
20  He declares his word to Jacob, ♦︎
   his statutes and judgements to Israel.
21  He has not dealt so with any other nation; ♦︎
   they do not know his laws.
      Alleluia.

Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

33This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death. ²He said:
The Lord came from Sinai,
   and dawned from Seir upon us;^*
   he shone forth from Mount Paran.
With him were myriads of holy ones;^*
   at his right, a host of his own.^*
3 Indeed, O favourite among^* peoples,
   all his holy ones were in your charge;
they marched at your heels,
   accepted direction from you.
⁴ Moses charged us with the law,
   as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
⁵ There arose a king in Jeshurun,
   when the leaders of the people assembled—
   the united tribes of Israel.

⁶ May Reuben live, and not die out,
   even though his numbers are few.

⁷And this he said of Judah:
O Lord, give heed to Judah,
   and bring him to his people;
strengthen his hands for him,^*
   and be a help against his adversaries.

⁸And of Levi he said:
Give to Levi^* your Thummim,
   and your Urim to your loyal one,
whom you tested at Massah,
   with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah;
⁹ who said of his father and mother,
   ‘I regard them not’;
he ignored his kin,
   and did not acknowledge his children.
For they observed your word,
   and kept your covenant.
¹⁰ They teach Jacob your ordinances,
   and Israel your law;
they place incense before you,
   and whole burnt-offerings on your altar.
¹¹ Bless, O Lord, his substance,
   and accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
   of those that hate him, so that they do not rise again.

¹²Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord rests in safety—
the High God^* surrounds him all day long—
   the beloved^* rests between his shoulders.

¹³And of Joseph he said:
Blessed by the Lord be his land,
   with the choice gifts of heaven above,
   and of the deep that lies beneath;
¹⁴ with the choice fruits of the sun,
   and the rich yield of the months;
¹⁵ with the finest produce of the ancient mountains,
   and the abundance of the everlasting hills;
¹⁶ with the choice gifts of the earth and its fullness,
   and the favour of the one who dwells on Sinai.^*
Let these come on the head of Joseph,
   on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
¹⁷ A firstborn^* bull—majesty is his!
   His horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he gores the peoples,
   driving them to^* the ends of the earth;
such are the myriads of Ephraim,
   such the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said:
Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out;
   and Issachar, in your tents.
¹⁹ They call peoples to the mountain;
   there they offer the right sacrifices;
for they suck the affluence of the seas
   and the hidden treasures of the sand.

²⁰And of Gad he said:
Blessed be the enlargement of Gad!
   Gad lives like a lion;
   he tears at arm and scalp.
²¹ He chose the best for himself,
   for there a commander’s allotment was reserved;
he came at the head of the people,
   he executed the justice of the Lord,
   and his ordinances for Israel.

²²And of Dan he said:
Dan is a lion’s whelp
   that leaps forth from Bashan.

²³And of Naphtali he said:
O Naphtali, sated with favour,
   full of the blessing of the Lord,
   possess the west and the south.

²⁴And of Asher he said:
Most blessed of sons be Asher;
   may he be the favourite of his brothers,
   and may he dip his foot in oil.
²⁵ Your bars are iron and bronze;
   and as your days, so is your strength.

²⁶ There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
   who rides through the heavens to your help,
   majestic through the skies.
²⁷ He subdues the ancient gods,^*
   shatters^* the forces of old;^*
he drove out the enemy before you,
   and said, ‘Destroy!’
²⁸ So Israel lives in safety,
   untroubled is Jacob’s abode^*
in a land of grain and wine,
   where the heavens drop down dew.
²⁹ Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
   a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
   and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
   and you shall tread on their backs.

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹We love^* because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters,^* are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister^* whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters^* also.