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Psalm 149

¹Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

²Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

³Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.

⁴For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.

⁵Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.

⁶Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,

⁷to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,

⁸to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,

⁹to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!

³²And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

12Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.