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Psalm 148

1  Alleluia.
      Praise the Lord from the heavens; ♦︎
   praise him in the heights.
2  Praise him, all you his angels; ♦︎
   praise him, all his host.
3  Praise him, sun and moon; ♦︎
   praise him, all you stars of light.
4  Praise him, heaven of heavens, ♦︎
   and you waters above the heavens.
5  Let them praise the name of the Lord, ♦︎
   for he commanded and they were created.
6  He made them fast for ever and ever; ♦︎
   he gave them a law which shall not pass away.
7  Praise the Lord from the earth, ♦︎
   you sea monsters and all deeps;
8  Fire and hail, snow and mist, ♦︎
   tempestuous wind, fulfilling his word;
9  Mountains and all hills, ♦︎
   fruit trees and all cedars;
10  Wild beasts and all cattle, ♦︎
   creeping things and birds on the wing;
11  Kings of the earth and all peoples, ♦︎
   princes and all rulers of the world;
12  Young men and women,
      old and young together; ♦︎
   let them praise the name of the Lord.
13  For his name only is exalted, ♦︎
   his splendour above earth and heaven.
14  He has raised up the horn of his people
      and praise for all his faithful servants, ♦︎
   the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
      Alleluia.

Psalm 150

1  Alleluia.
      O praise God in his holiness; ♦︎
   praise him in the firmament of his power.
2  Praise him for his mighty acts; ♦︎
   praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3  Praise him with the blast of the trumpet; ♦︎
   praise him upon the harp and lyre.
4  Praise him with timbrel and dances; ♦︎
   praise him upon the strings and pipe.
5  Praise him with ringing cymbals; ♦︎
   praise him upon the clashing cymbals.
6  Let everything that has breath ♦︎
   praise the Lord.
      Alleluia.

²¹ Take courage, my children, cry to God,
   and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
²² For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
   and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
   from your everlasting saviour.^*
23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,
   but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
²⁴ For as the neighbours of Zion have now seen your capture,
   so they soon will see your salvation by God,
which will come to you with great glory
   and with the splendour of the Everlasting.
²⁵ My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has overtaken you,
   but you will soon see their destruction
   and will tread upon their necks.
²⁶ My pampered children have travelled rough roads;
   they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.

²⁷ Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
   for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.
²⁸ For just as you were disposed to go astray from God,
   return with tenfold zeal to seek him.
²⁹ For the one who brought these calamities upon you
   will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

Peace and Security through Obedience

4In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
²   and many nations shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He shall judge between many peoples,
   and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more;
⁴ but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
   and no one shall make them afraid;
   for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

⁵ For all the peoples walk,
   each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
   for ever and ever.

The Ruler from Bethlehem

^{2 *}But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
   who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
   one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
   from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time
   when she who is in labour has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
   to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
   to the ends of the earth;

The Promise to Abraham

15 Brothers and sisters,^* I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will^* has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. ¹⁶Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;^* it does not say, ‘And to offsprings’,^* as of many; but it says, ‘And to your offspring’,^* that is, to one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷My point is this: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

The Purpose of the Law

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring^* would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

21 Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. ²²But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ^* might be given to those who believe.