Old/New Testament
The Concluding Hallel—Pss 146–150[a]
Psalm 146[b]
Trust in God, Creator and Redeemer
1 [c]Alleluia.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.[d]
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God throughout my life.[e]
3 Do not place your trust in princes,
in mortal men who have no power to save.
4 When the spirit departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day all their plans come to naught.[f]
5 [g]Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,[h]
whose hope is in the Lord, his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,[i]
the sea, and everything in them—
the one who keeps faith forever.
7 He grants justice to the oppressed[j]
and gives bread to the hungry.
The Lord releases prisoners
8 and opens the eyes of those who cannot see.[k]
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the stranger
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,[l]
but he blocks the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever,[m]
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Alleluia.
Psalm 147[n]
Hymn to the City of God
1 [o]Alleluia.
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
how pleasant it is to give him fitting praise.[p]
2 The Lord restores Jerusalem
and gathers together the dispersed people of Israel.[q]
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.[r]
4 He fixes the number of the stars
and assigns a name to each.[s]
5 Great is our Lord and awesome in power;
his wisdom is without limit.[t]
6 The Lord sustains the poor
but humbles the wicked in the dust.[u]
7 [v]Offer songs of thanksgiving to the Lord;
play the lyre in honor of our God.
8 He veils the heavens with clouds,
supplies the earth with rain,
and makes the hills sprout with grass.[w]
9 He provides food for the animals
and for the young ravens when they call.[x]
10 [y]He takes no pleasure in the strength of the horse,
or delight in the fleetness of a runner.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
those who place their hope in his kindness.
12 [z]Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Glorify your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your children within you.[aa]
14 He brings peace to your borders
and fills you with the finest of wheat.[ab]
15 He sends a command to the earth;
his word runs with utmost speed.
16 He gives the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.[ac]
17 He hurls down his hail like crumbs;
who can withstand his cold?[ad]
18 He sends his word, and the ice melts;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 [ae]He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his decrees and his judgments to Israel.
20 He has not done this for the other nations;
they are not aware of his judgments.
Alleluia.
The Resurrection[a]
The Resurrection of Christ
Chapter 15
The Risen Christ, Foundation of Our Faith.[b] 1 And now, brethren, I want to remind you of the gospel I proclaimed to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. 2 Through it you are also being saved, provided that you are holding fast to what I proclaimed to you. If not, then you have believed in vain.
3 [c]For I handed on to you as of primary importance what I received: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried and that he was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and later to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep.[d] 7 After that he appeared to James,[e] and then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, he appeared to me, as to one born abnormally. 9 For I am the least of the apostles. I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 However, by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he has bestowed upon me has not proved to be fruitless. Indeed, I have worked harder than any of them—although that should not be credited to me but to the grace of God within me. 11 But whether it was I or they, this is what we preach and what you have come to believe.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12 The Resurrection and Faith.[f] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. 15 We are even false witnesses to God, for we testified that he raised Christ when he did not raise him up, assuming it is true that the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is without any foundation, and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost. 19 If it is for just this life that we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable of all men.
20 Christ, the Firstfruits.[g] But Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came into the world through a man, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a man.
22 Just as in Adam all die, so all will be brought to life in Christ, 23 but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every sovereignty and authority and power.[h] 25 For he is destined to reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when it says “all things are put under,” it is obvious that this excludes the one who subjected everything to him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who made all things subject to him, so that God may be all in all.
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