Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

148 Praise ye the Lord! Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!

² Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts!

³ Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light!

⁴ Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens!

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

⁶ He hath also established them for ever and ever; He hath made a decree which shall not pass.

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps,

⁸ fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind fulfilling His word,

⁹ mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars,

¹⁰ beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl,

¹¹ kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth,

¹² both young men and maidens, old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven.

¹⁴ He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise ye the Lord!

¹⁵ Thus saith the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more.”

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord; “Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded,” saith the Lord; “and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷ And there is hope in thine end,” saith the Lord, “that thy children shall come back to their own border.

¹³ And when they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed into Egypt,

¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all the region thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

¹⁷ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁸ “In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted, because they are no more.”