Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

148 Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah from the heavens; praise him in the heights.

² Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts.

³ Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light.

⁴ Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens.

⁵ Let them praise the name of Jehovah, for he it is that commanded, and they were created:

⁶ And he established them for ever and ever; he made [for them] a statute which shall not pass.

⁷ Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye sea-monsters, and all deeps;

⁸ Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling his word;

⁹ Mountains and all hills, fruit-trees and all cedars;

¹⁰ Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged fowl;

¹¹ Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth;

¹² Both young men and maidens, old men with youths,—

¹³ Let them praise the name of Jehovah: for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴ And he hath lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints, [even] of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Hallelujah!

¹⁵ Thus saith Jehovah: A voice hath been heard in Ramah, the wail of very bitter weeping,—Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

¹⁶ Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for there is a reward for thy work, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷ And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah, and thy children shall come again to their own border.

¹³ Now, they having departed, behold, an angel of [the] Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, Arise, take to [thee] the little child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I shall tell thee; for Herod will seek the little child to destroy it.

¹⁴ And, having arisen, he took to [him] the little child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.

¹⁵ And he was there until the death of Herod, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by [the] Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

¹⁶ Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the magi, was greatly enraged; and sent and slew all the boys which [were] in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two years and under, according to the time which he had accurately inquired from the magi.

¹⁷ Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremias the prophet, saying,

¹⁸ A voice has been heard in Rama, weeping, and great lamentation: Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.