Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
148 Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise him from the skies! 2 Praise him, all his angels, all the armies of heaven. 3 Praise him, sun and moon and all you twinkling stars. 4 Praise him, skies above. Praise him, vapors high above the clouds.
5 Let everything he has made give praise to him. For he issued his command, and they came into being; 6 he established them forever and forever. His orders will never be revoked.
7 And praise him down here on earth, you creatures of the ocean depths. 8 Let fire and hail, snow, rain, wind, and weather all obey. 9 Let the mountains and hills, the fruit trees and cedars, 10 the wild animals and cattle, the snakes and birds, 11 the kings and all the people with their rulers and their judges, 12 young men and maidens, old men and children— 13 all praise the Lord together. For he alone is worthy. His glory is far greater than all of earth and heaven. 14 He has made his people strong, honoring his godly ones—the people of Israel, the people closest to him.
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!
15 The Lord spoke to me again, saying: In Ramah there is bitter weeping—Rachel[a] is weeping for her children and cannot be comforted, for they are gone. 16 But the Lord says: Don’t cry any longer, for I have heard your prayers[b] and you will see them again; they will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. 17 There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children will come again to their own land.
13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up and flee to Egypt with the baby and his mother,” the angel said, “and stay there until I tell you to return, for King Herod is going to try to kill the child.” 14 That same[a] night he left for Egypt with Mary and the baby, 15 and stayed there until King Herod’s death. This fulfilled the prophet’s prediction,
“I have called my Son from Egypt.”[b]
16 Herod was furious when he learned that the astrologers had disobeyed him. Sending soldiers to Bethlehem, he ordered them to kill every baby boy two years old and under, both in the town and on the nearby farms, for the astrologers had told him the star first appeared to them two years before. 17 This brutal action of Herod’s fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah,
18 “Screams of anguish come from Ramah,[c]
Weeping unrestrained;
Rachel weeping for her children,
Uncomforted—
For they are dead.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.