Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
148 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels.
Praise him, his entire heavenly army.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heaven
and the water above the sky.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord
because they were created by his command.
6 He set them in their places forever and ever.
He made it a law that no one can break.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth.
Praise him, large sea creatures and all the ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail,
snow and fog,
strong winds that obey his commands,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedar trees,
10 wild animals and all domestic animals,
crawling animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all its people,
officials and all judges on the earth,
12 young men and women,
old and young together.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord
because his name is high above all others.
His glory is above heaven and earth.
14 He has given his people a strong leader,[a]
someone praiseworthy for his faithful ones,
for the people of Israel, the people who are close to him.
Hallelujah!
15 This is what the Lord says:
A sound is heard in Ramah,
the sound of crying in bitter grief.
Rachel is crying for her children.
She refuses to be comforted,
because they are dead.
16 This is what the Lord says:
Stop your crying, and wipe away your tears.
You will be rewarded for your work, declares the Lord.
You will return from the land of the enemy.
17 Your future is filled with hope, declares the Lord.
Your children will return to their own territory.
The Escape to Egypt
13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him.”
14 Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left for Egypt that night. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. What the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: “I have called my son out of Egypt.”
16 When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he became furious. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys two years old and younger in or near Bethlehem. This matched the exact time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah came true:
18 “A sound was heard in Ramah,
the sound of crying in bitter grief.
Rachel was crying for her children.
She refused to be comforted
because they were dead.”
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