How Great Are Your Works
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
1 mIt is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love nin the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your othoughts are very deep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me1 fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12 pThe righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are qplanted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and rthere is no unrighteousness in him.
The Lord Reigns
1 The Lord sreigns; he is trobed in majesty;
the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his ubelt.
vYes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
2 Your wthrone is established from of old;
you are xfrom everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 yMightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!
5 Your decrees are very trustworthy;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore.
Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord
1 In the year that King Uzziah wdied I saw the Lord xsitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. yEach had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house awas filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; bfor my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he ctouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 aThe beginning of the gospel of Jesus bChrist, the cSon of God.1
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,2
d“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 ethe voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare3 the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with fcamel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you gwith water, but he will baptize you hwith the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism of Jesus
9 iIn those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw jthe heavens being ktorn open and the Spirit descending lon him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, m“You are my nbeloved Son;4 owith you I am well pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
12 pThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the qwilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the rwild animals, and the sangels were ministering to him.
