Give the King Your Justice
Of qSolomon.
1 Give the king your rjustice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he sjudge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear tprosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
5 May they fear you1 while uthe sun endures,
and as long as the moon, vthroughout all generations!
6 May he be like wrain that falls on xthe mown grass,
like yshowers that water the earth!
7 In his days may zthe righteous flourish,
and apeace abound, till the moon be no more!
8 May he have dominion from bsea to sea,
and from bthe River2 to the cends of the earth!
9 May desert tribes dbow down before him,
and his enemies elick the dust!
10 May the kings of fTarshish and of gthe coastlands
render him htribute;
may the kings of iSheba and jSeba
bring gifts!
11 May all kings kfall down before him,
all nations serve him!
12 For he delivers lthe needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and mprecious is their blood in his sight.
The Future Glory of Israel
1 bArise, shine, for your light has come,
and cthe glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 dAnd nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 eLift up your eyes all around, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
fyour sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5 Then you shall see and gbe radiant;
your heart shall thrill and exult,1
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
hthe wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of iMidian and jEphah;
all those from kSheba shall come.
lThey shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
The Visit of the Wise Men
1 Now hafter Jesus was born in iBethlehem of Judea jin the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men1 from kthe east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born lking of the Jews? For we saw mhis star when it rose2 and have come to nworship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where othe Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 p“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will qshepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, rthey offered him gifts, sgold and tfrankincense and umyrrh. 12 And vbeing warned win a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed
1 For this reason I, Paul, oa prisoner of Christ Jesus pon behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of qthe stewardship of rGod’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 show the mystery was made known to me tby revelation, uas I have written briefly. 4 vWhen you read this, you can perceive my insight into wthe mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is1 that the Gentiles are xfellow heirs, ymembers of the same body, and zpartakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 aOf this gospel I was made ba minister according to the gift of cGod’s grace, which was given me dby the working of his power. 8 To me, ethough I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, fto preach to the Gentiles the gunsearchable hriches of Christ, 9 and ito bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery jhidden for ages in2 God, kwho created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold lwisdom of God mmight now be made known to nthe rulers and authorities oin the heavenly places. 11 This was paccording to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have qboldness and raccess with sconfidence through our tfaith in him.
