How Great Are Your Works
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
1 fIt is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, gO Most High;
2 to declare your hsteadfast love in ithe morning,
and your hfaithfulness by inight,
3 to the music of jthe lute and jthe harp,
to the melody of jthe lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your kwork;
at lthe works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How mgreat are your works, O Lord!
Your nthoughts are very odeep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though pthe wicked sprout like grass
and all qevildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are ron high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be sscattered.
10 But you have exalted my thorn like that of uthe wild ox;
you have vpoured over me1 fresh oil.
11 My weyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12 xThe righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in ythe courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 zto declare that the Lord is upright;
The Lord Reigns
1 cThe Lord reigns; he is drobed in majesty;
the Lord is erobed; he has fput on strength as his belt.
gYes, the world is established; hit shall never be moved.
2 iYour throne is established from of old;
jyou are from everlasting.
3 kThe floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
5 Your ndecrees are very trustworthy;
oholiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore.
Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord
1 In the year that sKing Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had usix 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:
u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
4 And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! yFor I am lost; zfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the aKing, 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 btouched 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 cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, athe Son of God.1
2 bAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet,2
c“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 dthe voice of one crying in the wilderness:
e‘Prepare3 the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4 fJohn appeared, baptizing in gthe wilderness and proclaiming ha baptism of irepentance jfor 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, kconfessing their sins. 6 Now John was lclothed with camel’s hair and lwore a leather belt around his waist and ate mlocusts and nwild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, o“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 pI have baptized you with water, but qhe will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism of Jesus
9 rIn those days Jesus scame from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he tsaw uthe heavens being torn open vand the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And wa voice came from heaven, x“You are my beloved Son;4 with you I am well pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
12 yThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 yAnd he was in the wilderness forty days, being ztempted by aSatan. And he was with the wild animals, and bthe angels were ministering to him.
