January 1st, 2021

²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord lift up his countenance^[a] upon you and give you peace.

³ Jerusalem—built as a city
    that is bound firmly together,
⁴ to which the tribes go up,
    the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for^[a] Israel,
    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
⁵ There thrones for judgment were set,
    the thrones of the house of David.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
    “May they be secure who love you!
⁷ Peace be within your walls
    and security within your towers!”
⁸ For my brothers and companions' sake
    I will say, “Peace be within you!”
⁹ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your good.

⁵ May they fear you^[a] while the sun endures,
    and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
⁶ May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
    like showers that water the earth!
⁷ In his days may the righteous flourish,
    and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

⁸ May he have dominion from sea to sea,
    and from the River^[b] to the ends of the earth!
⁹ May desert tribes bow down before him,
    and his enemies lick the dust!
¹⁰ May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
    render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
    bring gifts!
¹¹ May all kings fall down before him,
    all nations serve him!

¹² For he delivers the 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 precious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵ Long may he live;
    may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
    and blessings invoked for him all the day!
¹⁶ May there be abundance of grain in the land;
    on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
    may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
    like the grass of the field!
¹⁷ May his name endure forever,
    his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
    all nations call him blessed!

¹⁸ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    who alone does wondrous things.
¹⁹ Blessed be his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and Amen!

²⁰ The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

⁵ Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
    foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
⁶ but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
    they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
    and in their glory you shall boast.
⁷ Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    they shall have everlasting joy.

⁸ For I the Lord love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrong;^[d]
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.

³ You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”^[b]
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰ The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span^[c] is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

¹² So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
¹³ Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor^[d] of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

² Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in the heavens;
    he does all that he pleases.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but do not speak;
    eyes, but do not see.
⁶ They have ears, but do not hear;
    noses, but do not smell.
⁷ They have hands, but do not feel;
    feet, but do not walk;
    and they do not make a sound in their throat.
⁸ Those who make them become like them;
    so do all who trust in them.

⁹ O Israel,^[a] trust in the Lord!
    He is their help and their shield.
¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
    He is their help and their shield.
¹¹ You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
    He is their help and their shield.

¹² The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
    he will bless the house of Israel;
    he will bless the house of Aaron;
¹³ he will bless those who fear the Lord,
    both the small and the great.

¹⁴ May the Lord give you increase,
    you and your children!
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

¹⁶ The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
    but the earth he has given to the children of man.
¹⁷ The dead do not praise the Lord,
    nor do any who go down into silence.
¹⁸ But we will bless the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has visited and redeemed his people
⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰ as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
⁷¹ that we should be saved from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us;
⁷² to show the mercy promised to our fathers
    and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³ the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
⁷⁴     that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
⁷⁵     in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us^[a] from on high
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”