After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened
and what the angel had said to them about this child.
…It was just as the angel had told them.
After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened
and what the angel had said to them about this child.
…It was just as the angel had told them.
And I will give them singleness of heart
and put a new spirit within them.
I will take away their stony, stubborn heart
and give them a tender, responsive heart,
so they will obey my decrees and regulations.
Then they will truly be my people,
and I will be their God.
The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Sudden, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—
the armies of heaven—
praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven,
the shepherds said to each other,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem!
Let’s see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.”
The Savior—
yes, the Messiah, the Lord—
has been born today in Bethlehem,
the city of David!
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
with means ‘God is with us.’”
(Hubble telescope image)
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby,
guarding their flocks of sheep.
Suddenly an angel of the LORD appeared among them,
and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
They were terrified, but the angel reassured them.
“Don’t be afraid!” he said.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
The day will come when watchmen will shout
from the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem
to worship the LORD our God.’”
Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the LORD.
“No, I am far away at the same time.
Can anyone hide from me in a secret place?
Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?”
says the LORD.
“For the time is coming,”
says the LORD,
“When I will raise up a righteous descendant
from King David’s line.
He will be a King who rules with wisdom.
He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
And this will be his name:
‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’
In that day Judah will be saved,
and Israel will live in safety.