May the Most High God, who gave you victory over your enemies, be praised!" And Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the loot he had recovered.

Then David commanded the people, "Praise the LORD your God!" And the whole assembly praised the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and they bowed low and gave honor to the LORD and also to the king.

The following Levites gave a call to worship: Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah. They said: "Stand up and praise the LORD your God; praise him forever and ever! Let everyone praise his glorious name, although no human praise is great enough."

Praise his glorious name forever! May his glory fill the whole world. Amen! Amen!

"When the seven years had passed," said the king, "I looked up at the sky, and my sanity returned. I praised the Supreme God and gave honor and glory to the one who lives forever. "He will rule forever, and his kingdom will last for all time.

Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes!

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope,

The four living creatures sing songs of glory and honor and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever. When they do so,

"Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. For you created all things, and by your will they were given existence and life."

They sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. For you were killed, and by your sacrificial death you bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.

Again I looked, and I heard angels, thousands and millions of them! They stood around the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders,

And I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, in the world below, and in the sea---all living beings in the universe---and they were singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be praise and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!"

and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him.

What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.

The Father and I are one."

"Do not hold on to me," Jesus told her, "because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God."

so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus---blessed be his name forever!---knows that I am not lying.

and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations."

All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants---all because you obeyed my command."

But Jabez prayed to the God of Israel, "Bless me, God, and give me much land. Be with me and keep me from anything evil that might cause me pain." And God gave him what he prayed for.

May the king's name never be forgotten; may his fame last as long as the sun. May all nations ask God to bless them as he has blessed the king.

May the LORD, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Zion!

They will be famous among the nations; Everyone who sees them will know That they are a people whom I have blessed."

Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.

which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.

In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.

in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

The work they do as priests is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. It is the same as it was with Moses. When he was about to build the Sacred Tent, God told him, "Be sure to make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain."

Those things, which are copies of the heavenly originals, had to be purified in that way. But the heavenly things themselves require much better sacrifices.

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.

When that day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you.

He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body.

But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free.

Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts.

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.