Psalms 148; Psalms 149; Psalms 150; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the skies. Praise him high above the earth.

2 Praise him, all you angels. Praise him, all you armies of heaven.

3 Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, highest heavens and you waters above the sky.

5 Let them praise the Lord, because they were created by his command.

6 He put them in place forever and ever; he made a law that will never change.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you large sea animals and all the oceans,

8 lightning and hail, snow and mist, and stormy winds that obey him,

9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

10 wild animals and all cattle, crawling animals and birds,

11 kings of the earth and all nations, princes and all rulers of the earth,

12 young men and women, old people and children.

13 Praise the Lord, because he alone is great. He is more wonderful than heaven and earth.

14 God has given his people a king. He should be praised by all who belong to him; he should be praised by the Israelites, the people closest to his heart.

1 Praise the Lord! Sing a new song to the Lord; sing his praise in the meeting of his people.

2 Let the Israelites be happy because of God, their Maker. Let the people of Jerusalem rejoice because of their King.

3 They should praise him with dancing. They should sing praises to him with tambourines and harps.

4 The Lord is pleased with his people; he saves the humble.

5 Let those who worship him rejoice in his glory. Let them sing for joy even in bed!

6 Let them shout his praise with their two-edged swords in their hands.

7 They will punish the nations and defeat the people.

8 They will put those kings in chains and those important men in iron bands.

9 They will punish them as God has written. God is honored by all who worship him.

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his Temple; praise him in his mighty heaven.

2 Praise him for his strength; praise him for his greatness.

3 Praise him with trumpet blasts; praise him with harps and lyres.

4 Praise him with tambourines and dancing; praise him with stringed instruments and flutes.

5 Praise him with loud cymbals; praise him with crashing cymbals.

6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.

29 If the dead are never raised, what will people do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people being baptized for them?

30 And what about us? Why do we put ourselves in danger every hour?

31 I die every day. That is true, brothers and sisters, just as it is true that I brag about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

32 If I fought wild animals in Ephesus only with human hopes, I have gained nothing. If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die."

33 Do not be fooled: "Bad friends will ruin good habits."

34 Come back to your right way of thinking and stop sinning. Some of you do not know God -- I say this to shame you.

35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?"

36 Foolish person! When you sow a seed, it must die in the ground before it can live and grow.

37 And when you sow it, it does not have the same "body" it will have later. What you sow is only a bare seed, maybe wheat or something else.

38 But God gives it a body that he has planned for it, and God gives each kind of seed its own body.

39 All things made of flesh are not the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish have another.

40 Also there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the beauty of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the beauty of the earthly bodies is another.

41 The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon has another beauty, and the stars have another. And each star is different in its beauty.

42 It is the same with the dead who are raised to life. The body that is "planted" will ruin and decay, but it is raised to a life that cannot be destroyed.

43 When the body is "planted," it is without honor, but it is raised in glory. When the body is "planted," it is weak, but when it is raised, it is powerful.

44 The body that is "planted" is a physical body. When it is raised, it is a spiritual body. There is a physical body, and there is also a spiritual body.

45 It is written in the Scriptures: "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam became a spirit that gives life.

46 The spiritual did not come first, but the physical and then the spiritual.

47 The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven.

48 People who belong to the earth are like the first man of earth. But those people who belong to heaven are like the man of heaven.

49 Just as we were made like the man of earth, so we will also be made like the man of heaven.

50 I tell you this, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot have a part in the kingdom of God. Something that will ruin cannot have a part in something that never ruins.

51 But look! I tell you this secret: We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed.

52 It will take only a second -- as quickly as an eye blinks -- when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and those who have died will be raised to live forever, and we will all be changed.

53 This body that can be destroyed must clothe itself with something that can never be destroyed. And this body that dies must clothe itself with something that can never die.

54 So this body that can be destroyed will clothe itself with that which can never be destroyed, and this body that dies will clothe itself with that which can never die. When this happens, this Scripture will be made true: "Death is destroyed forever in victory."

55 "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your pain?"

56 Death's power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But we thank God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 So my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Do not let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.