I will tell my people about you.

I will praise you in the great assembly.

Praise the LORD, all you who worship him!

Honor him, you descendants of Jacob!

Fear and respect him, all you people of Israel!

He does not ignore those who need help.

He does not hate them. He does not turn away from them.

He listens when they cry for help.

This will happen when the special child is born. God will give us a son who will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be "Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace." His power will continue to grow, and there will be peace without end. This will establish him as the king sitting on David's throne and ruling his kingdom. He will rule with goodness and justice forever and ever. The strong love that the LORD All-Powerful has for his people will make this happen!

He was like God in every way, but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit. Instead, he gave up everything, even his place with God. He accepted the role of a servant, appearing in human form. During his life as a man, he humbled himself by being fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross.

So God raised him up to the most important place and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. God did this so that every person will bow down to honor the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow. They will all confess, "Jesus Christ is Lord," and this will bring glory to God the Father.

The next day the people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus was coming there. These were the crowds of people who had come to the Passover festival. They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Jesus. They shouted, "'Praise Him!' 'Welcome! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!' God bless the King of Israel!"

Jesus found a donkey and rode on it, as the Scriptures say, "Do not be afraid, people of Zion! Look! Your king is coming. He is riding on a young donkey." The followers of Jesus did not understand at that time what was happening. But after he was raised to glory, they understood that this was written about him. Then they remembered that they had done these things for him.

There were many people with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from death and told him to come out of the tomb. Now they were telling others about what Jesus did. That's why so many people went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign he did. So the Pharisees said to each other, "Look! Our plan is not working. The people are all following him!"