Psalm 147 (Hebrew numbering: 147:12–20) forms the Responsorial Psalm for the Mass of the Second Sunday after the Nativity (January 5 in years when Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday, or the Sunday between January 2–5 in other years). This section belongs to the final collection of “Hallelujah” psalms (Ps 146–150) that conclude the Psalter on a note of universal praise.

The psalmist originally addressed post-exilic Jerusalem (“O Jerusalem… O Sion”), celebrating God’s restoration of the city after the Babylonian exile: He strengthens the gates (security), blesses the children (future hope), grants peace on the borders, and feeds the people with “finest wheat.” Above all, Israel alone has received God’s “word” (dābār) — his decrees, judgments, and saving revelation — a privilege not granted to other nations. The psalm thus fuses themes of providence, election, and the unique gift of Torah.

In the Christmas season, the Church re-reads this text through the lens of the Incarnation. The repeated antiphon — “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) or “Alleluia” — transforms the psalm’s “He sends out his word to the earth” and “He reveals his word to Jacob” into a direct proclamation of Christ. The eternal Word who once came as Torah to Israel has now come in person as Jesus, born of Mary. What was once Israel’s exclusive privilege has, through the Incarnation, become the light and salvation offered to all nations.

Thus, on this Sunday still bathed in the glow of Bethlehem, the assembly sings of Jerusalem’s restoration while contemplating the new and definitive “strengthening of the gates” and the true “finest wheat” — Christ himself, the Bread of Life, who pitches his tent among us and reveals the Father’s heart to the whole world. The psalm that once praised God’s faithfulness to Zion now resounds as a hymn to the mystery celebrated at Christmas: God’s Word has become flesh, dwelt among us, and made his blessings known to every nation.