Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 72[a]
[A Psalm] for Solomon.
1 Give the king [knowledge of] Your [way of] judging, O God, and [the spirit of] Your righteousness to the king’s son [to control all his actions].
2 Let him judge and govern Your people with righteousness, and Your poor and afflicted ones with judgment and justice.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, through [the general establishment of] righteousness.
4 May he judge and defend the poor of the people, deliver the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor,
5 So that they may revere and fear You while the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
6 May he [Solomon as a type of King David’s greater Son] be like rain that comes down upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
7 In [b]His [Christ’s] days shall the [uncompromisingly] righteous flourish and peace abound till there is a moon no longer.(A)
8 He [Christ] shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.(B)
9 Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him and His enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the coasts shall bring offerings; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.(C)
12 For He delivers the needy when he calls out, the poor also and him who has no helper.
13 He will have pity on the poor and weak and needy and will save the lives of the needy.
14 He will redeem their lives from oppression and fraud and violence, and precious and costly shall their blood be in His sight.
15 And He shall live; and to Him shall be given gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for Him and through Him continually, and they shall bless and praise Him all the day long.
16 There shall be abundance of grain in the soil upon the top of the mountains [the least fruitful places in the land]; the fruit of it shall wave like [the forests of] Lebanon, and [the inhabitants of] the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun [indeed, His name continues before the sun]. And men shall be blessed and bless themselves by Him; all nations shall call Him blessed!
18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does wondrous things!
19 Blessed be His glorious name forever; let the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen!
20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
73 Your hands have made me, cunningly fashioned and established me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
74 Those who reverently and worshipfully fear You will see me and be glad, because I have hoped in Your word and tarried for it.
75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right and righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.(A)
76 Let, I pray You, Your merciful kindness and steadfast love be for my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant.
77 Let Your tender mercy and loving-kindness come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight!
78 Let the proud be put to shame, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause; but I will meditate on Your precepts.
79 Let those who reverently and worshipfully fear You turn to me, and those who have known Your testimonies.
80 Let my heart be sound (sincere and wholehearted and blameless) in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.
81 My soul languishes and grows faint for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word.
82 My eyes fail, watching for [the fulfillment of] Your promise. I say, When will You comfort me?
83 For I have become like a bottle [a wineskin blackened and shriveled] in the smoke [in which it hangs], yet do I not forget Your statutes.
84 How many are the days of Your servant [which he must endure]? When will You judge those who pursue and persecute me?(B)
85 The godless and arrogant have dug pitfalls for me, men who do not conform to Your law.
86 All Your commandments are faithful and sure. [The godless] pursue and persecute me with falsehood; help me [Lord]!
87 They had almost consumed me upon earth, but I forsook not Your precepts.
88 According to Your steadfast love give life to me; then I will keep the testimony of Your mouth [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
89 Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven [stands firm as the heavens].(C)
90 Your faithfulness is from generation to generation; You have established the earth, and it stands fast.
91 All [the whole universe] are Your servants; therefore they continue this day according to Your ordinances.(D)
92 Unless Your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget Your precepts, [how can I?] for it is by them You have quickened me (granted me life).
94 I am Yours, therefore save me [Your own]; for I have sought (inquired of and for) Your precepts and required them [as my urgent need].(E)
95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me, but I will consider Your testimonies.
96 I have seen that everything [human] has its limits and end [no matter how extensive, noble, and excellent]; but Your commandment is exceedingly broad and extends without limits [into eternity].(F)
4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and was related [by marriage] to Tobiah [our adversary],
5 Prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where previously they had put the cereal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil which were given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.
6 But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes [Persian] king of Babylon I went to the king. Then later I asked leave of him
7 And came to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing him [an adversary] a chamber in the courts of the house of God!
8 And it grieved me exceedingly, and I threw all the house furnishings of Tobiah out of the chamber.
9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the cereal offerings and the frankincense.
10 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who did the work [forced by necessity] had each fled to his field.
11 Then I contended with the officials and said, Why is the house of God neglected and forsaken? I gathered the Levites and singers and set them in their stations.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the storerooms.
13 I set treasurers over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites; assisting them was Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were counted faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.
14 O my God, [earnestly] remember me concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds and kindnesses done for the house of my God and for His service.
15 In those days I saw in Judah men treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in sheaves or heaps of grain with which they loaded donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and all sorts of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I protested and warned them on the day they sold the produce.
16 There dwelt men of Tyre there also who brought fish and all kinds of wares and sold on the Sabbath to the people of Judah and in Jerusalem.
17 Then I reproved the nobles of Judah and said, What evil thing is this that you do—profaning the Sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.
19 And when it began to get dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath [day began], I commanded that the gates should be shut and not be opened till after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servants at the gates to prevent any burden being brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21 But I reproved and warned them, saying, Why do you lodge by the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. Then they stopped coming on the Sabbath.
22 And I commanded the Levites to cleanse themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. O my God, [earnestly] remember me concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy and loving-kindness.
12 And a great sign (wonder)—[warning of future events of ominous significance] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crownlike garland (tiara) of twelve stars on her head.
2 She was pregnant and she cried out in her birth pangs, in the anguish of her delivery.
3 Then another ominous sign (wonder) was seen in heaven: Behold, a huge, fiery-red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven kingly crowns (diadems) upon his heads.(A)
4 His tail swept [across the sky] and dragged down a third of the stars and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stationed himself in front of the woman who was about to be delivered, so that he might devour her child as soon as she brought it forth.(B)
5 And she brought forth a male Child, One Who is destined to shepherd (rule) all the nations with an iron staff (scepter), and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.(C)
6 And the woman [herself] fled into the desert (wilderness), where she has a retreat prepared [for her] by God, in which she is to be fed and kept safe for 1,260 days (42 months; three and one-half years).
7 Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels went forth to battle with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.
8 But they were defeated, and there was no room found for them in heaven any longer.
9 And the huge dragon was cast down and out—that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.(D)
10 Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, Now it has come—the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out!(E)
11 And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].
12 Therefore be glad (exult), O heavens and you that dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in fierce anger (fury), because he knows that he has [only] a short time [left]!(F)
53 When Jesus had finished these parables (these comparisons), He left there.
54 And coming to His own country [Nazareth], He taught in their synagogue so that they were amazed with bewildered wonder, and said, Where did this [a]Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?
55 Is not this the carpenter’s Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
56 And do not all His sisters live here among us? Where then did this Man get all this?
57 And they took offense at Him [they were repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority, and caused to stumble]. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.
58 And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith [b]in the divine mission of Jesus).
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