Book of Common Prayer
The Reign of the Righteous King.
A Psalm of Solomon.
72 Give the king [knowledge of] Your judgments, O God,
And [the spirit of] Your righteousness to the king’s son [to guide all his ways].
2
May he judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your afflicted with justice.(A)
3
The mountains will bring peace and prosperity to the people,
And the hills, in [the establishment of] righteousness.
4
May he bring justice to the poor among the people,
Save the children of the needy
And crush the oppressor,
5
Let them fear You [with awe-inspired reverence and worship You with obedience] while the sun endures,
And as long as the moon [reflects light], throughout all generations.
6
May he come down like rain on the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.
7
In his days may the righteous flourish,
And peace abound until the moon is no more.(B)
8
May he also rule from sea to sea
And from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.(C)
9
The nomads of the desert will bow before him,
And his enemies will [a]lick the dust.
10
The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring offerings;
The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts.
11
Yes, all kings will bow down before him,
All nations will serve him.(D)
12
For he will rescue the needy when he cries for help,
The afflicted and abused also, and him who has no helper.
13
He will have compassion on the poor and needy,
And he will save the lives of the needy.
14
He will redeem their life from oppression and fraud and violence,
And their blood will be precious in His sight.
15
So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;
And let them pray for him continually;
Let them bless and praise him all day long.
16
There will be an abundance of grain in the soil on the top of the [b]mountains;
Its fruit will wave like [the cedars of] Lebanon,
And those of the city will flourish like grass of the earth.
17
May his name endure forever;
May his name continue as long as the sun;
And let men bless themselves by him;
Let all nations call him blessed.
18
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who alone does wonderful things.
19
Blessed be His glorious name forever;
And may the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
20
The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
Yodh.
73
Your hands have made me and established me;
Give me understanding and a teachable heart, that I may learn Your commandments.
74
May those who [reverently] fear You see me and be glad,
Because I wait for Your word.
75
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are fair,
And that in faithfulness You have disciplined me.(A)
76
O may Your lovingkindness and graciousness comfort me,
According to Your word (promise) to Your servant.
77
Let Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For Your law is my delight.
78
Let the arrogant be ashamed and humiliated, for they sabotage me with a lie;
But I will meditate on Your precepts.
79
May those who fear You [with submissive wonder] turn to me,
Even those who have known Your testimonies.
80
May my heart be blameless in Your statutes,
So that I will not be ashamed.
Kaph.
81
My soul languishes and grows weak for Your salvation;
I wait for Your word.
82
My eyes fail [with longing, watching] for [the fulfillment of] Your promise,
Saying, “When will You comfort me?”
83
For I have become like a wineskin [blackened and shriveled] in the smoke [in which it hangs],
Yet I do not forget Your statutes.
84
How many are the days of Your servant [which he must endure]?
When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?(B)
85
The arrogant (godless) have dug pits for me,
Men who do not conform to Your law.
86
All Your commandments are faithful and trustworthy.
They have persecuted me with a lie; help me [Lord]!
87
They had almost destroyed me on earth,
But as for me, I did not [a]turn away from Your precepts.
88
According to Your steadfast love refresh me and give me life,
So that I may keep and obey the testimony of Your mouth.
Lamedh.
89
Forever, O Lord,
Your word is settled in heaven [standing firm and unchangeable].(C)
90
Your faithfulness continues from generation to generation;
You have established the earth, and it stands [securely].
91
They continue this day according to Your ordinances,
For all things [all parts of the universe] are Your servants.(D)
92
If Your law had not been my delight,
Then I would have perished in my time of trouble.
93
I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have revived me and given me life.
94
I am Yours, save me [as Your own];
For I have [diligently] sought Your precepts and required them [as my greatest need].(E)
95
The wicked wait for me to destroy me,
But I will consider Your testimonies.
96
I have seen that all [human] perfection has its limits [no matter how grand and perfect and noble];
Your commandment is exceedingly broad and extends without limits [into eternity].(F)
18 Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and [you may] live, for I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your [place here in] prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine in your households, 20 but bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you will not die.” And they did so. 21 And they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty regarding our brother [Joseph], because we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us [to let him go], yet we would not listen [to his cry]; so this distress and anguish has come on us.” 22 Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Now the accounting for his blood is required [of us for we are guilty of his death].” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood [their conversation], because he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 He turned away from his brothers and [left the room and] wept; then he returned and talked with them, and took Simeon from them and bound him in front of them [to be kept as a hostage in Egypt]. 25 Then Joseph gave orders [privately] that their bags be filled with grain, and that every man’s money [used to pay for the grain] be put back in his sack, and that provisions be given to them for the journey. And so this was done for them.
26 They loaded their donkeys with grain and left from there. 27 And at the lodging place, as one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey, he saw his money in the opening of his sack. 28 And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!” And their hearts sank, and they were afraid and turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”
9 I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate with [sexually] immoral people— 10 not meaning the immoral people of this world, or the greedy ones and swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to get out of the world and human society altogether! 11 But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as [a]eat with such a person.(A) 12 For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]? 13 God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].(B)
Lawsuits Discouraged
6 Does any one of you, when he has a [b]complaint (civil dispute) with another [believer], dare to go to law before unrighteous men (non-believers) instead of [placing the issue] before the saints (God’s people)? 2 [c]Do you not know that the saints (God’s people) will [one day] judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent [d]to try trivial (insignificant, petty) cases? 3 Do you not know that we [believers] will judge angels? How much more then [as to] matters of this life? 4 So if you have lawsuits dealing with matters of this life, are you appointing those as judges [to hear disputes] who are of no account in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is not one wise man among you who [is governed by integrity and] will be able and competent to decide [private disputes] between his fellow believers, 6 but instead, brother goes to law against brother, and that before [judges who are] unbelievers?
7 Why, the very fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 On the contrary, it is you who wrong and defraud, and you do this even to your brothers and sisters.
Parable of the Sower and Soils
4 Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea [of Galilee]. And a very large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat [anchoring it a short distance out] on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.(A) 2 And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them, 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow seed; 4 and as he was sowing, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocks where there was not much soil; and immediately a plant sprang up [a]because the soil had no depth. 6 And when the sun came up, the plant was scorched; and because it had no root, it dried up and withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seed fell into good soil, and as the plants grew and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times [as much as had been sown].” 9 And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”
10 As soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, together with the twelve [disciples], began asking Him about [the interpretation of] the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables, 12 so that they will continually look but not see, and they will continually hear but not understand, otherwise they might turn [from their rejection of the truth] and be forgiven.”(B)
Explanation
13 Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand and grasp the meaning of all the parables?(C) 14 The sower sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation]. 15 These [in the first group] are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 In a similar way these [in the second group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy [but accept it only superficially]; 17 and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they [are offended and displeased at being associated with Me and] stumble and fall away. 18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries and cares of the world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], and the deceitfulness [and the false security or glamour] of wealth [or fame], and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And those [in the last group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation] and accept it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much [as was sown].”
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