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)
30 And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:
32 Give ear, O heavens, and I [Moses] will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 My message shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the light rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name [and presence] of the Lord. Concede and ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He.
5 They [Israel] have spoiled themselves. They are not sons to Him, and that is their blemish—a perverse and crooked generation!
6 Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not He your Father Who acquired you for His own, Who made and established you [as a nation]?
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the Israelites.
9 For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob (Israel) is the lot of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, in the howling void of the wilderness; He kept circling around him, He scanned him [penetratingly], He kept him as the pupil of His eye.
11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions.(A)
12 So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.
13 He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field; and He made him suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock,
14 Butter and curds of the herd and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with the finest of the wheat; and you drank wine of the blood of the grape.
21 To my discredit, I must say, we have shown ourselves too weak [for you to show such tolerance of us and for us to do strong, courageous things like that to you]! But in whatever any person is bold and dares [to boast]—mind you, I am speaking in this foolish (witless) way—I also am bold and dare [to boast].
22 They are Hebrews? So am I! They are Israelites? So am I! They are descendants of Abraham? So am I!
23 Are they [ministering] servants of Christ (the Messiah)? I am talking like one beside himself, [but] I am more, with far more extensive and abundant labors, with far more imprisonments, [beaten] with countless stripes, and frequently [at the point of] death.
24 Five times I received from [the hands of] the Jews forty [lashes all] but one;(A)
25 Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been aboard a ship wrecked at sea; a [whole] night and a day I have spent [adrift] on the deep;
26 Many times on journeys, [exposed to] perils from rivers, perils from bandits, perils from [my own] nation, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the desert places, perils in the sea, perils from those posing as believers [but destitute of Christian knowledge and piety];
27 In toil and hardship, watching often [through sleepless nights], in hunger and thirst, frequently driven to fasting by want, in cold and exposure and lack of clothing.
28 And besides those things that are without, there is the daily [inescapable pressure] of my care and anxiety for all the churches!
29 Who is weak, and I do not feel [his] weakness? Who is made to stumble and fall and have his faith hurt, and I am not on fire [with sorrow or indignation]?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that [show] my infirmity [of the things by which I am made weak and contemptible in the eyes of my opponents].
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ knows, He Who is blessed and to be praised forevermore, that I do not lie.
32 In Damascus, the city governor acting under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus [on purpose] to arrest me,
33 And I was [actually] let down in a [rope] basket or hamper through a window (a small door) in the wall, and I escaped through his fingers.
11 Now as they were listening to these things, He proceeded to tell a parable, because He was approaching Jerusalem and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to be brought to light and shown forth immediately.
12 He therefore said, A certain nobleman went into a distant country to obtain for himself a kingdom and then to return.
13 Calling ten of his [own] bond servants, he gave them ten minas [each equal to about one hundred days’ wages or nearly twenty dollars] and said to them, [a]Buy and sell with these [b]while I go and then return.
14 But his citizens detested him and sent an embassy after him to say, We do not want this man to become ruler over us.
15 When he returned after having received the kingdom, he ordered these bond servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know how much each one had made by [c]buying and selling.
16 The first one came before him, and he said, Lord, your mina has made ten [additional] minas.
17 And he said to him, Well done, excellent bond servant! Because you have been faithful and trustworthy in a very little [thing], you shall have authority over ten cities.
18 The second one also came and said, Lord, your mina has made five more minas.
19 And he said also to him, And you will take charge over five cities.
20 Then another came and said, Lord, here is your mina, which I have kept laid up in a [d]handkerchief.
21 For I was [constantly] afraid of you, because you are a stern (hard, severe) man; you pick up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.
22 He said to the servant, I will judge and condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked slave! You knew [did you] that I was a stern (hard, severe) man, picking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow?
23 Then why did you not put my money in a bank, so that on my return, I might have collected it with interest?
24 And he said to the bystanders, Take the mina away from him and give it to him who has the ten minas.
25 And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas [already]!
26 And [said Jesus,] I tell you that to everyone who gets and has will more be given, but from the man who does not get and does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
27 [The indignant king ended by saying] But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them—bring them here and [e]slaughter them in my presence!
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