Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 72
Of Solomon.
72 God, give your judgments to the king.
Give your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 Let him judge your people with righteousness
and your poor ones with justice.
3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people;
let the hills bring righteousness.
4 Let the king bring justice to people who are poor;
let him save the children of those who are needy,
but let him crush oppressors!
5 Let the king live[a] as long as the sun,
as long as the moon,
generation to generation.
6 Let him fall like rain upon fresh-cut grass,
like showers that water the earth.
7 Let the righteous flourish throughout their lives,
and let peace prosper until the moon is no more.
8 Let the king rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.
9 Let the desert dwellers bow low before him;
let his enemies lick the dust.
10 Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute;
let the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts.
11 Let all the kings bow down before him;
let all the nations serve him.
12 Let it be so, because he delivers the needy who cry out,
the poor, and those who have no helper.
13 He has compassion on the weak and the needy;
he saves the lives of those who are in need.
14 He redeems their lives from oppression and violence;
their blood is precious in his eyes.
15 Let the king live long!
Let Sheba’s gold be given to him!
Let him be prayed for always!
Let him be blessed all day long!
16 Let there be abundant grain in the land.
Let it wave on the mountaintops.
Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon.
Let it thrive like grass on the land.
17 Let the king’s name last forever.
Let his name endure as long as the sun.
Let all the nations be blessed through him and call him happy.
18 Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel—
the only one who does wondrous things!
19 Bless God’s glorious name forever;
let his glory fill all the earth!
Amen and Amen!
20 The prayers of David, Jesse’s son, are ended.
י yod
73 Your hands have made me and set me in place.
Help me understand so I can learn your commandments.
74 Then those who honor you will see me and be glad
because I have waited for your promise.
75 Lord, I know that your rules are right
and that you rightly made me suffer.
76 Please let your faithful love comfort me,
according to what you’ve said to your servant.
77 Let your compassion come to me so I can live again,
because your Instruction is my joy!
78 But let the arrogant be ashamed
because they oppressed me with lies—
meanwhile, I will be contemplating your precepts!
79 Let the people who honor you come back to me;
let those who know your precepts return to me.
80 Let my heart be blameless in your statutes
so that I am not put to shame.
כ kaf
81 My whole being yearns for your saving help!
I wait for your promise.
82 My eyes are worn out looking for your word.
“When will you comfort me?” I ask,
83 because I’ve become like a bottle dried up by smoke,
though I haven’t forgotten your statutes.
84 How much more time does your servant have?
When will you bring my oppressors to justice?
85 The arrogant have dug pits for me—
those people who act against your Instruction.
86 All your commandments are true,
but people harass me for no reason.
Help me!
87 They’ve almost wiped me off the face of the earth!
Meanwhile, I haven’t abandoned your precepts!
88 Make me live again according to your faithful love
so I can keep the law you’ve given!
ל lamed
89 Your word, Lord,
stands firm in heaven forever!
90 Your faithfulness extends from one generation to the next!
You set the earth firmly in place, and it is still there.
91 Your rules endure to this day
because everything serves you.
92 If your Instruction hadn’t been my delight,
I would have died because of my suffering.
93 I will never forget your precepts
because through them you gave me life again.
94 I’m yours—save me
because I’ve pursued your precepts!
95 The wicked wait for me,
wanting to kill me, but I’m studying your laws.
96 I’ve seen that everything,
no matter how perfect, has a limit,[a]
but your commandment is boundless.
The poem of Instruction
30 Then Moses recited in their entirety the words of this poem in the hearing of the entire assembly of Israel:
32 Heaven! Pay attention and I will speak;
Earth! Listen to the words of my mouth.
2 My teaching will fall like raindrops;
my speech will settle like dew—
like gentle rains on grass,
like spring showers on all that is green—
3 because I proclaim the Lord’s name:
Give praise to our God!
4 The rock: his acts are perfection!
No doubt about it: all his ways are right!
He’s the faithful God, never deceiving;
altogether righteous and true is he.
5 But children who weren’t his own[a]
sinned against him with their defects;[b]
they are a twisted and perverse generation.
6 Is this how you thank the Lord,
you stupid, senseless people?
Isn’t he your father, your creator?
Didn’t he make you and establish you?
7 Remember the days long past;
consider the years long gone.
Ask your father, he will tell you about it;
ask your elders, they will give you the details:
8 When God Most High divided up the nations—
when he divided up humankind—
he decided the people’s boundaries
based on the number of the gods.[c]
9 Surely the Lord’s property was his people;
Jacob was his part of the inheritance.
10 God found[d] Israel in a wild land—
in a howling desert wasteland—
he protected him, cared for him,
watched over him with his very own eye.
11 Like an eagle protecting its nest,
hovering over its young,
God spread out his wings, took hold of Israel,
carried him on his back.
12 The Lord alone led Israel;
no foreign god assisted.
13 God[e] made Israel[f] glide over the highlands;
he fed him[g] with food from the field,
nursed him with honey from a boulder,
with oil from a hard rock:
14 curds from the herd, milk from the flock,
along with the best of lambs,
rams from Bashan, he-goats too,
along with the finest wheat—
and for drink, wine from the juiciest grapes!
21 I’m ashamed to say that we have been weak in comparison! But in whatever they challenge me, I challenge them (I’m speaking foolishly).
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ? I’m speaking like a crazy person. What I’ve done goes well beyond what they’ve done. I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been imprisoned much more often. I’ve been beaten more times than I can count. I’ve faced death many times. 24 I received the “forty lashes minus one” from the Jews five times. 25 I was beaten with rods three times. I was stoned once. I was shipwrecked three times. I spent a day and a night on the open sea. 26 I’ve been on many journeys. I faced dangers from rivers, robbers, my people, and Gentiles. I faced dangers in the city, in the desert, on the sea, and from false brothers and sisters. 27 I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes.
28 Besides all the other things I could mention, there’s my daily stress because I’m concerned about all the churches. 29 Who is weak without me being weak? Who is led astray without me being furious about it? 30 If it’s necessary to brag, I’ll brag about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the one who is blessed forever, knows that I’m not lying. 32 At Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to capture me, 33 but I got away from him by being lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall.
Faithful service
11 As they listened to this, Jesus told them another parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought God’s kingdom would appear right away. 12 He said, “A certain man who was born into royalty went to a distant land to receive his kingdom and then return. 13 He called together ten servants and gave each of them money worth four months’ wages.[a] He said, ‘Do business with this until I return.’ 14 His citizens hated him, so they sent a representative after him who said, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ 15 After receiving his kingdom, he returned and called the servants to whom he had given the money to find out how much they had earned. 16 The first servant came forward and said, ‘Your money has earned a return of one thousand percent.’ 17 The king replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good servant. Because you have been faithful in a small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’
18 “The second servant came and said, ‘Master, your money has made a return of five hundred percent.’ 19 To this one, the king said, ‘You will have authority over five cities.’
20 “Another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your money. I wrapped it up in a scarf for safekeeping. 21 I was afraid of you because you are a stern man. You withdraw what you haven’t deposited and you harvest what you haven’t planted.’ 22 The king replied, ‘I will judge you by the words of your own mouth, you worthless servant! You knew, did you, that I’m a stern man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit, and harvesting what I didn’t plant? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then when I arrived, at least I could have gotten it back with interest.’
24 “He said to his attendants, ‘Take his money and give it to the one who has ten times as much.’ 25 ‘But Master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten times as much!’ 26 He replied, ‘I say to you that everyone who has will be given more, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 As for my enemies who don’t want me as their king, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible