Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for the Prosperity of God’s Anointed King
Of Solomon.[a]
72 O God, give your judgments to the king,
and your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 Let the mountains yield prosperity[b] for the people,
and the hills in righteousness.
4 May he provide justice for the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live long[c] while the sun endures[d]
as long as the moon[e] for all generations.[f]
6 May he descend like rain on mown grass,
like showers watering the earth.
7 May what is right blossom in his days
and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8 And may he rule from sea up to sea,
and from the River[g] to the edges of the land.
9 Let the desert dwellers bow down before him,
and 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 and let all kings bow down to him.
Let all nations serve him.
12 Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help,
and the afflicted who has no helper.
13 He will take pity on the helpless and needy,
and the lives of the needy he will save.
14 From oppression and from violence
he will redeem their lives,
and their blood will be precious in his eyes.
15 So may he live, and may gold from Sheba be given to him,
and may prayers be offered for him continually.
May blessings be invoked for him all day long.[h]
16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land
even on the top of the mountains.
May his crop[i] sway like the trees of Lebanon,
and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name increase as long as the sun shines,[j]
and let them be blessed in him.
Let all nations call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.
Yod
73 Your hands have made me and established me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commands.
74 Those who fear you will see me and be glad,
because I hope in your word.
75 I know, O Yahweh, that your judgments are right,
and that in faithfulness you afflicted me.
76 Please let your loyal love comfort me,
according to your word[a] to your servant.
77 Let your mercies come to me, that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
78 Let the arrogant be put to shame,
because they have wronged me with lies.[b]
As for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
79 Let those who fear you turn to me,
even those who know[c] your testimonies.
80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
so that I may not be ashamed.
Kaph
81 My soul languishes for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
82 My eyes long for[d] your word,[e]
saying, “When will you comfort me?”
83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,
yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
84 How many are the days of your servant?
When will you execute justice against those who persecute me?
85 The arrogant have dug pits[f] for me,
which is not according to[g] your law.
86 All your commands are faithful.
They persecute me deceitfully; help me!
87 They have almost destroyed me on the earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 According to your loyal love preserve me alive,
so that I may heed the testimony from your mouth.
Lamed
89 Forever, O Yahweh,
your word is settled[h] in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness endures throughout all generations.[i]
You have established the earth and it stands.
91 By your ordinances they stand today,
for all are your servants.
92 Unless your law had been my delight,
then I would have perished in my misery.
93 I will not ever forget your precepts,
for by them you revive me.[j]
94 I am yours. Save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
95 For me the wicked lie in wait to destroy me.
I give attention to your testimonies.
96 I have seen a limit to every perfection;[k]
your command is very broad.
30 So Moses spoke into the ears of the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were complete.[a]
The Song of Moses
32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching trickle like the dew,
my words like rain showers on tender grass,
and like spring showers on new growth.
3 For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just;
he is a faithful God, and without injustice;[b]
righteous and upright is he.
5 They have behaved corruptly toward[c] him;
they are not his children; this is their flaw,
a generation crooked and perverse.
6 Like this do you treat Yahweh,
foolish and unwise[d] people?
Has he not, your father, created you?
He made you, and he established you.
7 Remember the old days, the years long past;[e]
ask your father, and he will inform you,
your elders and they will tell you.[f]
8 When the Most High apportioned[g] the nations,
at his dividing up of the sons of humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples,
according to the number of the children of Israel.[h]
9 For Yahweh’s portion was his people,
Jacob the share of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land,
and in a howling, desert wasteland;
he encircled him,[i] he cared for him,
he protected him like the apple[j] of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young,
spreads out its wings, takes them,[k]
carries them[l] on its pinions,[m]
12 so Yahweh alone guided him,[n]
and there was no foreign god accompanying him.[o]
13 And he set him on the high places of the land,
and he fed him the crops[p] of the field,
and he nursed him with honey from crags,[q]
and with oil from flinty rock,
14 With curds[r] from the herd,
and with milk from the flock,
with the fat of young rams,
and rams, the offspring of Bashan,
and with goats along with the finest kernels of wheat,
and from the blood of grapes[s] you drank fermented wine.[t]
21 I say this to my shame, namely, that we have been weak.
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am speaking in foolishness—I also dare to boast. 22 Are they Hebrews? I am also! Are they Israelites? I am also! Are they descendants of Abraham? I am also! 23 Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as though I were beside myself—I am more so, with far greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with beatings to a much greater degree, in danger of death many times. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. A day and a night I have spent in the deep water. 26 I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own people, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers because of false brothers, 27 with toil and hardship, often in sleepless nights, with hunger and thirst, often going hungry, in cold and poorly clothed. 28 Apart from these external things, there is the pressure on me every day of the anxiety about all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to sin, and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If it is necessary to boast, I will boast about the things related to my weakness[a]. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever[b], knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to take me into custody, 33 and I was lowered through a window through the wall in a rope-basket, and I escaped his hands.
The Parable of the Ten Minas
11 Now while[a] they were listening to these things, he went on and[b] told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12 Therefore he said, “A certain nobleman traveled to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 And summoning ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas[c] and said to them, ‘Do business until I come back.’[d] 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ 15 And it happened that when he returned after[e] receiving the kingdom, he ordered these slaves to whom he had given the money to be summoned to him, so that he could know what they had gained by trading. 16 So the first arrived, saying, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more!’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small thing, have authority[f] over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ 19 So he said to this one also, ‘And you be over five cities.’ 20 And another came, saying, ‘Sir, behold your mina, which I had put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. 21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man—you withdraw what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow!’ 22 He said to him, ‘By your own words[g] I will judge you, wicked slave! You knew that I am a severe man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 And why did you not give my money to the bank, and I, when I[h] returned, would have collected it with interest?’ 24 And to the bystanders he said, ‘Take away from him the mina and give it[i] to the one who has the ten minas!’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas.’ 26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them[j] here and slaughter them in my presence!’”
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