Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 72
The Rule of the Righteous King
Heading
By Solomon.
The King’s Justice
1 God, give your authority to judge to the King.
Give your righteousness to the Son of the King.
2 He will judge your people with righteousness.
He will judge your afflicted ones with justice.
3 The mountains will deliver peace to the people.
The hills will produce righteousness.
4 He will obtain justice for the afflicted among the people.
He will save the children of the poor,
but he will crush the oppressor.
The King’s Eternal Reign
5 They will fear you[a] as long as the sun remains,
and as long as the moon endures, through all generations.
6 He will come down like rain on a mown field,
like showers, like a downpour on the earth.
7 In his days the righteous will flourish,
and peace will be plentiful till the moon is no more.
The King’s Universal Reign
8 He will rule[b] from sea to sea
and from the River[c] to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who dwell in the desert will bow before him,
and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the sea coasts will bring tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer him gifts.
11 All kings will bow down to him.
All nations will serve him.
The Blessings of His Rule
12 He will certainly deliver the poor person who cries out,
as well as the afflicted, and the one who has no helper.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the poor.
He will save the lives of the poor.
14 From oppression and violence he will redeem their lives,
because their blood is precious in his sight.
A Prayer for His Blessings
15 May the King live![d]
May gold from Sheba be offered to him.
May people always pray for him.
May they bless him all day long.
16 Let there be an abundance of grain in the land.
Let it wave on the top of the mountains.
Let its fruit trees be like the cedars of Lebanon.[e]
Let people from the city flourish like the grass of the land.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name flourish as long as the sun.
They will be blessed through him.
All nations will call him blessed.
Closing Doxology
18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever.
May the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Yod: Those Who Fear You
73 Your hands made me and established me.
Give me understanding.
Then I will learn your commandments.
74 May those who fear you see me and rejoice,
because I wait confidently for your word.
75 I know, Lord, that your judgments are righteous.
In faithfulness you have afflicted me.
76 Please let your mercy be my comfort,
according to your saying to your servant.
77 Let your abundant compassion come to me that I may live,
because your law is my delight.
78 Let the arrogant be put to shame,
because they have wronged me with lies.
As for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
79 Let those who fear you turn to me,
and those who know your testimonies.
80 Let my heart be blameless regarding your statutes,
so that I may not be put to shame.
Kaph: A Wineskin in the Smoke
81 My soul is worn out, as I wait for your salvation.
I wait confidently for your word.
82 My eyes are worn out, as I look for your sayings.
I say, “When will you comfort me?”
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your statutes.
84 How many days does your servant have?
When will you inflict judgment on my persecutors?
85 The arrogant dig pits for me.
This is against your laws.
86 All your commandments are trustworthy.
The arrogant persecute me wrongfully. Help me.
87 They almost put an end to me here on earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 Give me life according to your mercy,
and I will obey the testimony from your mouth.
Lamed: Your Commands Have No Limits
89 To eternity, O Lord, your word is fixed firmly in the heavens.
90 For generation after generation, your faithfulness remains.
You established the earth, and it stands.
91 As for your judgments, they stand to this day,
because all things are your servants.
92 Unless your law had been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 To eternity I will not forget your precepts,
because by them you have given me life.
94 I am yours. Save me,
because I have sought your precepts.
95 The wicked are lying in wait for me to kill me,
but I will ponder your testimonies.
96 I see a limit to all perfection,
but your commandment has no limits.
Jehoshaphat Visits Ahab
22 Three years went by without any warfare between Aram and Israel. 2 In the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel.
3 The king of Israel said to his officials, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? But we have done nothing to take it from the king of Aram.” 4 Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to wage war at Ramoth Gilead?”
Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am like you. My people are like your people. My horses are like your horses.”
5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the word of the Lord.”
6 So the king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred men, and he said to them, “Should I go up to make war at Ramoth Gilead or should I refrain?”
They said, “Go up, for the Lord[a] will give it into the hand of the king.”
7 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here who can inquire of the Lord for us?”
8 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one man who could inquire of the Lord for us, but I hate him because he does not prophesy anything good about me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not talk like that.”
9 So the king of Israel summoned one of his court officials and said, “Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah here.”
10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were seated, each on his own throne, arrayed in their robes. They were sitting by the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.
11 Zedekiah son of Kena’anah had made iron horns for himself, and he said, “This is what the Lord says. With these you will gore Aram to death.” 12 All the prophets were prophesying in this same way: “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and triumph, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”
A Lying Spirit
13 The messenger who was sent to summon Micaiah said to him, “Pay attention to the words of the prophets. With one mouth they are promising good things to the king. Let your words be like the words of one of them and say something good.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that is what I will say.”
15 Then he came to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go up to make war on Ramoth Gilead, or should we refrain?”
He answered him, “Go up and triumph, for the Lord will give them into the hand of the king.”
16 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear that you will tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17 Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘They have no masters. Each one should return to his home in peace.’”
18 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he does not prophesy anything good about me, but only bad?”
The Lord’s Proclamation Against Ahab
19 Then Micaiah said:
Now hear this word from the Lord.
I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the whole army of heaven was standing around him, on his right and on his left.
20 Then the Lord said, “Who will entice Ahab so that he goes up and falls at Ramoth Gilead?”
One spirit said this. Another one said that. 21 Finally a spirit came and stood before the Lord and said, “I will entice him.”
The Lord said to him, “How?”
22 He said, “I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”
Then the Lord said, “You will entice him successfully. Go and do it.”
23 Now look! The Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouths of all these prophets of yours, for the Lord has decreed disaster for you.
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kena’anah came up and struck Micaiah on his cheek and said, “Where is this pathway on which the spirit of the Lord has traveled from me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah said, “Listen to me. You will see it on the day you go into the inner room to hide.”
26 Then the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, the administrator of the city, and to Joash son of the king. 27 Then say, ‘This is what the king says. Put this man in prison and feed him nothing more than bread and water until I come back safely.’”
28 Then Micaiah said, “If you ever come back safely, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Hear this, you people, all of you!”
2 As for me, brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superior speech or wisdom in order to proclaim to you the testimony[a] of God. 2 For I had no intention of knowing anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 I came to you[b] in weakness, in fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not marked by persuasive words of human[c] wisdom, but by a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
In-Depth Wisdom Is for Spiritual People
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, but it is not a wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are being reduced to nothing. 7 Instead we speak God’s wisdom that has been hidden in mystery—before the ages, God foreordained that this wisdom would result in our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world knew it. (If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.) 9 But as it is written:
What no eye has seen and no ear has heard
and no human mind has conceived—
that is what God has prepared for those who love him.[d]
10 But God revealed it to us through his[e] Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 Indeed, who among men knows a man’s thoughts except the man’s spirit within him? So also, no one else knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit.
12 What we received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the blessings freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak about these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual truths with spiritual words.[f]
“Come, Follow Me”
18 As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 19 He said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 They immediately left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Preaches in Galilee
23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread throughout all Syria. People brought to him all who were ill with various diseases and suffering severe pains, the demon-possessed, those who experienced seizures, and the paralyzed. Then he healed them. 25 Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.