Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This psalm is for Solomon.
A prayer for the king[a]
72 God, please help the king
to judge people in a right way.
Help the king's son to be honest and fair,
as you are.[b]
2 Then he will rule your people in a good way,
so that even poor people receive justice.
3 The mountains and the hills will bring peace,
so that the people can live honest lives.
4 Please help the king to judge poor people fairly.
May he save the children of weak people,
and destroy those cruel people who hurt them.
5 May people always respect your authority, God,
through all time,
as long as the sun and the moon remain in the sky.[c]
6 May the king be a blessing to his people,
like rain that falls on grass that lies in the fields.
May he be like rain
that brings water to the soil.
7 While he rules as king,
those people who serve God will do well.
There will be peace in all the land,
for as long as the moon remains in the sky.
8 May the king rule everywhere,
from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth.[d]
9 Then people who live in the desert
will bend down to respect him.
His enemies will fall down
with their faces in the dust.
10 Kings from Spain and from other far places
will pay taxes to him.
Kings from Sheba and from Seba
will bring gifts to him.
11 All kings will bend down in front of him.
People from all nations will serve him.
12 He will rescue the poor person
who calls out to him for help.
He will save weak people
who have nobody to help them.
13 He will be kind to people who are poor and weak.
He will save them from death.
14 He will rescue them from cruel people who hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
May people come from Sheba to give gold to him.
May people always pray for him.
May people praise him all the time.
16 May there always be plenty of grain
that grows in the land.
May the crops grow well
on the tops of the mountains.
May the fruit trees give a lot of fruit,
as they do in Lebanon.
May all the crops grow well,
like grass that grows in a field.
17 May the king be famous for ever!
May people remember him
for as long as the sun continues to shine.
May people from all nations use his name
when they bless one another.
May they all say that God has blessed the king!
18 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves.
Only he does such wonderful things.
19 Praise his great name for ever!
May his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen! May that all happen!
20 This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.[e]
Jacob's journey
10 Jacob left Beersheba and he went towards Haran. 11 He came to a place where he stayed for the night, because the sun had gone down. He took a stone and he put it under his head. Then he lay down and he went to sleep. 12 He had a dream. In the dream, he saw some steps. The steps went up from the earth into heaven. God's angels were going up and down the steps.
13 The Lord stood at the top of the steps. He said, ‘I am the Lord. I am the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of Isaac, your father. I will give the land that you are lying on to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will go to the west and to the east. They will go to the north and to the south. Through you and your descendants I will bless all the families of people on the earth.[a] 15 I am with you. I will take care of you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised to do for you.’
16 Jacob woke from his sleep. He thought, ‘The Lord is in this place and I did not know it.’ 17 Jacob was afraid. He said, ‘How great this place is! This must be the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.’
18 Early in the morning Jacob got up. He took the stone that he had put under his head. He made it stand up straight in the ground. He poured oil on top of it.[b]
19 Jacob called that place Bethel.[c] Before that, the name of the place had been Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a promise to God. He said, ‘While I am on this journey, I want God to be with me and to take care of me. I want him to give me food to eat and clothes to wear. 21 Then I want to return to my father's house. If God keeps me safe, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This special stone that I have put here will be God's house. And from everything that God gives me, I will give God one tenth.’
13 All these people continued to believe God until they died. But they did not receive all the things that God had promised to give them. They were like people who saw those things far away. That made them happy. These people understood that they lived as strangers and travellers on the earth. 14 People who live in that way show that they expect to live somewhere else one day. That is the place where they will really be at home. 15 They were not thinking about the country that they had left. They could have gone back there if they really wanted to. 16 No, they wanted very much to go to a better place, in heaven. For that reason, God is not ashamed for them to call him their God. He has already prepared a city for them to live in.
17 Here is another example of Abraham's faith. God wanted to see whether Abraham really trusted him. Because Abraham believed God, he offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. God had promised Abraham that he would have many grandchildren. But Abraham was still ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice. 18 God had said to Abraham, ‘It is through Isaac that your family will continue.’ 19 But Abraham was sure that, if Isaac died, God could raise Isaac to life again. We could even say that is a picture of what really happened. It was like Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.[a]
20 Isaac himself also believed God. As a result of his faith, he asked God to bless his sons, Jacob and Esau. He trusted that God would help them in the future time.[b]
21 Jacob believed God. As a result of his faith, he asked God to bless each of Joseph's sons. Jacob did that when he was dying. At that time, he used his stick to hold himself up while he worshipped God.[c]
22 Joseph also believed God. At the end of his life, he spoke about what would happen to the family of Israel's people after his death. He understood that they would leave Egypt one day. As a result of his faith, he told his family where they should bury his bones.[d]
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