Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To Solomon.[a]
72 God, help the king be like you and make fair decisions.
Help the king’s son know what justice is.
2 Help the king judge your people fairly.
Help him make wise decisions for your poor people.
3 Let there be peace and justice throughout the land,
known on every mountain and hill.
4 May the king be fair to the poor.
May he help the helpless and punish those who hurt them.
5 May people always fear and respect you, God,
as long as the sun shines and the moon is in the sky.
6 Help the king be like rain falling on the fields,
like showers falling on the land.
7 Let goodness grow everywhere while he is king.
Let peace continue as long as there is a moon.
8 Let his kingdom grow from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River to the faraway places on earth.[b]
9 May all the people living in the desert bow down to him.
May all his enemies bow before him with their faces in the dirt.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and all the faraway lands by the sea bring gifts to him.
May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring their tribute to him.
11 May all kings bow down to our king.
May all nations serve him.
12 Our king helps the poor who cry out to him—
those in need who have no one to help them.
13 He feels sorry for all who are weak and poor.
He protects their lives.
14 He saves them from the cruel people who try to hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
Let him receive gold from Sheba.
Always pray for the king.
Ask God to bless him every day.
16 May the fields grow plenty of grain
and the hills be covered with crops.
May the fields be as fertile as Lebanon,
and may people fill the cities as grass covers a field.
17 May the king be famous forever.
May people remember his name as long as the sun shines.
May all nations be blessed through him,
and may they all bless him.
18 Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel!
Only he can do such amazing things.
19 Praise his glorious name forever!
Let his glory fill the whole world.
Amen and Amen!
20 (This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.)
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. 11 The sun had already set when he came to a good place to spend the night. He took a rock there and laid his head on it to sleep. 12 Jacob had a dream. He dreamed there was a ladder that was on the ground and reached up into heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down the ladder. 13 And then Jacob saw the Lord standing by the ladder. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I will give you the land that you are lying on now. I will give this land to you and to your children. 14 You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
15 “I am with you, and I will protect you everywhere you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”
16 Then Jacob woke up and said, “I know that the Lord is in this place, but I did not know he was here until I slept.”
17 Jacob was afraid and said, “This is a very great place. This is the house of God. This is the gate to heaven.”
18 Jacob got up very early in the morning. He took the rock he had slept on and set it up on its edge. Then he poured oil on the rock. In this way he made it a memorial to God. 19 The name of that place was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.[a]
20 Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “If God will be with me, and if he will protect me on this trip, and if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and if I return in peace to my father’s house—if he does all these things—then the Lord will be my God. 22 I am setting this stone up as a memorial stone. It will show that this is a holy place for God, and I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”
13 All these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. 14 When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. 15 If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. 16 But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And he has prepared a city for them.
17-18 God tested Abraham’s faith. God told him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed because he had faith. He already had the promises from God. And God had already said to him, “It is through Isaac that your descendants will come.”[a] But Abraham was ready to offer his only son. He did this because he had faith. 19 He believed that God could raise people from death. And really, when God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac, it was as if he got him back from death.
20 Isaac blessed the future of Jacob and Esau. He did that because he had faith. 21 And Jacob, also because he had faith, blessed each one of Joseph’s sons. He did this while he was dying, leaning on his rod and worshiping God.
22 And when Joseph was almost dead, he spoke about the people of Israel leaving Egypt. And he told them what they should do with his body. He did this because he had faith.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International