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.)
God Chooses Joshua to Lead Israel
1 Moses was the Lord’s servant, and Joshua son of Nun was Moses’ helper. After Moses died, the Lord spoke to Joshua and said, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all these people must go across the Jordan River. You must go into the land I am giving to the Israelites. 3 I promised Moses that I would give you this land, so I will give you all the land wherever you go. 4 All the land from the desert to Lebanon all the way to the great river (that is, the Euphrates River) and all the land of the Hittites will be yours. And all the land from here to the Mediterranean Sea in the west (that is, the place where the sun sets) will be within your borders. 5 Just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. No one will be able to stop you all your life. I will not abandon you. I will never leave you.
6 “Joshua, you must be strong and brave! You must lead these people so that they can take their land. I promised their fathers that I would give them this land. 7 But you must be strong and brave about obeying the commands my servant Moses gave you. If you follow his teachings exactly, you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Always remember what is written in that book of law. Speak about that book and study it day and night. Then you can be sure to obey what is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything you do. 9 Remember, I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
32 Do I need to give you more examples? I don’t have enough time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 All of them had great faith. And with that faith they defeated kingdoms. They did what was right, and God helped them in the ways he promised. With their faith some people closed the mouths of lions. 34 And some were able to stop blazing fires. Others escaped from being killed with swords. Some who were weak were made strong. They became powerful in battle and defeated other armies. 35 There were women who lost loved ones but got them back when they were raised from death. Others were tortured but refused to accept their freedom. They did this so that they could be raised from death to a better life. 36 Some were laughed at and beaten. Others were tied up and put in prison. 37 They were killed with stones. They were cut in half. They were killed with swords. The only clothes some of them had were sheepskins or goatskins. They were poor, persecuted, and treated badly by others. 38 The world was not good enough for these great people. They had to wander in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground.
39 God was pleased with all of them because of their faith. But not one of them received God’s great promise. 40 God planned something better for us. He wanted to make us perfect. Of course, he wanted those great people to be made perfect too, but not before we could all enjoy that blessing together.
We Also Should Follow Jesus’ Example
12 We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. 2 We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International