Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
72 O God, help the king to judge as you would, and help his son to walk in godliness. 2 Help him to give justice to your people, even to the poor. 3 May the mountains and hills flourish in prosperity because of his good reign. 4 Help him to defend the poor and needy and to crush their oppressors. 5 May the poor and needy revere you constantly, as long as sun and moon continue in the skies! Yes, forever!
6 May the reign of this son of mine[a] be as gentle and fruitful as the springtime rains upon the grass—like showers that water the earth! 7 May all good men flourish in his reign with abundance of peace to the end of time.
8 Let him reign from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. 9 The desert nomads shall bow before him; his enemies shall fall face downward in the dust. 10 Kings along the Mediterranean coast—the kings of Tarshish and the islands—and those from Sheba and from Seba—all will bring their gifts. 11 Yes, kings from everywhere! All will bow before him! All will serve him!
12 He will take care of the helpless and poor when they cry to him; for they have no one else to defend them. 13 He feels pity for the weak and needy and will rescue them. 14 He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him.
15 And he shall live; and to him will be given the gold of Sheba, and there will be constant praise for him.[b] His people will bless him all day long. 16 Bless us with abundant crops throughout the land, even on the highland plains; may there be fruit like that of Lebanon; may the cities be as full of people as the fields are of grass. 17 His name will be honored forever; it will continue as the sun; and all will be blessed in him; all nations will praise him.
18 Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only does wonderful things! 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!
20 (This ends the psalms of David, son of Jesse.)
1 After the death of Moses, the Lord’s disciple, God spoke to Moses’ assistant, whose name was Joshua (the son of Nun), and said to him,
2 “Now that my disciple is dead, you are the new leader of Israel.[a] Lead my people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. 3 I say to you what I said to Moses: ‘Wherever you go will be part of the land of Israel— 4 all the way from the Negeb Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to oppose you as long as you live, for I will be with you just as I was with Moses; I will not abandon you or fail to help you.
6 “Be strong and brave, for you will be a successful leader of my people; and they shall conquer all the land I promised to their ancestors. 7 You need only to be strong and courageous and to obey to the letter every law Moses gave you, for if you are careful to obey every one of them, you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Constantly remind the people about these laws, and you yourself must think about them every day and every night so that you will be sure to obey all of them. For only then will you succeed. 9 Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
32 Well, how much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and all the other prophets. 33 These people all trusted God and as a result won battles, overthrew kingdoms, ruled their people well, and received what God had promised them; they were kept from harm in a den of lions 34 and in a fiery furnace. Some, through their faith, escaped death by the sword. Some were made strong again after they had been weak or sick. Others were given great power in battle; they made whole armies turn and run away. 35 And some women, through faith, received their loved ones back again from death. But others trusted God and were beaten to death, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free—trusting that they would rise to a better life afterwards.
36 Some were laughed at and their backs cut open with whips, and others were chained in dungeons. 37-38 Some died by stoning and some by being sawed in two; others were promised freedom if they would renounce their faith, then were killed with the sword. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in dens and caves. They were hungry and sick and ill-treated—too good for this world. 39 And these men of faith, though they trusted God and won his approval, none of them received all that God had promised them; 40 for God wanted them to wait and share the even better rewards that were prepared for us.
12 Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us.
2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; and now he sits in the place of honor by the throne of God.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.