Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 72^[a]

[A Psalm] for Solomon.

¹ Give the king [knowledge of] Your [way of] judging, O God, and [the spirit of] Your righteousness to the king’s son [to control all his actions].

² Let him judge and govern Your people with righteousness, and Your poor and afflicted ones with judgment and justice.

³ The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, through [the general establishment of] righteousness.

⁴ May he judge and defend the poor of the people, deliver the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor,

⁵ So that they may revere and fear You while the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

⁶ May he [Solomon as a type of King David’s greater Son] be like rain that comes down upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

⁷ In ^[b]His [Christ’s] days shall the [uncompromisingly] righteous flourish and peace abound till there is a moon no longer.^(A)

⁸ He [Christ] shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.^(B)

⁹ Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him and His enemies shall lick the dust.

¹⁰ The kings of Tarshish and of the coasts shall bring offerings; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

¹¹ Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.^(C)

¹² For He delivers the needy when he calls out, the poor also and him who has no helper.

¹³ He will have pity on the poor and weak and needy and will save the lives of the needy.

¹⁴ He will redeem their lives from oppression and fraud and violence, and precious and costly shall their blood be in His sight.

¹⁵ And He shall live; and to Him shall be given gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for Him and through Him continually, and they shall bless and praise Him all the day long.

¹⁶ There shall be abundance of grain in the soil upon the top of the mountains [the least fruitful places in the land]; the fruit of it shall wave like [the forests of] Lebanon, and [the inhabitants of] the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

¹⁷ His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun [indeed, His name continues before the sun]. And men shall be blessed and bless themselves by Him; all nations shall call Him blessed!

¹⁸ Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does wondrous things!

¹⁹ Blessed be His glorious name forever; let the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen!

²⁰ The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one [particular] year was 666 talents of gold,

¹⁵ Besides what the traders brought and the traffic of the merchants and from all the [tributary] kings and governors of the land of Arabia.

¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of gold went into each shield.

¹⁷ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ Also the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the finest gold.

¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and attached at the rear of the top of the throne was a round covering or canopy. On either side of the seat were armrests, and two lions stood beside the armrests.

²⁰ Twelve lions stood there, one on either end of each of the six steps; there was nothing like it ever made in any kingdom.

²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

²² For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom (skill).

²⁴ And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in his mind.

²⁵ Every man brought tribute: vessels of silver and gold, garments, equipment, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

⁷ Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift.

¹¹ And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

¹² His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

¹³ [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [^[a]full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

¹⁴ So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of ^[b]unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

¹⁵ Rather, let our lives lovingly ^[c]express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

¹⁶ For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.