Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the King

72 O God, make the king right in what he decides. Make the king’s son right with You. ² May he be right when he decides who is right and who is wrong and may he be fair to the poor. ³ Let mountains and hills bring peace to the people through what is right and good. ⁴ May he stand by those who are poor, save the children of those in need, and destroy the bad power over them.

⁵ May all the children-to-come fear You as long as the sun and the moon last. ⁶ May He come down like rain upon the cut grass, like rain that waters the earth. ⁷ In His days may all go well with those who are right and good. And may there be much peace until the moon is no more.

⁸ May he also rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. ⁹ Those who live in the desert will put their faces to the ground before Him. And those who hate Him will kiss the dust. ¹⁰ Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. Let the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. ¹¹ Yes, let all kings fall down at His feet, and all nations serve Him.

¹² For He will take out of trouble the one in need when he cries for help, and the poor man who has no one to help. ¹³ He will have loving-pity on the weak and those in need. He will save the lives of those in need. ¹⁴ He will take them from the bad power that is held over them and from being hurt. Their blood will be of much worth in His eyes. ¹⁵ He will live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him. Prayer will be given for Him all the time. Let them honor Him all day long.

¹⁶ May there be much grain in the land on top of the mountains. May its fruit grow like the trees of Lebanon. And may those of the city grow like the grass of the earth. ¹⁷ May His name last forever. May His name become bigger as long as the sun shines. And let men respect themselves through Him. Let all nations honor Him.

¹⁸ Honor and thanks be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does great things. ¹⁹ And honor be to His great name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His shining-greatness. Let it be so.

²⁰ The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Solomon’s Riches

¹⁴ The gold which came in to Solomon in one year weighed as much as 666 small men, ¹⁵ besides all the gold that came from the traders and all the kings of the Arabs and the leaders of the country. ¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large body coverings for battle of beaten gold. For each covering he used 600 pieces of gold. ¹⁷ And he made 300 coverings of beaten gold, using 150 pieces of gold on each covering. The king put them in the house among the trees of Lebanon. ¹⁸ Then the king made a large throne of ivory and covered it with fine gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and a round top at its back. There were arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one on each end. Nothing like it was made for any other king. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold. And all the cups of the house among the trees of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None of them were made of silver. Silver was not thought of as being of much worth in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had a group of ships of Tarshish at sea with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴ They came from all over the earth to see Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Every one of them brought his gift. They brought objects of silver and gold, clothing, objects for fighting in battle, spices, horses and donkeys, so much year by year.

⁷ Loving-favor has been given to each one of us. We can see how great it is by the gift of Christ.

¹¹ Christ gave gifts to men. He gave to some the gift to be missionaries, some to be preachers, others to be preachers who go from town to town. He gave others the gift to be church leaders and teachers. ¹² These gifts help His people work well for Him. And then the church which is the body of Christ will be made strong. ¹³ All of us are to be as one in the faith and in knowing the Son of God. We are to be full-grown Christians standing as high and complete as Christ is Himself. ¹⁴ Then we will not be as children any longer. Children are like boats thrown up and down on big waves. They are blown with the wind. False teaching is like the wind. False teachers try everything possible to make people believe a lie, ¹⁵ but we are to hold to the truth with love in our hearts. We are to grow up and be more like Christ. He is the leader of the church. ¹⁶ Christ has put each part of the church in its right place. Each part helps other parts. This is what is needed to keep the whole body together. In this way, the whole body grows strong in love.