Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Solomonic
A Prayer for the King
72 God, endow the king with ability to render[a] your justice,
and the king’s son to render your right decisions.
2 May he rule your people with right decisions
and your oppressed ones with justice.
3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people
and the hills bring righteousness.
4 May he defend the afflicted of the people
and deliver the children of the poor,
but crush the oppressor.
5 May they fear you as long as the sun and moon shine[b]—
from generation to generation.
6 May he be like the rain that descends on mown grass,
like showers sprinkling on the ground.
7 The righteous will flourish at the proper time
and peace will prevail until the moon is no more.
8 May he rule from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River[c] to the ends of the earth.
9 May the nomads bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring gifts,
and may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer tribute.
11 May all kings bow down to him,
and all nations serve him.
12 For he will deliver the needy when they cry out for help,
and the poor when there is no deliverer.
13 He will have compassion on the poor and the needy,
and he will save the lives of the needy.
14 He will redeem them[d] from oppression and violence,
since their lives are[e] precious in his sight.
Prayer for the King
15 May he live long and be given gold from Sheba,
and may prayer be offered for him continuously,
and may he be blessed every day.
16 May grain be abundant in the land
all the way[f] to the mountain tops;
may its fruits flourish
like the forests of Lebanon,
and may the cities sprout
like the grass of the earth.
Praising the God of Israel
17 May his fame[g] be eternal—
as long as the sun—
may his name endure,
and may they be blessed through him,
and may all nations call him blessed.
18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does awesome deeds.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and amen!
20 This ends the prayers of Jesse’s son David.
God Calls Moses
3 Meanwhile, Moses continued tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the western[a] desert and came to Horeb,[b] God’s mountain, where[c] 2 the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses[d] continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed. 3 Then Moses told himself,[e] “I’ll go over and see this remarkable[f] sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God[g] said. “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and were not afraid of the king’s order.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 because he preferred being mistreated with God’s people to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He thought that being insulted for the sake of the Messiah[a] was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
27 By faith he left Egypt, without being afraid of the king’s anger, and he persevered because he saw the one who is invisible.
28 By faith he established the Passover and the sprinkling of blood to keep the destroyer of the firstborn from touching the people.[b]
29 By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had welcomed the spies with a greeting of[c] peace.
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