Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 72[a]
A Prayer for the King
1 Of Solomon.
I
2 O God, give your judgment to the king;
your justice to the king’s son;[b](A)
That he may govern your people with justice,
your oppressed with right judgment,(B)
3 That the mountains may yield their bounty for the people,
and the hills great abundance,(C)
4 That he may defend the oppressed among the people,
save the children of the poor and crush the oppressor.
II
5 May they fear you with the sun,
and before the moon, through all generations.(D)
6 May he be like rain coming down upon the fields,
like showers watering the earth,(E)
7 That abundance may flourish in his days,
great bounty, till the moon be no more.
III
8 [c]May he rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.(F)
9 May his foes kneel before him,
his enemies lick the dust.(G)
10 May the kings of Tarshish and the islands[d] bring tribute,
the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.(H)
11 May all kings bow before him,
all nations serve him.(I)
12 For he rescues the poor when they cry out,
the oppressed who have no one to help.
13 He shows pity to the needy and the poor(J)
and saves the lives of the poor.
14 From extortion and violence he redeems them,
for precious is their blood[e] in his sight.
IV
15 Long may he live, receiving gold from Sheba,
prayed for without cease, blessed day by day.
16 [f]May wheat abound in the land,
flourish even on the mountain heights.
May his fruit be like that of Lebanon,
and flourish in the city like the grasses of the land.(K)
17 May his name be forever;
as long as the sun, may his name endure.(L)
May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name;[g]
may all the nations regard him as favored.(M)
18 [h]Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful deeds.(N)
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may he fill all the earth with his glory.(O)
Amen and amen.
20 The end of the psalms of David, son of Jesse.
B. The Book of Emmanuel
Chapter 6
The Sending of Isaiah. 1 In the year King Uzziah died,[a] I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,(A) with the train of his garment filling the temple. 2 Seraphim[b] were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they hovered.(B) 3 One cried out to the other:
“Holy, holy, holy[c] is the Lord of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4 At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.[d](C)
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed![e] For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips,(D) and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
44 Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the desert just as the One who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(A) 45 Our ancestors who inherited it brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out from before our ancestors, up to the time of David,(B) 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.(C) 47 But Solomon built a house for him.(D) 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:(E)
49 ‘The heavens are my throne,
the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house can you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what is to be my resting place?(F)
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
Conclusion. 51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.(G) 53 You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”(H)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.