Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
72 (0) By Shlomo:
(1) God, give the king your fairness in judgment,
endow this son of kings with your righteousness,
2 so that he can govern your people rightly
and your poor with justice.
3 May mountains and hills provide your people
with peace through righteousness.
4 May he defend the oppressed among the people,
save the needy and crush the oppressor.
5 May they fear you as long as the sun endures
and as long as the moon, through all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on mown grass,
like showers watering the land.
7 In his days, let the righteous flourish
and peace abound, till the moon is no more.
8 May his empire stretch from sea to sea,
from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.
9 May desert-dwellers bow before him;
may his enemies lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and the coasts will pay him tribute;
the kings of Sh’va and S’va will offer gifts.
11 Yes, all kings will prostrate themselves before him;
all nations will serve him.
12 For he will rescue the needy when they cry,
the poor too and those with none to help them.
13 He will have pity on the poor and needy;
and the lives of the needy he will save.
14 He will redeem them from oppression and violence;
their blood will be precious in his view.
15 May [the king] live long!
May they give him gold from the land of Sh’va!
May they pray for him continually;
yes, bless him all day long.
16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land,
all the way to the tops of the mountains.
May its crops rustle like the L’vanon.
May people blossom in the city like the grasses in the fields.
17 May his name endure forever,
his name, Yinnon, as long as the sun.[a]
May people bless themselves in him,
may all nations call him happy.
18 Blessed be Adonai, God,
the God of Isra’el,
who alone works wonders.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.
20 This completes the prayers of David the son of Yishai.
2 In the second year of the reign of N’vukhadnetzar, N’vukhadnetzar became so troubled by a series of dreams he had that he couldn’t sleep. 2 So the king ordered the magicians, exorcists, sorcerers and astrologers summoned to interpret the king’s dreams to him. They came and stood in his presence. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream which will keep troubling my spirit until I know what it means.”
4 The astrologers spoke to the king in Aramaic: “May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 5 The king answered the astrologers, “Here is what I have decided: if you don’t tell me both the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses reduced to rubble. 6 But if you do state the dream and its interpretation, I will give you presents, rewards and great honor. Just tell me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 A second time they said, “Let his majesty tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 8 The king replied, “I see you’re only trying to gain time, because you see that I’ve decided 9 that if you don’t tell me the dream, there is only one sentence passed on all of you. So you’ve conspired to mislead me with lies in the hope that time will change things. Now, just tell me the dream! That will convince me that you will also be able to give me its correct interpretation.” 10 The astrologers answered the king, “Your majesty, nobody in the world can do this! Never has a king, no matter how great and powerful, asked such a thing of any magician or exorcist or astrologer. 11 The king is asking a difficult thing; nobody but the gods could tell this to your majesty, and they don’t live with mere mortals.” 12 At this the king flew into a rage and ordered all the sages of Bavel put to death. 13 When the decree was published that the sages were to be slain, they sought Dani’el and his companions in order to have them put to death.
14 Then, choosing his words carefully, Dani’el consulted Aryokh, captain of the royal guard, who had already gone out to kill the sages of Bavel. 15 He said to Aryokh, “Since you are the king’s official, let me ask: why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” Aryokh explained the matter to Dani’el. 16 Then Dani’el went in and asked the king to give him time to tell the king the interpretation.
17 Dani’el went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah, his companions; 18 so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret, and thus save Dani’el and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Bavel. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Dani’el in a vision at night, and Dani’el blessed the God of heaven
17 Therefore I say this — indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking. 18 Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God’s will. 19 They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more. 20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah! 21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth, 22 then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed, 24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.
25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor,[a] because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body. 26 Be angry, but don’t sin[b] — don’t let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger; 27 otherwise you leave room for the Adversary.
28 The thief must stop stealing; instead, he should make an honest living by his own efforts. This way he will be able to share with those in need.
29 Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them. 30 Don’t cause grief to God’s Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
5 So imitate God, as his dear children;
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.