Tuesday, January 7, 2020

The Daily Lectionary for WEDNESDAY, January 8, 2020

The Daily Lectionary for WEDNESDAY, January 8, 2020

The Daily Lectionary
WEDNESDAY, January 8, 2020
(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)

Prayers for the king
1  Endow the king with your justice, O God,
     the royal son with your righteousness.
2  May he judge your people in righteousness,
     your afflicted ones with justice.

3  May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,
     the hills the fruit of righteousness.
4  May he defend the afflicted among the people
     and save the children of the needy;
     may he crush the oppressor.
5  May he endure as long as the sun,
     as long as the moon, through all generations.
6  May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
     like showers watering the earth.
7  In his days may the righteous flourish
     and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.

8  May he rule from sea to sea
     and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9  May the desert tribes bow before him
     and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores
     bring tribute to him.
   May the kings of Sheba and Seba
     present him gifts.
11 May all kings bow down to him
     and all nations serve him.

12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
     the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
     and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
     for precious is their blood in his sight.

15 Long may he live!
     May gold from Sheba be given him.
   May people ever pray for him
     and bless him all day long.
16 May grain abound throughout the land;
     on the tops of the hills may it sway.
   May the crops flourish like Lebanon
     and thrive like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever;
     may it continue as long as the sun.

   Then all nations will be blessed through him,
     and they will call him blessed.

18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel,
     who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Praise be to his glorious name forever;
     may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
   Amen and Amen.

20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

Solomon’s splendor
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

Gifts according to Christ
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Daily Lectionary is a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Lectionary for WEDNESDAY, January 8, 2020
Psalm 72; 1 Kings 10:14-25; Ephesians 4:7, 11-16

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