PSALM 72:1-7, 10-14

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king's son.  May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.  May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.  May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.  May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.  May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.  In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more... May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts.  May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.  For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.  He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.  From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.

 

ADDITIONAL TEXTS

Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit has been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to eat; there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger. The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets.  Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice.  The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand….  But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Micah 7:1-4, 7

 

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages; who says, “I will build myself a spacious house with large upper rooms,” and who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it with vermilion.  Are you a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.  Is not this to know me? says the LORD.  But your eyes and heart are only on your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.

Jeremiah 22:13-17

 

Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep.  You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them…  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.  As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet?  And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?  Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

Ezekiel 34:2-4, 15-20

 

ADDITIONAL LECTIONARY TEXTS:

Isaiah 60:1-6   

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14      

Ephesians 3:1-12          

Matthew 2:1-12

 

Texts are from the NRSV.