UST PSA Chapter 72

A psalm of Solomon.

O God, please enable the man who is now succeeding his father as king

to judge cases rightly, as you would do.

2 Enable him to judge the cases of Israelite people fairly,

especially for people who are vulnerable.

3 May the people live rightly so that they will be prosperous

as crops grow abundantly on the hillsides of the land.

4 Help the king to defend poor people and rescue needy people

and defeat those who are oppressing them.

5 May each successive generation of the people respect you.

May they do that for as long as the sun and the moon are in the sky!

6 May this king make the nation prosperous,

just as heavy rains soak the soil

and enable more hay to grow after a first cutting.

7 May people who live rightly prosper during the time when he reigns,

and may the nation be very prosperous for as long as the moon is in the sky.

8 May he rule over all of the surrounding territory, right up to the shores of the seas.

May his realm extend from the Euphrates River to the limits of the lands that people know.

9 May the leaders of the desert tribes bow down in front of him to acknowledge him as their ruler,

and may his enemies lie facedown on the ground in submission to him.

10 May the kings who rule the land of Tarshish and other coastal areas pay tribute to him.

May the king of Sheba and the king of Seba give him gifts.

11 In fact, may all the kings in the world acknowledge him as their ruler,

and may every nation obey him.

12 May all these things happen because he rescues needy people when they cry out for help

and he helps poor people who have no one else to help them.

13 May he feel compassion for people who are weak and needy and save their lives.

14 May their lives be important to him

so that he rescues them from people who are oppressing and harming them.

15 May this king live for a long time!

May he receive much fine gold.

May people always pray for him and ask God to bless him.

16 May the fields produce such abundant crops

that grain grows all the way up to the tops of the hills

and sways in the wind like the branches of the trees in Lebanon.

May the cities in Israel be as full of people as the fields are full of grass.

17 May people always remember what a good king this was,

for as long as the sun is in the sky!

May he do good things for many people,

and may the people of other nations say that he has a good life.

18 Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship;

he does amazing things that no one else can do.

19 Praise him forever for how glorious he is!

May his glory fill the whole world! Amen! Yes, amen!

20 This is the end of the prayers that David, the son of Jesse, wrote.