Psalms 72:1-7, 18-19

Of Solomon.

72 God, give your judgments to the king. Give your righteousness to the king’s son. ² Let him judge your people with righteousness and your poor ones with justice. ³ Let the mountains bring peace to the people; let the hills bring righteousness. ⁴ Let the king bring justice to people who are poor; let him save the children of those who are needy, but let him crush oppressors! ⁵ Let the king live as long as the sun, as long as the moon, generation to generation. ⁶ Let him fall like rain upon fresh-cutgrass, like showers that water the earth. ⁷ Let the righteous flourish throughout their lives, and let peace prosper until the moon is no more. ¹⁸ Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel - the only one who does wondrous things! ¹⁹ Bless God’s glorious name forever; let his glory fill all the earth! Amen and Amen!

Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot from Jesse’s stump

11 A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse; a branch will sprout from his roots. ² The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of planning and strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. ³ He will delight in fearing the Lord. He won’t judge by appearances, nor decide by hearsay. ⁴ He will judge the needy with righteousness, and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land. He will strike the violent with the rod of his mouth; by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. ⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around his hips, and faithfulness the belt around his waist. ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion will feed together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together, and a lion will eat straw like an ox. ⁸ A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole; toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den. ⁹ They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain. The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, just as the water covers the sea.