Daniel's Prayer for His People

9 ^(A)In the first year of ^(B)Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a ^(C)Mede, who was made king over the realm of the ^(D)Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to ^(E)the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

³ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by ^(F)prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and ^(G)made confession, saying, ^(H)“O Lord, the ^(I)great and awesome God, who ^(J)keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ^5 (K)we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly ^(L)and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ^6 (M)We have not listened to ^(N)your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to ^(O)our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ To you, ^(P)O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, ^(Q)those who are near and ^(R)those who are far away, in ^(S)all the lands to which you have driven them, because of ^(T)the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because ^(U)we have sinned against you. ^9 (V)To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him ^10 (W)and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by ^(X)his servants the prophets. ^11 (Y)All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, ^(Z)refusing to obey your voice. ^(AA)And the curse and oath ^(AB)that are written in the Law of ^(AC)Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because ^(AD)we have sinned against him.

Warning Concerning Antichrists

¹⁸ Children, ^(A)it is the last hour, and as you have heard that ^(B)antichrist is coming, so now ^(C)many antichrists have come. ^(D)Therefore we know that it is the last hour. ^19 (E)They went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^(F)if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, ^(G)that it might become plain that they all are not of us. ²⁰ But you have been ^(H)anointed by ^(I)the Holy One, and ^(J)you all have knowledge.^{[a] 21} I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is the liar but ^(K)he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is ^(L)the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. ^23 (M)No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ Let ^(N)what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then ^(O)you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he made to us^[b]—^(P)eternal life.

²⁶ I write these things to you about ^(Q)those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ But ^(R)the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and ^(S)you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and ^(T)is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him, so that ^(U)when he appears ^(V)we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his ^(W)coming. ²⁹ If you know that ^(X)he is righteous, you may be sure that ^(Y)everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

3 See ^(Z)what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called ^(AA)children of God; and so we are. The reason why ^(AB)the world does not know us is that ^(AC)it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are ^(AD)God's children ^(AE)now, and what we will be ^(AF)has not yet appeared; but we know that ^(AG)when he appears^{[c] (AH)}we shall be like him, because ^(AI)we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who ^(AJ)thus hopes in him ^(AK)purifies himself as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; ^(AL)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that ^(AM)he appeared in order to ^(AN)take away sins, and ^(AO)in him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; ^(AP)no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.