Daniel’s Prayer for the People

9 In the first year ^(A)of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

^3 (C)Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O ^(D)Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ^5 (E)we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ^6 (F)Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷ O Lord, ^(G)righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ^9 (H)To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, ^(I)all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the ^(J)Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

Deceptions of the Last Hour

^18 (A)Little children, ^(B)it is the last hour; and as you have heard that ^(C)the^[a] Antichrist is coming, ^(D)even now many antichrists have come, by which we know ^(E)that it is the last hour. ^19 (F)They went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^(G)if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out ^(H)that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰ But ^(I)you have an anointing ^(J)from the Holy One, and ^(K)you^[b] know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

^22 (L)Who is a liar but he who denies that ^(M)Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ^23 (N)Whoever denies the Son does not have the ^(O)Father either; ^(P)he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you ^(Q)which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, ^(R)you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ^25 (S)And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to ^[c]deceive you. ²⁷ But the ^(T)anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and ^(U)you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing ^(V)teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you ^[d]will abide in Him.

The Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in Him, that ^[e]when He appears, we may have ^(W)confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ^29 (X)If you know that He is righteous, you know that ^(Y)everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(Z)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(AA)we should be called children of ^[f]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[g]us, ^(AB)because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, ^(AC)now we are children of God; and ^(AD)it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, ^(AE)we shall be like Him, for ^(AF)we shall see Him as He is. ^3 (AG)And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Sin and the Child of God

⁴ Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and ^(AH)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know ^(AI)that He was manifested ^(AJ)to take away our sins, and ^(AK)in Him there is no sin. ⁶ Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

God the Help of Those Who Seek Him

A Song of Ascents.