Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9 In the first year of ^(A)Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, ^(C)seventy years. ³ So I gave my ^[a]attention to the Lord God, to seek Him by prayer and pleading, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed, and said, “Oh, Lord, the ^(D)great and awesome God, who ^(E)keeps His covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ^5 (F)we have sinned, we have done wrong, and ^[b]acted wickedly and ^(G)rebelled, even ^(H)turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ Moreover, we have not ^(I)listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our leaders, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

⁷ “^(J)Righteousness belongs to You, Lord, but to us ^[c](K)open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in ^(L)all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. ^8 [d]Open shame belongs to us, Lord, to our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong ^(M)compassion and forgiveness, ^[e]because we have ^(N)rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His ^[f]teachings which He ^(O)set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed, ^(P)all Israel has violated Your Law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the ^(Q)curse has gushed forth on us, along with the oath which is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.

¹⁸ Children, ^(A)it is the last hour; and just as you heard that ^(B)antichrist is coming, ^(C)even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. ^19 (D)They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, ^(E)so that ^[a]it would be evident that they all are not of us. ^20 [b]But you have an ^(F)anointing from ^(G)the Holy One, and ^(H)you all know. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but ^(I)because you do know it, and ^[c]because no lie is ^(J)of the truth. ²² Who is the liar except ^(K)the one who denies that Jesus is the ^[d]Christ? This is ^(L)the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ^23 (M)Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ As for you, see that what you heard ^(N)from the beginning remains in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also ^(O)will remain in the Son and in the Father.

The Promise Is Eternal Life

^25 (P)This is the promise which He Himself ^[e]made to us: eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to ^(Q)deceive you. ²⁷ And as for you, the ^(R)anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing ^(S)teaches you about all things, and is ^(T)true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, ^[f]you remain in Him.

²⁸ Now, ^(U)little children, remain in Him, so that when He ^(V)appears, we may have ^(W)confidence and ^(X)not ^[g]draw back from Him in shame ^[h]at His ^(Y)coming. ²⁹ If you know that ^(Z)He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also ^(AA)has been born of Him.

Children of God Love One Another

3 See ^[i](AB)how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called ^(AC)children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because ^(AD)it did not know Him. ^2 (AE)Beloved, now we are ^(AF)children of God, and ^(AG)it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He ^(AH)appears, we will be ^(AI)like Him, because we will ^(AJ)see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone who has this ^(AK)hope set on Him ^(AL)purifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and ^(AM)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He ^(AN)appeared in order to ^(AO)take away sins; and ^(AP)in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who remains in Him ^(AQ)sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or ^[j](AR)knows Him.

The Lord, the Keeper of Israel.

A Song of Ascents.