Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer to Be Kept Safe from Enemies

25 I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. ² O my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let those who fight against me win. ³ Yes, let no one who hopes in You be put to shame. But put to shame those who hurt others without a reason.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. ⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long. ⁶ Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. ⁷ Do not remember my sins from when I was young, or my sinful ways. By Your loving-kindness remember me for You are good, O Lord.

⁸ Good and right is the Lord. So He teaches sinners in His ways. ⁹ He leads those without pride into what is right, and teaches them His way. ¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are loving and true for those who keep His agreement and keep His Laws.

The Prayer—Telling of Their Sins

⁶ “You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their angels. You have made the earth and all that is on it, and the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the angels of heaven bow down to You. ⁷ You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees and gave him the name Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful to You and made an agreement with him, to give his children and their children’s children the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And You have done what You promised, for You are right and good.

⁹ “You saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt. You heard their cry by the Red Sea. ¹⁰ Then You made special things to see and did powerful works against Pharaoh, against all his servants and all the people of his land. For You knew that they were proud and made it hard for our fathers. And You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day. ¹¹ You divided the sea in front of them, so they passed through the sea on dry ground. And You threw those who went after them into the deep sea, like a stone into troubled waters. ¹² You led the people during the day with a cloud, and with a pillar of fire during the night to light the way they were to go. ¹³ Then You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them Laws that are right and true and good. ¹⁴ You made known to them Your holy Day of Rest, and gave them Laws through Your servant Moses. ¹⁵ You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger. You brought them water from a rock for their thirst. And You told them to go in to take for their own the land You promised to give them.

Watch for the Lord to Come Again

5 You do not need anyone to write to tell you when and at what kind of times these things will happen. ² You know for sure that the day the Lord comes back to earth will be as a robber coming in the night. ³ When they say, “Everything is fine and safe,” then all at once they will be destroyed. It will be like pain that comes on a woman when a child is born. They will not be able to get away from it. ⁴ But you are not in darkness, Christian brothers. That day will not surprise you as a robber would. ⁵ For you are children of the light and of the day. We are not of darkness or of night. ⁶ Keep awake! Do not sleep like others. Watch and keep your minds awake to what is happening. ⁷ People sleep at night. Those who get drunk do it at night. ⁸ Because we are men of the day, let us keep our minds awake. Let us cover our chests with faith and love. Let us cover our heads with the hope of being saved. ⁹ God planned to save us from the punishment of sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not plan for us to suffer from His anger. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, dead or alive, we will be with Him. ¹¹ So comfort each other and make each other strong as you are already doing.