Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord Helps His Troubled People
A Psalm of David (A)when he fled from Absalom his son.
3 Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah
3 But You, O Lord, are (B)a shield [a]for me,
My glory and (C)the One who lifts up my head.
4 I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And (D)He heard me from His (E)holy hill. Selah
Woe to the Wicked
5 “Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,
He is a proud man,
And he does not stay at home.
Because he (A)enlarges his desire as [a]hell,
And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied,
He gathers to himself all nations
And heaps up for himself all peoples.
6 “Will not all these (B)take up a proverb against him,
And a taunting riddle against him, and say,
‘Woe to him who increases
What is not his—how long?
And to him who loads himself with [b]many pledges’?
7 Will not [c]your creditors rise up suddenly?
Will they not awaken who oppress you?
And you will become their booty.
8 (C)Because you have plundered many nations,
All the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
Because of men’s [d]blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
9 “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house,
That he may (D)set his nest on high,
That he may be delivered from the [e]power of disaster!
10 You give shameful counsel to your house,
Cutting off many peoples,
And sin against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall,
And the beam from the timbers will answer it.
Obedience by Faith
5 Whoever believes that (A)Jesus is the Christ is (B)born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and (C)keep His commandments. 3 (D)For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And (E)His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For (F)whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that (G)has overcome the world—[a]our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but (H)he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, [a]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Confidence and Compassion in Prayer
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that (A)if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and (B)He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. (C)There is sin leading to death. (D)I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 (E)All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
Knowing the True—Rejecting the False
18 We know that (F)whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God (G)keeps[b] [c]himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and (H)the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
20 And we know that the (I)Son of God has come and (J)has given us an understanding, (K)that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. (L)This is the true God (M)and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.