Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 25

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.

² O my God, I trust, lean on, rely on, and am confident in You. Let me not be put to shame or [my hope in You] be disappointed; let not my enemies triumph over me.

³ Yes, let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame or be disappointed; let them be ashamed who forsake the right or deal treacherously without cause.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.

⁵ Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.

⁶ Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercy and loving-kindness; for they have been ever from of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins (the lapses and frailties) of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your mercy and steadfast love remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He instruct sinners in [His] way.

⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and the humble He teaches His way.

¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are mercy and steadfast love, even truth and faithfulness are they for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

⁶ [And Ezra said], You are the Lord, You alone; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve them all, and the hosts of heaven worship You.

⁷ You are the Lord, the God Who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave him the name Abraham.

⁸ You found his heart faithful before You, and You made the covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Jebusite, and Girgashite. And You have fulfilled Your promise, for You are just and righteous.

⁹ You saw our fathers’ affliction in Egypt, and You heard their cry at the Red Sea.

¹⁰ You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for You knew that they dealt insolently against the Israelites. And You got for Yourself a name, as it is today.

¹¹ You divided the sea before them, so that they went through its midst on dry land; their persecutors You threw into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

¹² Moreover, by a pillar of cloud You led them by day, and by a pillar of fire by night to light the way they should go.

¹³ You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from Heaven and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.

¹⁴ And You made known to them Your holy Sabbath and gave them commandments, statutes, and a law through Moses Your servant.

¹⁵ You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst; and You told them to go in and possess the land You had sworn to give them.^(A)

5 But as to the suitable times and the precise seasons and dates, brethren, you have no necessity for anything being written to you.

² For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the [return of the] Lord will come [as unexpectedly and suddenly] as a thief in the night.

³ When people are saying, All is well and secure, and, There is peace and safety, then in a moment unforeseen destruction (ruin and death) will come upon them as suddenly as labor pains come upon a woman with child; and they shall by no means escape, for there will be no escape.

⁴ But you are not in [given up to the power of] darkness, brethren, for that day to overtake you by surprise like a thief.

⁵ For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or to darkness.

⁶ Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake (alert, watchful, cautious, and on our guard) and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect).

⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night.

⁸ But we belong to the day; therefore, let us be sober and put on the breastplate (corslet) of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

⁹ For God has not appointed us to [incur His] wrath [He did not select us to condemn us], but [that we might] obtain [His] salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)

¹⁰ Who died for us so that whether we are still alive or are dead [at Christ’s appearing], we might live together with Him and share His life.

¹¹ Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another, just as you are doing.