Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
17 1 Here he complaineth to God of the cruel pride and arrogance of Saul, and the rest of his enemies, who thus raged without any cause given on his part. 6 Therefore he desireth God to revenge his innocence and deliver him.
The prayer of David.
1 Hear [a]the right, O Lord, consider my cry: hearken unto my prayer of lips unfeigned.
2 Let my [b]sentence come forth from thy presence, and let thine eyes behold equity.
3 Thou hast [c]proved and visited mine heart in the night: thou hast tried me, and foundest nothing: for I was purposed that my [d]mouth should not offend.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the [e]words of thy lips I kept me from the paths of the cruel man.
5 Stay my steps in thy paths, that my feet do not slide.
6 I have called upon thee: [f]surely thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear to me, and hearken unto my words.
7 Show thy marvelous mercies: thou that art the Savior of them that trust in thee, from such as [g]resist thy right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye: hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that oppress me, from mine enemies, which compass me round about for [h]my soul.
10 They are enclosed in their own [i]fat, and they have spoken proudly with their mouth.
11 They have compassed us now in our steps: they have set their eyes to bring down to the ground:
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of prey, and as it were a Lion’s whelp lurking in secret places.
13 Up Lord, [j]disappoint him: cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked [k]with thy sword,
14 From men by thine [l]hand, O Lord, from men [m]of the world, who have their [n]portion in this life, whose bellies thou fillest with thine hid treasure: their children have enough, and leave the rest of their substance for their children.
15 But I will behold thy face [o]in righteousness, and when I [p]wake, I shall be satisfied with thine image.
21 1 David causeth the people to be numbered, 14 and there dieth seventy thousand men of the pestilence.
1 And [a]Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
2 Therefore David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people, Go, and number Israel from [b]Beersheba even to Dan, and bring it to me, that I may know the number of them.
3 And Joab answered, The Lord increased his people an hundred times so many as they be, O my lord the king: are they not all my lord’s servants? wherefore doeth my lord require this thing? why should he be a cause of [c]trespass to Israel?
4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. And Joab departed and went through all Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave the number and sum of the people unto David: and all Israel were [d]eleven hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was [e]four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 But the Levites and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the King’s word was abominable to Joab.
7 ¶ And God was displeased with this thing: therefore he smote Israel.
8 Then David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, remove the iniquity of thy servant: for I have done very foolishly.
9 And the Lord spake unto Gad David’s [f]Seer, saying,
10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Take to thee,
12 Either three years famine, or three months to be destroyed before thine adversaries, and the sword of thine enemies [g]to take thee, or else the sword of the Lord and pestilence in the land three days, that the Angel of the Lord may destroy throughout all the coasts of Israel: now therefore advise thee, what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a wonderful strait, let me now fall into the hand of the Lord: for his mercies are exceedingly great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.
14 So the Lord sent a pestilence in Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 ¶ And God sent the Angel into Jerusalem to destroy it. And [h]as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and [i]repented of the evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed, It is now enough, let thine hand cease. Then the Angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of [j]Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the Angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand and stretched out toward Jerusalem. Then David and the Elders of Israel which were clothed in sack, fell upon their faces.
17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded to number the people? It is even I that have sinned and have committed evil, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let thine hand be on me and on my father’s house, and not on [k]thy people for their destruction.
2 1 He declareth that Christ is our mediator and advocate, 3 and showeth that the knowledge of God consisteth in holiness of life, 12 which appertaineth to all sorts, 14 that depend on Christ alone: 15 Then having exhorteth them to contemn the world, 18 he giveth warning that Antichrists be avoided, 24 and that the known truth be stood unto.
1 My [a]little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not: and if any man sin, we have an [b]Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just.
2 And he is the [c]reconciliation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the [d]whole world.
3 [e]And hereby we are sure that we [f]know him, [g]if we keep his commandments.
4 [h]He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 [i]But he that keepeth his word, in him is the [j]love of God perfect indeed: hereby we know that we are in [k]him.
6 [l]He that saith he remaineth in him, ought even so to walk as he hath walked.
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