Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Morning Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. For flutes. A song of David.
5 Lord, listen to my words.
Understand what I am thinking.
2 Listen to my cry for help.
My king and my God, I pray to you.
3 Lord, every morning you hear my voice.
Every morning, I tell you what I need.
And I wait for your answer.
4 You are not a God who is pleased with what is wicked.
You do not live with those who do evil.
5 Those people who make fun of you cannot stand before you.
You hate all those who do wrong.
6 You destroy liars.
The Lord hates those who kill and trick others.
7 Because of your great love,
I can come into your Temple.
Because I fear and respect you,
I can worship in your holy Temple.
8 Lord, since I have many enemies,
show me the right thing to do.
Show me clearly how you want me to live.
9 With their mouths my enemies do not tell the truth.
In their hearts they want to destroy people.
Their throats are like open graves.
They use their tongues for telling lies.
10 God, declare them guilty!
Let them fall into their own traps.
Send them away because their sins are many.
They have turned against you.
11 But let everyone who trusts you be happy.
Let them sing glad songs forever.
Protect those who love you.
They are happy because of you.
12 Lord, you bless those who do what is right.
You protect them like a soldier’s shield.
18 The Lord of heaven’s armies spoke his word to me again. 19 This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: “You have special days when you give up eating. These days are in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. Those days will become good, joyful, happy feasts in Judah. But you must love truth and peace.”
20 This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: “Many people from many cities will still come to Jerusalem. 21 People from one city will say to those from another city, ‘We are going to pray to the Lord. We want to ask the Lord of heaven’s armies for help. Come and go with us.’ 22 Many people and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem. They will worship the Lord of heaven’s armies. They will pray to the Lord.”
23 This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: “At that time, ten men from different countries with different languages will come. They will take hold of one Jew by his coat. They will say to him, ‘Let us go with you. We have heard that God is with you.’”
Reject the Enemies of Christ
18 My dear children, the end is near! You have heard that the Enemy of Christ is coming. And now many enemies of Christ are already here. So we know that the end is near. 19 Those enemies of Christ were in our group. But they left us. They did not really belong with us. If they were really part of our group, then they would have stayed with us. But they left. This shows that none of them really belonged with us.
20 You have the gift[a] that the Holy One gave you. So you all know the truth.[b] 21 Why do I write to you? Do I write because you do not know the truth? No, I write this letter because you do know the truth. And you know that no lie comes from the truth.
22 So who is the liar? It is the person who says Jesus is not the Christ. A person who says Jesus is not the Christ is the enemy of Christ. He does not believe in the Father or in his Son. 23 If anyone does not believe in the Son, he does not have the Father. But whoever accepts the Son has the Father, too.
24 Be sure that you continue to follow the teaching that you heard from the beginning. If you continue in that teaching, you will stay in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what the Son promised to us—life forever.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.