Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer of David.
17 Hear the right, O Jehovah, attend unto my cry; give ear unto my prayer, which is not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my judgment come forth from thy presence, let thine eyes regard equity.
3 Thou hast proved my heart, thou hast visited me by night; thou hast tried me, thou hast found nothing: my thought goeth not beyond my word.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept from the paths of the violent [man].
5 When thou holdest my goings in thy paths, my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou answerest me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me, hear my speech.
7 Shew wondrously thy loving-kindnesses, O thou that savest by thy right hand them that trust [in thee] from those that rise up [against them].
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that destroy me, my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now encompassed us in our steps; their eyes have they set, bowing down to the earth.
12 He is like a lion that is greedy of its prey, and as a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, Jehovah, anticipate him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, thy sword;
14 From men [who are] thy hand, O Jehovah, from men of this age: their portion is in [this] life, and their belly thou fillest with thy hid [treasure]; they have their fill of sons, and leave the rest of their [substance] to their children.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
21 And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
3 And Joab said, Jehovah add to his people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold: are they not all, my lord O king, my lord's servants? why does my lord require this thing? why should he become a trespass to Israel?
4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab; and Joab departed, and went through all Israel, and came [again] to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. And all they of Israel were eleven hundred thousand men that drew sword; and of Judah, four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 But Levi and Benjamin he did not count among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7 And God was displeased on account of this thing, and he smote Israel.
8 And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; and now, I beseech thee, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
9 And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,
10 Go and speak to David saying, Thus saith Jehovah: I offer thee three [things]; choose one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
11 And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah:
12 Choose thee, either three years of famine, or three months to be destroyed before thine adversaries while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee, or three days the sword of Jehovah and the pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying through all the borders of Israel. And now consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercies are very great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.
14 And Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough; withdraw now thine hand. And the angel of Jehovah stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah stand between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. And David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 And David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, Jehovah my God, be on me and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be smitten.
2 My children, these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin; and if any one sin, we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ [the] righteous;
2 and *he* is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world.
3 And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him verily the love of God is perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him.
6 He that says he abides in him ought, even as *he* walked, himself also [so] to walk.
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