Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

3 A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom

O Lord, so many are against me. So many seek to harm me. I have so many enemies. ² So many say that God will never help me. ³ But Lord, you are my shield, my glory, and my only hope. You alone can lift my head, now bowed in shame.^[a]

⁴ I cried out to the Lord, and he heard me from his Temple in Jerusalem.^{[b] 5} Then I lay down and slept in peace and woke up safely, for the Lord was watching over me. ⁶ And now, although ten thousand enemies surround me on every side, I am not afraid. ⁷ I will cry to him, “Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God!” And he will slap them in the face, insulting them and breaking off their teeth.^[c]

⁸ For salvation comes from God. What joys he gives to all his people.

⁵ What’s more, these arrogant Chaldeans are betrayed by all their wine, for it is treacherous. In their greed they have collected many nations, but like death and hell, they are never satisfied. ⁶ The time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying: ‘You robbers! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get your just deserts for your oppression and extortion!’

⁷ “Suddenly your debtors will rise up in anger and turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. ⁸ You have ruined many nations; now they will ruin you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with lawlessness and all the cities too.

⁹ “Woe to you for getting rich by evil means, attempting to live beyond the reach of danger. ¹⁰ By the murders you commit, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. ¹¹ The very stones in the walls of your homes cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo what they say.

5 If you believe that Jesus is the Christ—that he is God’s Son and your Savior—then you are a child of God. And all who love the Father love his children too. ² So you can find out how much you love God’s children—your brothers and sisters in the Lord—by how much you love and obey God. ³ Loving God means doing what he tells us to do, and really, that isn’t hard at all; ⁴ for every child of God can obey him, defeating sin and evil pleasure by trusting Christ to help him.

⁵ But who could possibly fight and win this battle except by believing that Jesus is truly the Son of God?

¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life. ¹⁴ And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. ¹⁵ And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us.

¹⁶ If you see a Christian sinning in a way that does not end in death, you should ask God to forgive him, and God will give him life unless he has sinned that one fatal sin. But there is that one sin which ends in death, and if he has done that, there is no use praying for him. ¹⁷ Every wrong is a sin, of course. I’m not talking about these ordinary sins; I am speaking of that one that ends in death.^[a]

¹⁸ No one who has become part of God’s family makes a practice of sinning, for Christ, God’s Son, holds him securely, and the devil cannot get his hands on him. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of the world around us is under Satan’s power and control. ²⁰ And we know that Christ, God’s Son, has come to help us understand and find the true God. And now we are in God because we are in Jesus Christ his Son, who is the only true God; and he is eternal Life.

²¹ Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. Amen.

Sincerely, John