Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for God to Guide
Of David.
25 Lord, I give myself to you.
2 My God, I trust you.
Do not let me be disgraced.
Do not let my enemies laugh at me.
3 No one who trusts you will be disgraced.
But those who sin without excuse will be disgraced.
4 Lord, tell me your ways.
Show me how to live.
5 Guide me in your truth.
Teach me, my God, my Savior.
I trust you all day long.
6 Lord, remember your mercy and love.
You have shown them since long ago.
7 Do not remember the sins
and wrong things I did when I was young.
But remember to love me always
because you are good, Lord.
8 The Lord is good and right.
He points sinners to the right way.
9 He shows those who are not proud how to do right.
He teaches them his ways.
10 All the Lord’s ways are loving and true
for those who follow the demands of his agreement.
Daniel’s Prayer
9 These things happened during the first year Darius son of Xerxes was king. He was a descendant of the Medes. 2 During Darius’ first year as king, I, Daniel, was reading the Scriptures. In them I saw what the Lord told Jeremiah. He said Jerusalem would be an empty desert for 70 years.
3 Then I turned to the Lord God. I prayed to him and asked him for help. I did not eat any food. To show how sad I was I put on rough cloth and sat in ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God. I told him about all of my sins. I said, “Lord, you are a great God. You cause fear and wonder. You keep your agreement of love with all who love you and obey your commands.
5 “But we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and turned against you. We have not obeyed your commands and laws. 6 We did not listen to your servants, the prophets. They spoke for you to our kings, our leaders and our ancestors. They spoke to all the people of the land.
7 “Lord, you are good and right. But we are full of shame today. The people of Judah and Jerusalem and all the people of Israel are ashamed. People near and far whom you scattered among many nations are ashamed. We were not loyal to you. 8 Lord, we are all ashamed. Our kings and leaders and our fathers are ashamed. This is because we have sinned against you.
9 “But, Lord our God, you show us mercy. You forgive us even though we have turned against you. 10 We have not obeyed the Lord our God. We have not obeyed the teachings he gave us through his servants, the prophets. 11 All the people of Israel have disobeyed your teachings. They all have turned away and refused to obey you. So you brought on us the curses and promises of punishment written in the Teachings of Moses, the servant of God. These things have happened to us because we sinned against you.
12 “God said these things would happen to us and our leaders. And he made them happen. You brought on us a great disaster. Nothing has ever been done here on earth like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 All this disaster came to us just as it is written in the Teachings of Moses. But we still have not stopped sinning. We still do not pay attention to your truth. 14 The Lord was ready to bring the disaster on us. This is because he is right in everything he does. But we still have not obeyed him.
3 Now we tell you what we have seen and heard because we want you to have fellowship with us. The fellowship we share together is with God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to you so that we may be full of joy.[a]
5 Here is the message we have heard from God and now tell to you: God is light,[b] and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 So if we say that we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, then we are liars. We do not follow the truth. 7 God is in the light. We should live in the light, too. If we live in the light, we share fellowship with each other. And when we live in the light, the blood of the death of Jesus, God’s Son, is making us clean from every sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, then we make God a liar. We do not accept God’s true teaching.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.