Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Evening Prayer of Trust in God.

To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9 In the first year of Darius the son of ^[a]Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the realm of the ^[b]Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the desolations [which had been] pronounced on Jerusalem would end; and it was seventy years.^{(A) 3} So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and extends lovingkindness toward those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and committed wrong, and have behaved wickedly and have rebelled, turning away from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ Further, we have not listened to and heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us confusion and open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away, in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the [treacherous] acts of unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. ⁸ O Lord, to us belong confusion and open shame—to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers—because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and lovingkindness and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in His laws which He set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, even turning aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us and the oath which is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.^{(B) 12} And He has carried out completely His [threatening] words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers [the kings, princes, and judges] who ruled us, to bring on us a great tragedy; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything [so dreadful] like that which [He commanded and] was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this tragedy has come on us. Yet we have not wholeheartedly begged for forgiveness and sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our wickedness and paying attention to and placing value in Your truth.^{(C) 14} Therefore the Lord has kept the tragedy ready and has brought it on us, for the Lord our God is [uncompromisingly] righteous and openly just in all His works which He does—He keeps His word; and we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for Yourself a name, as it is today—we have sinned, we have been wicked. ¹⁶ O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous and just acts, please let Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the wickedness of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of scorn and a contemptuous byword to all who are around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, listen to (heed) the prayer of Your servant ^[c](Daniel) and his supplications, and for Your own sake let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and look at our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You because of our own merits and righteousness, but because of Your great mercy and compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour [the end of this age]; and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming [the one who will oppose Christ and attempt to replace Him], even now many antichrists (false teachers) have appeared, which confirms our belief that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us [seeming at first to be Christians], but they were not really of us [because they were not truly born again and spiritually transformed]; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out [teaching false doctrine], so that it would be clearly shown that none of them are of us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One [you have been set apart, specially gifted and prepared by the Holy Spirit], and all of you know [the truth because He teaches us, illuminates our minds, and guards us from error]. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie [nothing false, no deception] is of the truth. ²² Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? This is the antichrist [the enemy and antagonist of Christ], the one who denies and consistently refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies and repudiates the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses and acknowledges the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ As for you, let that remain in you [keeping in your hearts that message of salvation] which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you too will remain in the Son and in the Father [forever].

The Promise Is Eternal Life

²⁵ This is the promise which He Himself promised us—eternal life.