Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Protection, Guidance and Pardon.

A Psalm of David.

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9 In the first year of ^(A)Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, ^(C)seventy years. ³ So I ^[a]gave 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, “Alas, O Lord, the ^(D)great and awesome God, who ^(E)keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ^5 (F)we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and ^(G)rebelled, even ^(H)turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. ⁶ Moreover, we have not ^(I)listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁷ “^(J)Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us ^[b](K)open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in ^(L)all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. ^8 [c]Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong ^(M)compassion and forgiveness, ^[d]for we have ^(N)rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His ^[e]teachings which He ^(O)set before us through His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed ^(P)all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the ^(Q)curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. ¹² Thus He has ^(R)confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^[f](S)rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has ^(T)not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the ^(U)law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ^(V)not ^[g]sought the favor of the Lord our God by ^(W)turning from our iniquity and ^[h]giving attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has ^[i](X)kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is ^(Y)righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

³ what we have ^(A)seen and ^(B)heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our ^(C)fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. ^4 (D)These things we write, so that our ^(E)joy may be made complete.

God Is Light

^5 (F)This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that ^(G)God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ^6 (H)If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we ^(I)lie and ^(J)do not practice the truth; ⁷ but if we ^(K)walk in the Light as ^(L)He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^(M)the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ^8 (N)If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the ^(O)truth is not in us. ^9 (P)If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and ^(Q)to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ^10 (R)If we say that we have not sinned, we ^(S)make Him a liar and ^(T)His word is not in us.