Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 25

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.

² O my God, I trust, lean on, rely on, and am confident in You. Let me not be put to shame or [my hope in You] be disappointed; let not my enemies triumph over me.

³ Yes, let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame or be disappointed; let them be ashamed who forsake the right or deal treacherously without cause.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.

⁵ Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.

⁶ Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercy and loving-kindness; for they have been ever from of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins (the lapses and frailties) of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your mercy and steadfast love remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He instruct sinners in [His] way.

⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and the humble He teaches His way.

¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are mercy and steadfast love, even truth and faithfulness are they for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

9 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the 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 by before the desolations [which had been] pronounced on Jerusalem should end; and it was seventy years.^(A)

³ And I set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes;

⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, Who keeps covenant, mercy, and loving-kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments,

⁵ We have sinned and dealt perversely and done wickedly and have rebelled, turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

⁶ Neither have we 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 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion and shame of face, as at this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to those who are near and those who are far off, through all the countries to which You have driven them because of the [treacherous] trespass which they have committed against You.

⁸ O Lord, to us belong confusion and shame of face—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 loving-kindness 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 that they might not obey Your voice. Therefore the curse has been poured out on us and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.^(B)

¹² And He has carried out intact His [threatening] words which He threatened against us and against our judges [the kings, princes, and rulers generally] who ruled us, and He has brought upon us a great evil; for under the whole heavens there has not been done before [anything so dreadful] as [He has caused to be] done against Jerusalem.

¹³ Just as it is written in the Law of Moses as to all this evil [that would surely come upon transgressors], so it has come upon us. Yet we have not earnestly begged for forgiveness and entreated the favor of the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and have understanding and become wise in Your truth.^(C)

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity (evil) and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is [uncompromisingly] righteous and rigidly just in all His works which He does [keeping His word]; and we have not obeyed His voice.

³ What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may ^[a]realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a ^[b]distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

⁴ And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and ^[c]your joy may be complete].

⁵ And this is the message [the message of ^[d]promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [^[e]no, not in any way].

⁶ [So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents].

⁷ But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

⁸ If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].

⁹ If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

¹⁰ If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts].