Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 4
A Night Prayer
For the choir director: with stringed instruments.(A) A psalm of David.
1 Answer me when I call,
God, who vindicates me.[a](B)
You freed me from affliction;(C)
be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 How long, exalted ones,[b] will my honor be insulted?(D)
How long will you love what is worthless(E)
and pursue a lie? Selah
3 Know that the Lord has set apart
the faithful for himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to him.
4 Be angry[c] and do not sin;(F)
reflect in your heart while on your bed and be silent.(G) Selah
5 Offer sacrifices in righteousness[d](H)
and trust in the Lord.(I)
6 Many are asking, “Who can show us anything good?”
Let the light of your face shine on us, Lord.(J)
Daniel’s Prayer
9 In the first year of Darius,(A) the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.(B) 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.(C)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God(D) who keeps his gracious covenant(E) with those who love him(F) and keep his commands(G)— 5 we have sinned,(H) done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled,(I) and turned away from your commands and ordinances.(J) 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets,(K) who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land.
7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you,(L) but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel—those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. 8 Lord, public shame(M) belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.(N) 9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the Lord our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants(O) the prophets.
11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away,(P) refusing to obey you. The promised curse[a] written in the law of Moses,(Q) the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. 12 He has carried out his words(R) that he spoke against us and against our rulers[b](S) by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done(T) under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses,(U) all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of(V) the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth.(W) 14 So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.
15 Now, Lord our God—who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand(X) and made your name renowned(Y) as it is this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath(Z) turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain;(AA) for because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us.
17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine(AB) on your desolate sanctuary(AC) for the Lord’s sake. 18 Listen closely,[c] my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay,(AD) because your city and your people bear your name.
The Last Hour
18 Children, it is the last hour.(A) And as you have heard that antichrist(B) is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
20 But you have an anointing(C) from the Holy One,(D) and all of you know the truth.[a] 21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?(E) This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father;(F) he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.(G)
Remaining with God
24 What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son(H) and in the Father.(I) 25 And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.(J)
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