Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

4 When I call, answer me, O God of my righteousness: in pressure thou hast enlarged me; be gracious unto me, and hear my prayer.

² Ye sons of men, till when is my glory [to be put] to shame? [How long] will ye love vanity, will ye seek after a lie? Selah.

³ But know that Jehovah hath set apart the pious [man] for himself: Jehovah will hear when I call unto him.

⁴ Be moved with anger, and sin not; meditate in your own hearts upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

⁵ Offer sacrifices of righteousness, and confide in Jehovah.

⁶ Many say, Who shall cause us to see good? Lift up upon us the light of thy countenance, O Jehovah.

⁷ Thou hast put joy in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their new wine was in abundance.

⁸ In peace will I both lay me down and sleep; for thou, Jehovah, alone makest me to dwell in safety.

9 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

² in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by the books that the number of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, was seventy years.

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

⁴ and I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made my confession, and said, Alas Lord! the great and terrible God, keeping covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him, and that keep his commandments:

⁵ we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy commandments and from thine ordinances.

⁶ And we have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ Thine, O Lord, is the righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee.

⁸ O Lord, unto us is confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

⁹ With the Lord our God are mercies and pardons, for we have rebelled against him;

¹⁰ and we have not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.

¹¹ And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside so as not to listen unto thy voice. And the curse hath been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God: for we have sinned against him.

¹² And he hath performed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that there hath not been done under the whole heaven as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet we besought not Jehovah our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

¹⁴ And Jehovah hath watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he hath done; and we have not hearkened unto his voice.

¹⁵ —And now, O Lord our God, who broughtest thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name, as it is this day,—we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

¹⁶ Lord, according to all thy righteousnesses, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; for because of our sins, and because of the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all round about us.

¹⁷ And now, our God, hearken to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

¹⁸ Incline thine ear, O my God, and hear; open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city that is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of thy manifold mercies.

¹⁹ Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake, O my God! for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

¹⁸ Little children, it is [the] last hour, and, according as ye have heard that antichrist comes, even now there have come many antichrists, whence we know that it is [the] last hour.

¹⁹ They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have surely remained with us, but that they might be made manifest that none are of us.

²⁰ And *ye* have [the] unction from the holy [one], and ye know all things.

²¹ I have not written to you because ye do not know the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²² Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? *He* is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

²³ Whoever denies the Son has not the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.

²⁴ As for *you* let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you: if what ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, *ye* also shall abide in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵ And this is the promise which *he* has promised us, life eternal.