Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for protection against oppressors.
A Prayer of David.
17 Hear the right, O Jehovah, attend unto my cry;
Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
[a]Let thine eyes look upon equity.
3 Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night;
Thou hast tried me, and [b]findest nothing;
I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 As for the works of men, by the word of thy lips
I have kept me from the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to thy paths,
My feet have not slipped.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt answer me, O God:
Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Show thy marvellous lovingkindness,
O thou that savest [c]by thy right hand them that take refuge in thee
From those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye;
Hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
9 From the wicked that oppress me,
My deadly enemies, that compass me about.
10 [d]They are inclosed in their own fat:
With their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps;
They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.
12 He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,
And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O Jehovah,
[e]Confront him, cast him down:
Deliver my soul from [f]the wicked by thy sword;
14 From [g]men by thy hand, O Jehovah,
From men [h]of the world, whose portion is in this life,
And whose belly thou fillest with thy treasure:
They are satisfied with children,
And leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15 As for me, [i]I shall behold thy face in righteousness;
[j]I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.
21 And [a]Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2 And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them. 3 And Joab said, Jehovah make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel? 4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. 6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab. 7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. 8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
9 And Jehovah spake unto Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I [b]offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Take which thou wilt: 12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of Jehovah, [c]even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Jehovah; for very [d]great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 14 So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. 15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of [e]Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued.
2 My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an [a]Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 3 And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him: 6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.
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