Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer of David.
1 ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.
3 Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.
5 Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.
6 I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.
7 Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.
8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,
9 from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth
12 like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;
14 from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
21 ¶ And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel.
2 And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
3 And Joab answered, The LORD make his people a hundred times as many more as they are; but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s slaves? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guiltiness unto Israel?
4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And they found in all Israel eleven times one hundred thousand men that drew sword, and of Judah four hundred seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 Among these the Levites and the sons of Benjamin were not counted, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
7 ¶ And God was also displeased with this word; therefore, he smote Israel.
8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing; but now, I beseech thee, take away the iniquity of thy slave, for I have done very foolishly.
9 And the LORD spoke unto Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus hath the LORD said, I offer thee three things: choose one of them that I will do unto thee.
11 So Gad came to David and said unto him, Thus hath the LORD said, Choose thee,
12 either three years’ famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtakes thee or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13 Then David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the LORD, for very great are his mercies, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.
14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel; and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented of that evil and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thy hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan, the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the heaven and the earth, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were 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 evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house, but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.
2 ¶ My little children, I write these things unto you, that ye sin not; and if anyone has sinned, we have an Advocate before the Father, Jesus, the righteous Christ;
2 and he is the reconciliation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 ¶ And in this we do know that we have known him if we keep his commandments.
4 He that says, I have known him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whosoever keeps his word, in him verily is the charity of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
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