Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ Let the LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; let the name of the God of Jacob lift thee up

² and send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion

³ and remember all thy offerings and reduce thy burnt sacrifice to the ashes of burnt fat, Selah.

⁴ Grant thee according to thine heart and fulfil all thy counsel.

⁵ We will rejoice in thy saving health, and in the name of our God we will be standard-bearers: let the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

⁶ ¶ Now know I that the LORD has kept his anointed; he will hear him from the heavens of his holiness with the saving valour of his right hand.

⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

⁸ They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright.

⁹ The LORD saves the king; let him hear us on the day when we call.

⁷ ¶ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

⁸ The trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.

⁹ But the olive tree replied, Should I leave my fatness, which because of me, God and man are honoured, to go and sway over the trees?

¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou and reign over us.

¹¹ But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit to go and sway over the trees?

¹² Then the trees said unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us.

¹³ And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, to go and sway over the trees?

¹⁴ Then all the trees said unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us.

¹⁵ And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and confide under my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁸ ¶ Little children, it is the last hour, and as ye have heard that the antichrist comes, likewise there are also beginning to be many antichrists, by which we know that it is the last time.

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but this happened that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

²⁰ ¶ But ye have the anointing of the Holy One, and ye know all things.

²¹ I have not written unto you as if ye ignore the truth, but as unto those that know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²² Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This same is antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

²³ Whosoever denies the Son, the same does not have the Father. Whosoever confesses the Son, has the Father also.

²⁴ Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. For if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall abide in you, ye also shall continue to abide in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵ And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written unto you concerning those that seduce you.

²⁷ But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and ye do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it has taught you, abide ye in him.

²⁸ ¶ And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.