Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Blessing on the King
For the music director. A psalm of David.[a]
20 May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble.
May the name of Jacob’s God protect[b] you.
2 May he send you help[c] from the sanctuary,
and from Zion may he sustain you.
3 May he remember all your offerings,
and your burnt offering may he regard favorably.[d]
4 May he give to you your heart’s desire,[e]
and your every plan may he fulfill. Selah
5 May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God may we set up banners.
May Yahweh fulfill all your requests.
6 Now I know that Yahweh will help his anointed.[f]
He will answer him from his holy heaven
with the victorious power of his right hand.
7 Some boast in chariots and others in horses,[g]
but we boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.
8 They will collapse and fall,
and we will rise and stand firm.
9 Rescue,[h] O Yahweh.
Let the king answer us when we call.
7 And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he cried out loud[a] and said to them, “Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.
8 “The trees went certainly,
to anoint a king over themselves.
And they said to the olive tree,
‘Rule over us.’
9 And the olive tree replied,
‘Should I stop producing my oil,
which by me gods and men are honored,
to go sway over the trees?’
10 Then the trees said to the fig tree,
‘You, come rule over us.’
11 But the fig tree said to them,
‘Should I stop producing my sweetness,
and my good crop,
to go sway over the trees?’
12 And the trees said to the vine,
‘You, come rule over us.’
13 But the vine said to them,
‘Should I stop producing my wine
that makes the gods and men happy,
to go sway over the trees?’
14 So all the trees said to the thornbush,
‘You, come rule over us.’
15 And the thornbush said to the trees,
‘If in good faith[b] you are anointing
me as king over you,
then come and take refuge in my shade;
if not, may fire go out from the thornbush
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
Departure of the False Teachers
18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out[a], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.
20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because[b] you do not know the truth, but because[c] you do know it, and because[d] every lie is not of the truth. 22 Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which he himself promised us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you.
27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside[e] in him.
God’s Children
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that whenever he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.
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