Daniel 5 Cross References - VIN

¹ King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine with them. ² Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, might drink in them. ³ Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king, and his rulers, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. ⁵ In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared, and wrote above the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. The king saw the part of the hand that wrote. ⁶ Then his face changed and his thoughts terrified him, and his hip joints gave way and his knees knocked together. ⁷ The king cried out to bring in the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. He announced to the advisors of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me its meaning will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain placed around his neck, and will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom." ⁸ Then all the king's advisors came in, but they were unable to read the writing or tell the king what it meant. ⁹ King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his appearance changed. His lords were perplexed. ¹⁰ The queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house. The queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever; don't let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your face be changed. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and king Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners; ¹² because Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have a more excellent spirit and greater knowledge and understanding interpreting dreams, unraveling questions, and dissolving doubts. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show thee the interpretation. ¹³ Daniel was brought before the king. The king spoke to Daniel: "Are you that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? ¹⁴ I've heard about you, that a spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, discernment, and extraordinary wisdom. ¹⁵ Take note that the advisors and enchanters were brought before me to read the writing and explain its meaning, but they were unable to do so. ¹⁶ However, I've heard that you can provide meaning and interpretation, and that you can solve difficult problems. If you are able to read the writing and report its meaning, you will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom." ¹⁷ Then Daniel answered before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and tell him the interpretation. ¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor. ¹⁹ Because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whom he wanted to, and he kept alive whom he wanted to. He raised up whom he wanted to, and he put down whom he wanted to. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: ²¹ He was driven away from human society and given the mind of an animal. He lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like cattle, and his body was soaked with dew from the sky until he realized that the Most High God is sovereign over human kingdoms and places over them whomever he desires. ²² And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. ²³ You've exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You've had the vessels from his temple brought into your presence. And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them. You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can't see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge. But you didn't honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways. ²⁴ Therefore, the hand that wrote this inscription was sent from his presence. ²⁵ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of it: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel; it has been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. ²⁸ Peres; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. ²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave orders to clothe Daniel in purple, to place a chain of gold around his neck, and to proclaimed him the third highest ruler of the kingdom. ³⁰ In that night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans is slain, ³¹ and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of 62.

²⁰ On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.

³ In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers, and the military leaders of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the provincial officials were present.

⁴ My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me. ⁵ They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; Rise up, captains, oil the shields,

¹² And the Lord, the LORD Almighty, called on that day for weeping and mourning, and for baldness and girding with sackcloth.

¹⁴ the LORD Almighty has disclosed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the LORD Almighty.

³⁹ When they're excited I'll serve them their banquet, and make them drunk until they're merry. They'll sleep forever and won't wake up," declares the LORD.

⁵⁷ "I will make their officials and wise men drunk, along with their governors, officers, and soldiers. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up," proclaims the king, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

¹⁰ Entangled like thorns and drunken from drink, they are consumed like dry stubble.

²¹ But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his high officers and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² And when the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you."

⁷ "Don't be afraid," David reassured him, "because I'm going to show gracious love to you in memory of your father Jonathan. I'm going to restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you'll always have a place at my table!"

²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, did Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah, begin to reign. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for one year. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel. ²⁷ He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

¹³ He carried out there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the LORD's temple, as the LORD had said.

¹⁵ The captain of the guard took all of the incense burners and bowls that were made of gold or silver.

²⁰ After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom. She bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith.

¹⁶ King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother. She made a statue of the repulsive goddess Asherah. Asa immediately cut the statue down, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹⁰ In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiakin and brought him to Babylon with the valuable utensils from the LORD's Temple. Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakin's uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁸ He brought to Babylon each of the utensils from God's temple, the treasures from the LORD's Temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials.

⁷ Also king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought away out of Jerusalem, and had placed in the house of his god: ⁸ And Cyrus king of Persia brought them forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹ Here is a partial inventory: Gold dishes: 30 Silver dishes: 1,000 Sacrificial knives: 29 ¹⁰ There were also 30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls and 1,000 other articles. ¹¹ All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought all of them along with the exiles who traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem.

⁷ And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall enslave him.

¹⁶ I also spoke this message to the priests and all the people. This is what the LORD said to me: "Do not listen to the prophets who tell you that the utensils of the LORD's Temple will be brought back from Babylon soon. They prophesy lies to you." ¹⁷ Don't listen to them! Serve the king of Babylon and you'll live. Why should this city become a ruin? ¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the Word of the LORD is with them, let them now pray to the LORD Almighty, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon. ¹⁹ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says about the pillars, the bronze sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; ²¹ For thus says the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²² "They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day I visit them," declares the LORD. "Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place."’"

¹⁹ The captain of the bodyguard took away the bowls, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the pans, and the bowls for libations, both those made of gold and those made of silver.

² And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and king Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners;

¹³ Daniel was brought before the king. The king spoke to Daniel: "Are you that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah?

¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor.

²³ You've exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You've had the vessels from his temple brought into your presence. And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them. You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can't see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge. But you didn't honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways.

²³ Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. ²⁴ And when the people saw him, they sung praises to their god, saying, Our god hath delivered our enemy into our hands; him who wasted our land, and multiplied the number of our slain.

⁴ Their idols, are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men,— ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see. ⁶ they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; ⁷ They have hands but they cannot feel: They have feet, but they cannot walk: nor can they utter a sound with their throat. ⁸ Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, Work of the hands of man. ¹⁶ They have a mouth, but cannot speak: eyes they have, but they cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁹ As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. ²⁰ A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

⁸ I am the LORD; that is my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor my praise to the idols.

¹⁷ Those who trust in idols and call images their gods will be humiliated and disgraced.

⁶ "Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make it into a god. They bow down and worship it. ⁷ "They lift it to their shoulders and carry it. They set it up in its place and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer. It cannot save him from his troubles!

⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move. ⁵ "They are like scarecrows in cucumber fields. They cannot speak. They must be carried, for they cannot walk! Do not fear them! For they can do no harm and they can do no good." ⁶ There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. ⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. ⁸ But they are one and all senseless and foolish; the teaching of vanities is a stock. ⁹ Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. It is the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith. Violet and purple are their clothing. They are all the work of skilled men.

¹ King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold, of sixty cubits high, and six cubits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Dura, of the province of Babylon. ² Then he summoned the regional authorities, governors, deputy governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all of the other administrators of the provinces, ordering them to come to the dedication of the statue that he had erected. ³ The satraps, deputies, governors, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together at the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king set up. They stood before the image. ⁴ Then the herald proclaimed: »You are commanded to do this, O peoples, nations, and men of every language. ⁵ that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. ⁶ "Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the midst of a blazing furnace." ⁷ Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ⁸ Therefore at this time some astrologers came forward and they denounced the Jews. ⁹ They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. ¹⁰ You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image; ¹¹ Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a blazing fire furnace.' ¹² There are men, Jews, whom you have set over the business of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, do not heed you. They do not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up. ¹³ Then ordered Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and ‘Abed-nego. Then were these men brought before the king. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar said to them: "Is it true Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that you do not serve my god, nor worship the golden image that I set up? ¹⁵ "Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, zither, pipes, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, good! But if you do not worship it you will be thrown into the midst of a blazing furnace that same hour. What god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ "If it is so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace. He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”

³⁷ Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth and His ways judgment. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.

⁸ "She did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. ⁹ Therefore I will take again my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. ¹⁰ And now I will make her shame clear before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will take her out of my hand. ¹¹ I will also cause all her joy to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. ¹² I'll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, 'These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I'll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.' ¹³ "I will punish her for the days in which she burned incense to the Baals, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," said the LORD.

¹⁹ Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Wake up!' And to a lifeless stone, 'Arise!' Can he teach? Look, it is covered with gold and silver, and there is no breath within it.

²⁹ "Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill.

²⁴ For a certain silversmith named Demetrius who makes silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little work to the craftsmen, ²⁵ They gathered together along with similar related workmen, and said: "Sirs, You know we receive a good income from this business. ²⁶ And as you see and hear, not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. ²⁷ There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.” ²⁸ When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

²⁰ The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

⁵ "The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

³⁰ But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths, ³¹ The wrath of God came on them, and put to death the fattest of them, and put an end to the young men of Israel.

¹ He that is stiff necked and will not be reformed, shall suddenly be destroyed without any help.

³¹ The word was still in the king's voice when a voice fell from the heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has been taken from you!

³³ The decree was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar immediately. He was driven away from people to eat grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws."

⁸ Then all the king's advisors came in, but they were unable to read the writing or tell the king what it meant.

¹⁵ Take note that the advisors and enchanters were brought before me to read the writing and explain its meaning, but they were unable to do so.

²⁴ Therefore, the hand that wrote this inscription was sent from his presence. ²⁵ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of it: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel; it has been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. ²⁸ Peres; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

¹⁹ Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul will be demanded of you. Then who will have all you have prepared?'

¹⁴ having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

² for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ And death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵ And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

²⁰ "All his days the wicked man suffers torment and the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. ²¹ "Terrifying sounds fill his ears. When all seems well, marauders attack him. ²² "He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword. ²³ "He wanders about as food for vultures and he knows the day of darkness is at hand. ²⁴ "Distress and anguish fill him with terror. They overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack. ²⁵ because he stretches out his hand against God, and sets himself against the Almighty. ²⁶ "He defiantly charges against him with a thick, strong shield. ²⁷ »His face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh.

¹⁹ "For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build. ²⁰ »He will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure. ²¹ "There is nothing left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure. ²² In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress will overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery will come on him. ²³ "With his belly full, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows upon him. ²⁴ "Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him. ²⁵ "He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him. ²⁶ "Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷ "The heavens will expose his guilt. The earth will rise up against him!

²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see. Let their backs be continually bent.

¹⁸ Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. ²⁰ As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.

²⁷ None of them grow tired or stumble. None of them slumber or sleep. The belts on their waists are not loose or their sandal straps broken.

⁷ Therefore all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will melt, ⁸ and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize them; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. They will stare at one another, their faces flushing.

² A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease. ³ So my loins fill with pain: pangs hold me as pangs of a woman birthing: I twist at hearing; I terrify at seeing: ⁴ My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.

³ Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm.

¹⁷ All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water.

⁷ It shall be, when they tell you, 'Why do you sigh?' that you shall say, Because of the news, for it is coming. Every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, every spirit shall faint and all knees shall be weak as water. It is coming, and it shall be done, says the Sovereign LORD.

¹ In the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream, and his spirit was amazed, and his sleep departed from him.

¹⁹ Out of control with rage, Nebuchadnezzar's facial expression changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.

⁵ I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

¹⁹ Then Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) was greatly troubled for a while and was terrified by his thoughts. The king said, "Belteshazzar, don't let the dream or its meaning terrify you." Belteshazzar responded, "Your majesty, if only the dream were about your enemies and its meaning about those who oppose you!

⁹ King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his appearance changed. His lords were perplexed. ¹⁰ The queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house. The queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever; don't let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your face be changed.

²⁸ Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my face turned pale. I kept the matter to myself."

¹⁰ She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

¹² Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.

⁸ In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁴² Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, ⁴³ He had him ride in his second chariot. They proclaimed before him: "Bow the knee!" Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your consent no one will lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."

⁷ The elders of Moab and Midian left. They took money with them to pay for Balaam's services. They came to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.

¹⁷ because I will surely honor you greatly, and all that you say to me I will do. Please, come; curse this people for me.'"

¹¹ Therefore, run away to your place now. I said: "I will honor you greatly, but the LORD has held you back from honor."

²⁵ The men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who keeps coming up? He comes up to defy Israel. The king has promised to give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.

¹ After these things king Xerxes magnified Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and put his covered seat above all the other chief officials who were with him.

² And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to what the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Xerxes and towering among the Jews and held dear by many of his brothers; he sought after the good for his people and spoke up for the welfare of all his seed.

⁹ for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck. ¹⁰ Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

²⁵ who foils the omens of the empty talkers, and makes fools of diviners; who turns sages back, and makes their knowledge foolish; ²⁶ That fulfilleth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, It shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and their ruins will I raise up.

¹³ You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the knowers from the new moons, stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you.

¹¹ "'I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck.'"

² So the king said to call the magicians and the conjurers and the sorcerers and the astrologers to tell to the king his dreams. And they came in and they stood before the king.

⁶ "But if you tell me the dream and what it means you will receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me. Therefore tell me the dream and the interpretation of it."

⁴⁸ Then the king promoted Daniel to a high position and lavished many great gifts on him, including making him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over the advisors of Babylon.

⁶ »I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon that they might explain the dream to me. ⁷ Then the diviners, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers came in, and I told them the dream. But they could not reveal its interpretation to me.

¹⁴ He cried aloud and so he said: "Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; shake off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.

¹⁶ However, I've heard that you can provide meaning and interpretation, and that you can solve difficult problems. If you are able to read the writing and report its meaning, you will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave orders to clothe Daniel in purple, to place a chain of gold around his neck, and to proclaimed him the third highest ruler of the kingdom.

² and over them three administrators, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. ³ Then Daniel began distinguishing himself above the administrators and the satraps because an exceptional spirit was in him, and so the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom.

⁹ »Two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your abundance of sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells.

¹² Stand now among your spells, and with your many sorceries, in which you have wearied yourself since your youth. Perhaps you will be able to profit; perhaps may cause quaking. ¹³ You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the knowers from the new moons, stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you. ¹⁴ "Surely they are like stubble. The fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone and no fire to sit by. ¹⁵ "That is all they can do for you, these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error. No one can save you.

²⁷ Daniel answered: »Wise men, enchanters, magicians, and soothsayers cannot show the secret the king demanded.

⁷ Then the diviners, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers came in, and I told them the dream. But they could not reveal its interpretation to me.

¹¹ "Terrors startle him on every side and chase him at his heels. ¹² "Calamity hungers for him and disaster catch him when he falls. ¹³ "It eats away parts of his skin. Death's firstborn devours his limbs. ¹⁴ "He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁴ He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he multiplied lightnings, and routed them.

⁶ Trembling seized them there, pains like those of a woman in labor,

⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai!

²⁴ We have heard the news about it, and our hands are limp. Distress has seized us like a woman in labor.

⁶ Ask ye, and see if a man bear children? why then have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces are turned yellow?

⁶ Then his face changed and his thoughts terrified him, and his hip joints gave way and his knees knocked together.

⁸ So I was left alone, and saw this great vision. No strength remained in me; for my face grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength.

³ When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

¹⁷ And when her labor was the most difficult the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid for you have another son." ¹⁸ As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

²⁰ As she was dying the women attending her said, Don't be afraid, for you have given birth to a son. But she didn't answer, neither did she pay any attention. ²¹ And she called the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel, because of the taking of the ark of God, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² And she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken.

³¹ Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and knelt before to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever.

⁴ For, in truth, ye, do besmear with falsehood, Worthless physicians, all of you!

³⁴ How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery."

⁴ Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever: tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.

⁹ They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever.

⁶ Then these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said this, "Your majesty, live forever!

²¹ And Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever!

¹¹ And both I and he had a dream the same night, each had a dream regarding himself. ¹² And there was there with us a Hebrew youth, a bondman of the captain of the life-guard, to whom we told [them], and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each he interpreted according to his dream. ¹³ And it fell out as he interpreted to us: I was restored to my office; but he was hanged. ¹⁴ And Pharaoh sent and called Joseph; and they rushed him from the dungeon. And he shaved and changed his clothing and came in to Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."

¹⁷ Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the king give me peace! for my lord the king is as the angel of God in his hearing of good and bad: and may the Lord your God be with you!

¹¹ Furthermore, what the king is asking is so difficult that no one can reveal it except the gods and they don't live with human beings."

⁴⁷ The king answered Daniel and said, "Truly your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and he reveals mysteries, for you are able to reveal this mystery." ⁴⁸ Then the king promoted Daniel to a high position and lavished many great gifts on him, including making him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over the advisors of Babylon.

⁸ Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream: ⁹ " 'O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I myself know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Now tell me the visions of my dream that I saw, and its explanation.

¹⁸ "This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Belteshazzar, tell me its meaning, since none of the advisors in my kingdom can tell me its interpretation. But you are able to do so because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

¹⁴ I've heard about you, that a spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, discernment, and extraordinary wisdom.

²² The people kept shouting, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!"

¹¹ Now when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

¹⁶ One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of clairvoyance, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

⁹ I will make some who belong to that synagogue of Satan and claim to be Jews when they are not so, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and learn that I loved you.

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great caravan, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart. ³ Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king that he did not explain to her.

¹ The QUEEN OF SHEBA heard about Solomon's reputation. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She arrived with a large group of servants. They had camels carrying spices, a large quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. ² Solomon answered all her questions. No question was too difficult for Solomon to answer.

³ As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

²⁶ A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷ He that hath knowledge spareth his words; and a man of understanding is of a cool spirit.

⁷ The prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

⁸ Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream:

³ Then Daniel began distinguishing himself above the administrators and the satraps because an exceptional spirit was in him, and so the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom.

²⁹ To this end I labor, striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.

¹ Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for the LORD the God of Israel.

¹⁶ And the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month the returned exiles observed the Passover feast. ²⁰ for the priests and the Levites, had purified themselves, as one man, all of them, were pure,—so they slaughtered the passover for all the Sons of the Exile, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

⁷ And they passed a call throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the exile, to assemble at Jerusalem;

¹⁶ and the sons of the exile work thus; and Ezra the priest with men - heads of the fathers of the house of their fathers and all who, by name, separate and settle in the first day of the tenth month to examine the word.

²¹ And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.

²⁵ Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said: I have found a man among the captives of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.

² Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, might drink in them.

¹³ Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the Judean exiles, pays no attention to you, your majesty, or to the written decree, since he is still praying three times a day."

¹ "During the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, saw a vision after the earlier vision that had appeared to me.

²⁷ I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick for some days. Then I rose up, and did the king's business. I wondered at the vision, but no one understood it.

¹ After this, Jesus went about in Galilee, for he would not do so in Judea, because the Jews were eager to put him to death.

³ So his brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, to let your disciples also see the things you are doing.

¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and king Nebuchadnezzar your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners; ¹² because Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have a more excellent spirit and greater knowledge and understanding interpreting dreams, unraveling questions, and dissolving doubts. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show thee the interpretation.

¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and he has covered your heads (the seers). ¹¹ And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. ¹² When you give it to someone who cannot read, and you tell him, "Read this," he'll say, "I don't know how to read."

¹² Stand now among your spells, and with your many sorceries, in which you have wearied yourself since your youth. Perhaps you will be able to profit; perhaps may cause quaking.

³ The king said: "I had a dream that troubles me and I want to understand what the dream means." ⁴ Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever: tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. ⁵ The king answered the Chaldees, The subject is gone from me. If you do not tell me the dream and the interpretation you shall be put to death and your houses shall be exposed to plunder. ⁶ "But if you tell me the dream and what it means you will receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me. Therefore tell me the dream and the interpretation of it." ⁷ They replied again, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we'll disclose its meaning." ⁸ The king answered, “I know of a certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see the thing has gone from me. ⁹ "If you do not tell me my dream, the law will apply to you. You are stalling by speaking lies to me until I change my requirements. Tell me the dream, and I will know that you can show me the interpretation of it." ¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered: »There is no man on earth who can do what the king requires. No king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean. ¹¹ Furthermore, what the king is asking is so difficult that no one can reveal it except the gods and they don't live with human beings."

⁷ The king cried out to bring in the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. He announced to the advisors of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me its meaning will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain placed around his neck, and will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom." ⁸ Then all the king's advisors came in, but they were unable to read the writing or tell the king what it meant.

⁸ They answered: We have dreamed a dream, and there is nobody to interpret it to us. And Joseph said to them: Doth not interpretation belong to God? Tell me what you have dreamed:

⁷ The king cried out to bring in the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers. He announced to the advisors of Babylon, "Whoever can read this writing and tell me its meaning will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain placed around his neck, and will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom."

¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,

²³ "I will take nothing. Not a thread or a sandal strap. You will not be able to say: 'I have made Abram rich.'

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.

¹⁶ But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused.

²⁶ And he said to him, Went not my heart with you, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

⁴⁶ I also will speak of your testimonies before kings and will not be put to shame.

²⁰ But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

⁸ When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the LORD according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

² I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

² (47:3) For the LORD is most high, awful; a great King over all the earth.

⁸ But You, O LORD, are exalted forever.

³⁵ to turn aside the cause of man from before the Most High.

³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that disaster and good will come?

³⁷ You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. ³⁸ »He gave the children of men, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens to your hand. He made you the ruler over them all! You are the head of gold.

² It gives me great pleasure to tell about the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.

¹⁷ This order is announced by the observers, and the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires, and he places the least important of men over them.'

²² it's you, your majesty! You've become great and strong, your greatness has grown to the heavens, and your dominion reaches to the distant parts of the earth. ²³ "Your majesty saw a holy observer descending from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground, along with its roots, bound with iron and bronze in the field grass. Let him be soaked with the dew of the sky and live with the wild animals of the field until seven seasons pass over him.' ²⁴ This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: ²⁵ You will be driven from men. Your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will eat grass like oxen and will be wet with the dew of heaven. Seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.

³² You're to be driven away from people. You're to live with the wild animals of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like cattle, and seven years will pass you by until you realize that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires.'

²² "My God sent his angel, and shut the lions' mouths. They did not hurt me. I was found innocent before him. I have done no wrong before you, O king."

⁴⁸ However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

¹³ About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.

¹⁹ So, then, King Agrippa, I did not go against the vision from heaven;

¹⁴ The king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

⁹ I'm now sending for all the tribes from the north, declares the LORD, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I'll bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I'll utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ "I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps. ¹¹ This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹² And it shall be, when seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD; and I will make it everlasting ruins. ¹³ And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have spoken against it, with all that is written in this book, prophesied by Jeremiah against all the Gentiles. ¹⁴ For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their hands.

⁵ By my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth, mankind, and the animals that are on the face of the earth, and I give it to whomever I see fit. ⁶ "Now I have handed all these countries over to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made wild animals serve him. ⁷ And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall enslave him.

¹² Upon this the king in furious wrath gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the order went out that the wise men were to be put to death; and they were looking for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.

⁴ Then the herald proclaimed: »You are commanded to do this, O peoples, nations, and men of every language.

⁶ "Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the midst of a blazing furnace."

²⁰ He commanded the mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to throw them into the blazing furnace. ²¹ So these men were bound in their coats, hosen, shoes with their other garments, and cast into the hot burning oven.

²⁹ "Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut into pieces. Their houses shall be made a dunghill. There is no other god that is able to deliver like this."

²² it's you, your majesty! You've become great and strong, your greatness has grown to the heavens, and your dominion reaches to the distant parts of the earth.

⁵ Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous: an arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol; he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”

¹ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God.

¹⁷ Do you still exalt yourself against My people, that you will not let them go?

¹¹ Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.”

⁶ Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had dealt thus among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

¹⁴ And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.

¹³ And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take oath by God; and he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from returning to the LORD the God of Israel.

¹¹ "Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low! ¹² "Look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand.

⁵ The LORD detests those who are proud; truly they will not go unpunished.

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low. ¹³ You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north. ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High." ¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. ¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; ¹⁷ who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities and did not let his prisoners go home?'

¹ "Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.

¹⁸ "Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have come down from your heads.

¹⁵ "Thus says the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, 'Look, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their neck to not hear my words.'"

¹⁸ Come down from glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your fortifications.

⁶ Thus says the LORD: "And the supporters of Egypt will fall, and the majesty of its strength will go down from Migdol to Syene; by the sword they will fall in it," declares the Sovereign LORD.

³⁰ The king spoke: "Is this not great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" ³¹ The word was still in the king's voice when a voice fell from the heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has been taken from you! ³² You're to be driven away from people. You're to live with the wild animals of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like cattle, and seven years will pass you by until you realize that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires.' ³³ The decree was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar immediately. He was driven away from people to eat grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky, until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws."

⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹³ But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; ¹⁶ but indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth;

³ Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: ⁴ They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom are their food. ⁵ they are driven from the midst; they shouted against them as a thief; ⁶ They dwelt in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. ⁷ They bray among the bushes; they huddle together under the nettles;

¹⁷ Shame and terrify them eternally; yes, that they blush and destruct; ¹⁸ And let them know Your name is the LORD, that You alone are the Most High over all the earth.

²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken, and will do [it].

²⁵ You will be driven from men. Your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will eat grass like oxen and will be wet with the dew of heaven. Seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.

³⁵ And all the people of the earth are as nothing: he does his pleasure in the army of heaven and among the people of the earth: and no one is able to keep back his hand, or say to him, What are you doing?

³ Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²³ But he never humbled himself before the LORD as Manasseh, his father, humbled himself; to the contrary Amon multiplied the guilt.

¹² And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.

¹⁰ Grace (favor) is shown to the wicked, but they do not learn righteousness. In a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.

⁴ For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

³² For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

⁴⁷ That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.

¹⁷ If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a cripple, as to how this man has been healed, ¹⁰ then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ ¹² Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” ¹³ When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

²⁹ Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than man. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesuswhom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." ³³ When they heard this, they were furious, and wanted to kill them.

⁶ But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

¹⁷ Therefore, for him who knows the good he ought to do, and does not do it, for him it is sin.

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,

⁷ the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living being.

¹⁹ And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth.

²³ Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

¹ Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. ³ When the people of Ashdod arose early the next day, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. They took Dagon and set him back in his place. ⁴ When they got up early in the morning the next day, there was Dagon fallen again with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD! The head of Dagon and the palms of his two hands were cut off, lying at the threshold; only the body of Dagon was left. ⁵ This is why neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. ⁶ But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and those nearby, and He destroyed them, afflicting them with tumours. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said, The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god. ⁸ They sent messengers and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and asked, "What shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?" They said, "Let the Ark of the God of Israel move to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel. ⁹ After they moved it, the LORD moved against the town, causing a very great panic. He struck the men of the town, from young to old with tumors of the groin.

¹⁰ You just defeated Edom and you're arrogant. Bask in your victory and stay home. Why incite trouble so that you yes, you! fall, along with Judah with you?"

¹⁰ "In his hand are the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

⁴ "Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

¹⁴ If he set his heart on man, if he gather to himself his spirit and his breath; ¹⁵ All flesh would expire together, and man would return to the dust.

²⁹ You hide your face, they are terrified. You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but he gave the earth to human beings.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, Work of the hands of man. ¹⁶ They have a mouth, but cannot speak: eyes they have, but they cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.

³ Thou measurest my going about and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ When they stop breathing, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans evaporate!

²⁴ A man's steps are directed by the LORD; how then can anyone understand his own way?

¹² For the day of the LORD Almighty shall be on all the proud and lofty ones, and on all that is lifted up; and it will be abased;

¹⁰ Now will I rise!saying is the LORD. "Now will I be exalted! Now will I be lifted up!"

¹⁹ "They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them. But they were not gods! They were only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.

²³ "Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? It is against the Holy One of Israel!

⁵ Thus says God, the LORD, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.

²³ I know, O Lord, that man's way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.

²⁹ "Summon many to Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Camp all around her, let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds. Do to her just as she has done. For she has behaved arrogantly against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

² "Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'"In your arrogance you say, 'I am a god (strong deity). I sit on God's throne in the sea.' But you are only human and not a god, although you think you are a god. (2 Thes 2:4)

⁵ By thy great skill and thy traffic thou hast increased thy wealth; and with thy wealth thy heart is elated;

¹⁷ Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you ruined your wisdom because of your splendor. I threw you on the ground before kings; I have exposed you for viewing.

¹⁰ “Therefore thus said the Sovereign LORD: 'Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

² Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, might drink in them. ³ Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king, and his rulers, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

¹⁸ What does an image profit, for its maker has carved it; a molten image, and a teacher of lies? For does the maker trust in his work on it, to make dumb idols? ¹⁹ Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Wake up!' And to a lifeless stone, 'Arise!' Can he teach? Look, it is covered with gold and silver, and there is no breath within it.

²⁵ Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

²⁸ ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ ²⁹ "Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill.

²¹ Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but their thinking became nonsense, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

⁴ So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.

¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

⁵ It was allowed to utter great boasts and blasphemies, and to exert authority for forty-two months. ⁶ He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to slander his name, and his dwelling place, and those who live in heaven.

⁵ In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared, and wrote above the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. The king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

¹⁴ "If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my change (release) to come.

¹ The oracle of Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: ² Raise a signal on a bare hill, lift up your voice to them; wave the hand and may they enter the gateways of the noblemen. ³ I have commanded My holy ones; I have also called My warriors for My anger, those who rejoice in My highness. ⁴ A sound, a noise is on the mountains, the likeness of many people! A sound of the roar of the kingdoms, of nations gathering! the LORD Almighty is mustering an army for battle. ⁵ They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of His wrath, to destroy all the land. ⁶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai! ⁷ Therefore all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will melt, ⁸ and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize them; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. They will stare at one another, their faces flushing. ⁹ Look, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it. ¹⁰ "The stars of heaven and their constellations will not shine forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shine its light. ¹¹ I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the arrogance of the terrible. ¹² I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even man than the gold of Ophir. ¹³ "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the fury of the LORD Almighty in the day of his burning anger. ¹⁴ It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.

¹ The burden concerning the desert by the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. ² A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease. ³ So my loins fill with pain: pangs hold me as pangs of a woman birthing: I twist at hearing; I terrify at seeing: ⁴ My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me. ⁵ They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; Rise up, captains, oil the shields, ⁶ For this is what the LORD says to me: "Go, station the lookout, and let him report what he sees. ⁷ When he sees chariots, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently." ⁸ Then the lookout shouted: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. ⁹ "Look! Here come chariots and horsemen in pairs. Then he said: 'Babylon has fallen! She has fallen! All the idols they worship lie shattered on the ground.'" ¹⁰ My downtrodden people and the son of my threshing floor, I will announce to you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel.

¹ "Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. ² Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers. ³ Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.” ⁴ Our Redeemer, the LORD Almighty is His name, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ "Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. ⁶ I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke. ⁷ "'You said: 'I will be a queen for a very long time!' You did not consider these things or remember their outcome. ⁸ Now, therefore hear this, Thou Lady of pleasure Who dwelleth securely, Who saith in her heart,—I, [am], and there is no one besides, I shall not sit a widow, Nor know loss of children. ⁹ »Two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your abundance of sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells. ¹⁰ For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.' ¹¹ Yet shall evil came upon thee; thou shalt not know how to charm it away; and calamity shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away; and ruin shall come upon thee suddenly, before thou knowest.

¹¹ This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹² And it shall be, when seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD; and I will make it everlasting ruins.

¹ This is the word that the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. ² "Declare and proclaim among the nations. Lift up a banner and proclaim. Don't conceal anything. Say, 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be disgraced, and Marduk will be destroyed. Her idols will be disgraced, and her filthy images will be destroyed.' ³ For a nation from the north will go up against her. It will make her land into an object of horror, and no one will live in it. Both people and animals will wander off, and they'll leave. ⁴ In those days, and at that time, says the LORD, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek the LORD their God. ⁵ They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to the LORD by an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. ⁶ My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains; they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting place. ⁷ All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, 'We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the true pasture, even the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.' ⁸ Go in flight out of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and be like he-goats before the flocks. ⁹ Indeed, I'm going to stir up and bring against Babylon a great company of nations from the land of the north. They'll deploy for battle against her, and from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like a skilled warrior; they won't miss their targets. ¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a prize; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, declares the LORD. ¹¹ Because you rejoice, because you exult, O destroyers of My inheritance, because you are fat like the heifer in grass, and neigh like strong ones, ¹² Your mother will be greatly devastated, she who gave birth to you will be ashamed. She will become the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³ Because of the anger of the LORD she won't be inhabited, but will be utterly devastated. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and will scoff because of all her wounds. ¹⁴ Deploy the troops all around Babylon. All who bend the bow, shoot at her and spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵ Shout against her all around: she has submitted herself; her towers are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her. ¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor each one will turn to their people, and each one will flee to their land. ¹⁷ "The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. ¹⁸ "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰ In those days and at that time," declares the LORD, "the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I left behind. ²¹ "Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod. Claim them for me by killing them with a sword, says the LORD. Do everything I commanded you. ²² A noise of battle [is] in the land, and of great destruction." ²³ How s cut and broken the hammer of all the earth! How hath Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! ²⁴ "I will set traps for you, Babylon. You will be caught, but you will not know it. You will be found and captured because you have opposed the LORD." ²⁵ the LORD will open his armory and bring out the weapons of his fury, because the LORD Almighty has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians. ²⁶ "Come to her from afar. Open up her barns. Pile her up like heaps of grain, and completely destroy her. Don't leave any survivors. ²⁷ Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. ²⁸ Fugitives and refugees from Babylon are coming to Zion to tell about the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for his temple. ²⁹ "Summon many to Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Camp all around her, let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds. Do to her just as she has done. For she has behaved arrogantly against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore, her warriors will fall in her streets, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day," declares the LORD. ³¹ "Look, I am against you, O arrogant one," declares Sovereign LORD Almighty, "for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. ³² The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.” ³³ Thus says the LORD Almighty: "The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah likewise, for all their captors have seized them, they refuse to let them go free. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty, is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, so that he may give rest to the land, and give trouble to the people of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword against the Chaldeans," declares the LORD, "and against the inhabitants of Babylon, against her officials and her wise men. ³⁶ A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror. ³⁷ A sword against her horses, against her chariots, and against all the foreign troops in her midst. They'll become women. A sword against her treasures. They'll be plundered. ³⁸ A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols. ³⁹ "That is why desert animals will live with hyenas. Desert owls will also live there. It will no longer be inhabited or lived in for generations. ⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, states the LORD, so no man shall live there, nor shall a son of man stay in it. ⁴¹ "Look, people are coming from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the ends of the earth. ⁴² They grab bow and spear. They're cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, as they ride on horses deployed like men ready for battle against you, daughter of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands hang limp. Distress has seized him, like a woman in labor. ⁴⁴ Behold he will be like the lion which must go up from the swelling of Jordan to Gaitham, for I will speedily drive men from her, and set every youth against her: for who is like me and who can withstand me? And who is the shepherd who can stand before me? ⁴⁵ Listen to what the LORD is going to do against Babylon and the things he intends to do to the land of the Babylonians. He will surely drag away the little ones of the flock. He will surely destroy the pasture because of the Babylonians. ⁴⁶ At the sound of Babylon's capture, the earth shall tremble, and a cry is heard among the nations.

² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of the years about which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, seventy years.

¹⁸ that have been known for ages.’

⁶ "let God weigh me on honest scales and he will know that I am blameless.

⁹ Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: if laid on the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

³⁰ They're called reject silver, because the LORD has rejected them.

¹⁸ "Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead in the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Sovereign LORD: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

¹¹ "When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.

¹³ his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.

¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes; who will not regard silver, and who will not delight in gold.

² A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease.

¹ Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: ² "I myself will go before you, and I will level the mountains. I will break the doors of bronze and cut throughthe bars of iron.

³¹ and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of 62.

²⁸ So Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

³ Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And behold, a ram with two horns stood before the canal having two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. ⁴ I watched the ram charging westward, northward, and southward. No animal could stand before him, nor was there anyone who could deliver from his control. He did as he pleased and exalted himself.

²⁰ "The ram that you saw who had two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.

¹ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—

⁴ My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me. ⁵ They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; Rise up, captains, oil the shields, ⁶ For this is what the LORD says to me: "Go, station the lookout, and let him report what he sees. ⁷ When he sees chariots, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently." ⁸ Then the lookout shouted: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. ⁹ "Look! Here come chariots and horsemen in pairs. Then he said: 'Babylon has fallen! She has fallen! All the idols they worship lie shattered on the ground.'"

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes he has decided to destroy Babylon. Indeed, it's the LORD's vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

³¹ Runners run to meet runners. Messengers follow messengers. They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.

¹ King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine with them. ² Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, might drink in them.

¹ It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom throughout the realm,