Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of David.

The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

2 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; ^(A)his spirit was troubled, and ^(B)his sleep left him. ² Then the king commanded that ^(C)the magicians, ^(D)the enchanters, the ^(E)sorcerers, and ^(F)the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and ^(G)stood before the king. ³ And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and ^(H)my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” ⁴ Then ^(I)the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic,^{[a] (J)}“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” ⁵ The king answered and said to ^(K)the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be ^(L)torn limb from limb, ^(M)and your ^(N)houses shall be laid in ruins. ⁶ But if you show the dream and its interpretation, ^(O)you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. ^(P)Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” ⁸ The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to ^(Q)gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— ⁹ if you do not make the dream known to me, ^(R)there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till ^(S)the times change. ^(T)Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” ^10 (U)The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or ^(V)Chaldean. ¹¹ The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except ^(W)the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

¹² Because of this the king was angry and ^(X)very furious, and ^(Y)commanded that all ^(Z)the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. ¹³ So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought ^(AA)Daniel and his companions, to kill them. ¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to ^(AB)Arioch, the ^(AC)captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵ He declared^[b] to Arioch, the king's captain, “Why is the decree of the king ^(AD)so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. ¹⁶ And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to ^(AE)Hananiah, ^(AF)Mishael, and ^(AG)Azariah, his companions, ^18 (AH)and told them to seek mercy from the ^(AI)God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not ^(AJ)be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in ^(AK)a vision of the night. Then Daniel ^(AL)blessed the ^(AM)God of heaven. ²⁰ Daniel answered and said:

²⁴ Therefore Daniel went in to ^(BA)Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”

²⁵ Then ^(BB)Arioch brought in Daniel before the king ^(BC)in haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^(BD)among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, ^(BE)whose name was Belteshazzar, ^(BF)“Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷ Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, ^(BG)enchanters, ^(BH)magicians, or ^(BI)astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, ²⁸ but ^(BJ)there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^(BK)what will be in the latter days. Your dream and ^(BL)the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: ²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, ^(BM)and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. ³⁰ But ^(BN)as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that ^(BO)you may know the thoughts of your mind.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

³¹ “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. ^32 (BP)The head of this image was of fine gold, ^(BQ)its chest and arms of silver, its middle and ^(BR)thighs of bronze, ^33 (BS)its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out ^(BT)by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and ^(BU)broke them in pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became ^(BV)like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that ^(BW)not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became ^(BX)a great mountain ^(BY)and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ You, O king, ^(BZ)the king of kings, to whom ^(CA)the God of heaven ^(CB)has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, ³⁸ and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, ^(CC)the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are ^(CD)the head of gold. ^39 (CE)Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom ^(CF)of bronze, ^(CG)which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And ^(CH)there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron ^(CI)breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall ^(CJ)break and crush all these. ⁴¹ And as you saw ^(CK)the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the ^(CL)firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage,^[c] but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings ^(CM)the God of heaven will set up ^(CN)a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. ^(CO)It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and ^(CP)it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as ^(CQ)you saw that ^(CR)a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that ^(CS)it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A ^(CT)great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

Daniel Is Promoted

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar ^(CU)fell upon his face and ^(CV)paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that ^(CW)an offering and ^(CX)incense be offered up to him. ⁴⁷ The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your ^(CY)God is God of gods and ^(CZ)Lord of kings, and ^(DA)a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” ⁴⁸ Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great ^(DB)gifts, and made him ruler over the whole ^(DC)province of Babylon and ^(DD)chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Daniel made a request of the king, and he ^(DE)appointed ^(DF)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of ^(DG)the province of Babylon. But Daniel ^(DH)remained at the king's court.

A Riot at Ephesus

²¹ Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit ^(A)to pass through ^(B)Macedonia and Achaia and ^(C)go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^(D)I must also see Rome.” ²² And having sent into Macedonia two of ^(E)his helpers, ^(F)Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia ^(G)for a while.

²³ About that time ^(H)there arose no little disturbance concerning ^(I)the Way. ²⁴ For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ^(J)brought no little business to the craftsmen. ^25 (K)These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. ²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, ^(L)saying that ^(M)gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷ And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ^(N)great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸ When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ^(O)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ^(P)Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's ^(Q)companions in travel. ³⁰ But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹ And even some of the Asiarchs,^[a] who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. ^32 (R)Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, ^(S)motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ^(T)“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from ^(U)the sky?^{[b] 36} Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷ For you have brought ^(V)these men here who are neither ^(W)sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸ If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are ^(X)proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you seek anything further,^[c] it shall be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰ For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.