Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Glory and Universality of the Messiah’s Reign
A Psalm (A)of Solomon.
72 Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
2 (B)He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
3 (C)The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
4 (D)He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will [a]break in pieces the oppressor.
5 [b]They shall fear You
(E)As long as the sun and moon endure,
Throughout all generations.
6 (F)He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing,
Like showers that water the earth.
7 In His days the righteous shall flourish,
(G)And abundance of peace,
Until the moon is no more.
8 (H)He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 (I)Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
(J)And His enemies will lick the dust.
10 (K)The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba
Will offer gifts.
11 (L)Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
12 For He (M)will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
14 He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And (N)precious shall be their blood in His sight.
15 And He shall live;
And the gold of (O)Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
And daily He shall be praised.
16 There will be an abundance of grain in the earth,
On the top of the mountains;
Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon;
(P)And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 (Q)His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And (R)men shall be blessed in Him;
(S)All nations shall call Him blessed.
18 (T)Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
(U)Who only does wondrous things!
19 And (V)blessed be His glorious name forever!
(W)And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Daniel Explains the Dream
24 Therefore Daniel went to 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; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.”
25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the [a]captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.”
26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?”
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. 28 (A)But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar (B)what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: 29 As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; (C)and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. 30 (D)But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, (E)and that you may [b]know the thoughts of your heart.
31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 (F)This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and [c]thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of [d]clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out (G)without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 (H)Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became (I)like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that (J)no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image (K)became a great mountain (L)and filled the whole earth.
36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 (M)You, O king, are a king of kings. (N)For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 (O)and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—(P)you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise (Q)another kingdom (R)inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And (S)the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, (T)so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly [e]fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings (U)the God of heaven will set up a kingdom (V)which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; (W)it shall [f]break in pieces and [g]consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 (X)Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”
Daniel and His Friends Promoted
46 (Y)Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering (Z)and incense to him. 47 The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly (AA)your God is the God of (AB)gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” 48 (AC)Then the king promoted Daniel (AD)and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and (AE)chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Also Daniel petitioned the king, (AF)and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel (AG)sat in [h]the gate of the king.
Walk in Wisdom
15 (A)See then that you walk [a]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 (B)redeeming the time, (C)because the days are evil.
17 (D)Therefore do not be unwise, but (E)understand (F)what the will of the Lord is. 18 And (G)do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another (H)in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making (I)melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 (J)giving thanks always for all things to God the Father (K)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.