⁴¹ And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.

Balaam's First Oracle

23 And Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ² Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam ^(B)offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ³ And Balaam said to Balak, ^(C)“Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come ^(D)to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, ^4 (E)and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” ⁵ And the Lord ^(F)put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶ And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷ And Balaam ^(G)took up his discourse and said,

¹¹ And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^(P)I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹² And he answered and said, ^(Q)“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

²⁵ Over the king's treasuries was ^(A)Azmaveth the son of Adiel; and over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the villages, and in the towers, was Jonathan the son of Uzziah; ²⁶ and over those who did the work of the field for tilling the soil was Ezri the son of Chelub; ²⁷ and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite; and over the produce of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite. ²⁸ Over the olive and ^(B)sycamore trees in the Shephelah was Baal-hanan the Gederite; and over the stores of oil was Joash. ²⁹ Over the herds that pastured in ^(C)Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite; over the herds in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai. ³⁰ Over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite; and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite. Over the flocks was Jaziz the ^(D)Hagrite. ³¹ All these were stewards of King David's property.

³² Jonathan, David's uncle, was a counselor, being a man of understanding and a scribe. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni attended the king's sons. ^33 (E)Ahithophel was the ^(F)king's counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king's friend. ³⁴ Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada the son of ^(G)Benaiah, and ^(H)Abiathar. Joab was ^(I)commander of the king's army.

²⁴ Therefore Daniel went in to ^(A)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 ^(B)Arioch brought in Daniel before the king ^(C)in haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^(D)among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, ^(E)whose name was Belteshazzar, ^(F)“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, ^(G)enchanters, ^(H)magicians, or ^(I)astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, ²⁸ but ^(J)there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^(K)what will be in the latter days. Your dream and ^(L)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, ^(M)and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. ³⁰ But ^(N)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 ^(O)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 (P)The head of this image was of fine gold, ^(Q)its chest and arms of silver, its middle and ^(R)thighs of bronze, ^33 (S)its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out ^(T)by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and ^(U)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 ^(V)like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that ^(W)not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became ^(X)a great mountain ^(Y)and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷ You, O king, ^(Z)the king of kings, to whom ^(AA)the God of heaven ^(AB)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, ^(AC)the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are ^(AD)the head of gold. ^39 (AE)Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom ^(AF)of bronze, ^(AG)which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And ^(AH)there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron ^(AI)breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall ^(AJ)break and crush all these. ⁴¹ And as you saw ^(AK)the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the ^(AL)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,^[a] but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings ^(AM)the God of heaven will set up ^(AN)a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. ^(AO)It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and ^(AP)it shall stand forever, ⁴⁵ just as ^(AQ)you saw that ^(AR)a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that ^(AS)it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A ^(AT)great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

The Resurrection

24 ^(A)But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, ^(B)taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found ^(C)the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, ^(D)two ^(E)men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were ^(F)frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, ^(G)while he was still in Galilee, ^7 (H)that the Son of Man ^(I)must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and ^(J)be crucified and on ^(K)the third day rise.” ⁸ And ^(L)they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they ^(M)told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was ^(N)Mary Magdalene and ^(O)Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and ^(P)they did not believe them. ¹² But ^(Q)Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw ^(R)the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Final Instructions and Benediction

¹² We ask you, brothers, ^(A)to respect those who labor among you and ^(B)are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. ^(C)Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish ^(D)the idle,^{[a] (E)}encourage the fainthearted, ^(F)help the weak, ^(G)be patient with them all. ¹⁵ See that ^(H)no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always ^(I)seek to do good to one another and to everyone. ^16 (J)Rejoice always, ^17 (K)pray without ceasing, ^18 (L)give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ^19 (M)Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise ^(N)prophecies, ²¹ but ^(O)test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

²³ Now may ^(P)the God of peace himself ^(Q)sanctify you completely, and may your ^(R)whole ^(S)spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at ^(T)the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^24 (U)He who calls you is faithful; ^(V)he will surely do it.

^25 (W)Brothers, pray for us.

^26 (X)Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

²⁷ I put you under oath before the Lord to have ^(Y)this letter read to all the brothers.

^28 (Z)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.