Offerings for the Feast of Weeks

²⁶ “On ^(A)the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, ²⁷ but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord: ^(B)two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; ²⁸ also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, ²⁹ a tenth for each of the seven lambs; ³⁰ with ^(C)one male goat, to make atonement for you. ³¹ Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. ^(D)See that they are without blemish.

Offerings for the Feast of Trumpets

29 “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. ^(E)It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, ² and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; ³ also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah^[a] for the bull, two tenths for the ram, ⁴ and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; ⁵ with ^(F)one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; ⁶ besides ^(G)the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and ^(H)the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord.

Offerings for the Day of Atonement

^7 (I)“On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and ^(J)afflict yourselves.^[b] You shall do no work, ⁸ but you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old: ^(K)see that they are without blemish. ⁹ And their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, ¹⁰ a tenth for each of the seven lambs: ¹¹ also ^(L)one male goat for a sin offering, besides ^(M)the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

Solomon's Wealth

^13 (A)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. ^(B)And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels^[a] of beaten gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; ^(C)300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷ The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, ¹⁹ while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom. ²⁰ All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king's ships went to ^(D)Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^[b]

²² Thus King Solomon ^(E)excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. ²⁴ Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh,^[c] spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. ²⁵ And Solomon had ^(F)4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^26 (G)And he ruled over all the kings ^(H)from the Euphrates^[d] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. ^27 (I)And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. ^28 (J)And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Solomon's Death

^29 (K)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from ^(L)first to last, are they not written in the history of ^(M)Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of ^(N)Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^(O)Iddo ^(P)the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^(Q)the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Daniel's Vision of the Ram and the Goat

8 In the third year of the reign of ^(A)King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, ^(B)after that which appeared to me ^(C)at the first. ² And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in ^(D)Susa the citadel, which is in the province of ^(E)Elam. And ^(F)I saw in the vision, ^(G)and I was at the ^(H)Ulai canal. ³ I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, ^(I)a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. ⁴ I saw ^(J)the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No ^(K)beast ^(L)could stand before him, ^(M)and there was no one who could rescue from his power. ^(N)He did as he pleased and ^(O)became great.

⁵ As I was considering, behold, a ^(P)male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had ^(Q)a conspicuous horn between his eyes. ⁶ He came to ^(R)the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, ^(S)and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. ⁷ I saw him come close to the ram, ^(T)and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. ^(U)And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he ^(V)cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. ⁸ Then ^(W)the goat ^(X)became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four ^(Y)conspicuous horns toward ^(Z)the four winds of heaven.

⁹ Out of one of them came ^(AA)a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward ^(AB)the south, toward the east, and toward ^(AC)the glorious land. ^10 (AD)It grew great, ^(AE)even to the host of heaven. And some of the host ^(AF)and some^[a] of ^(AG)the stars it threw down to the ground and ^(AH)trampled on them. ^11 (AI)It became great, even as great as ^(AJ)the Prince of the host. ^(AK)And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. ¹² And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression,^[b] and it will throw truth to the ground, and ^(AL)it will act and prosper. ¹³ Then I heard ^(AM)a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, ^(AN)“For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, ^(AO)the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” ¹⁴ And he said to me,^[c] “For 2,300 ^(AP)evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

The Blessings of Wisdom

You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named ^(A)Nicodemus, ^(B)a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus^{[a] (C)}by night and said to him, ^(D)“Rabbi, ^(E)we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do ^(F)unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ^(G)born ^(H)again^[b] he cannot ^(I)see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^(J)of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ^6 (K)That which is born of the flesh is ^(L)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^{[c] 7 (M)}Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You^[d] must be born ^(N)again.’ ^8 (O)The wind^[e] blows ^(P)where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, ^(Q)“How can these things be?”

Warning Against Apostasy

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is ^(A)hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again ^(B)the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need ^(C)milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is ^(D)a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for ^(E)the mature, for those who have their powers ^(F)of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.