Daniel 4:28-5:9

English Standard Version

Nebuchadnezzar's Humiliation

²⁸All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰and the king answered and said, ^(A)“Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by ^(B)my mighty power as a royal residence and for ^(C)the glory of my majesty?” ³¹^(D)While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, ³²^(E)and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, ^(F)until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” ³³Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. ^(G)He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.

Nebuchadnezzar Restored

³⁴^(H)At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and ^(I)my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored ^(J)him who lives forever,

^(K)for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    and ^(L)his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
³⁵^(M)all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
    and ^(N)he does according to his will among the host of heaven
    and among the inhabitants of the earth;
^(O)and none can stay his hand
    or ^(P)say to him, “What have you done?”

³⁶At the same time ^(Q)my reason returned to me, and for ^(R)the glory of my kingdom, ^(S)my majesty and splendor returned to me. ^(T)My counselors and ^(U)my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was ^(V)added to me. ³⁷Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, ^(W)praise and extol and honor the ^(X)King of heaven, ^(Y)for all his works are right and his ways are just; and ^(Z)those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

The Handwriting on the Wall

5 ^(AA)King Belshazzar ^(AB)made a great feast for a thousand of his ^(AC)lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

²^(AD)Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that ^(AE)the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father^[a] had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³Then they brought in ^(AF)the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴They drank wine and ^(AG)praised the ^(AH)gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

⁵^(AI)Immediately ^(AJ)the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw ^(AK)the hand as it wrote. ⁶^(AL)Then the king's color changed, ^(AM)and his thoughts alarmed him; ^(AN)his limbs gave way, and ^(AO)his knees knocked together. ⁷^(AP)The king called loudly to bring in ^(AQ)the enchanters, the ^(AR)Chaldeans, and ^(AS)the astrologers. The king declared^[b] to the wise men of Babylon, ^(AT)“Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and ^(AU)shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸Then all the king's wise men came in, but ^(AV)they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. ⁹Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^(AW)alarmed, and his ^(AX)color changed, and his ^(AY)lords were perplexed.

Footnotes

Daniel 5:2 Or predecessor; also verses 11, 13, 18
Daniel 5:7 Aramaic answered and said; also verse 10

3 John

English Standard Version

Greeting

¹^(A)The elder to the beloved Gaius, ^(B)whom I love in truth.

²Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ³For ^(C)I rejoiced greatly when the brothers^[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. ⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that ^(D)my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

⁵Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(E)these brothers, ^(F)strangers as they are, ⁶who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(G)worthy of God. ⁷For they have gone out for the sake of ^(H)the name, ^(I)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁹I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. ¹⁰So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

¹¹Beloved, ^(J)do not imitate evil but imitate good. ^(K)Whoever does good is from God; ^(L)whoever does evil has not seen God. ¹²Demetrius ^(M)has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and ^(N)you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

¹³^(O)I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. ¹⁴I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, ^(P)each by name.

Footnotes

3 John 1:3 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10