Belshazzar’s Feast

5 Belshazzar the king ^(A)made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. ² While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels ^(B)which his ^[a]father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³ Then they brought the gold ^(C)vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine, ^(D)and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

^5 (E)In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his ^(F)knees knocked against each other. ^7 (G)The king cried ^[b]aloud to bring in ^(H)the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; ^(I)and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Now all the king’s wise men came, ^(J)but they could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^(K)troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were ^[c]astonished.

¹⁰ The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. ^11 (L)There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your ^[d]father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your ^[e]father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. ¹² Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and ^[f]explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, ^(M)whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.”

The Writing on the Wall Explained

¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel ^[g]who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my ^[h]father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴ I have heard of you, that ^(N)the ^[i]Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. ¹⁵ Now ^(O)the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. ¹⁶ And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and ^[j]explain enigmas. ^(P)Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. ¹⁸ O king, ^(Q)the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your ^[k]father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. ¹⁹ And because of the majesty that He gave him, ^(R)all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he ^(S)executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. ^20 (T)But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ Then he was ^(U)driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, ^(V)till he ^[l]knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.

²² “But you his son, Belshazzar, ^(W)have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ^23 (X)And you have ^[m]lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the ^(Y)vessels of ^[n]His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, ^(Z)which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand ^(AA)and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. ²⁴ Then the ^[o]fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.

²⁵ “And this is the inscription that was written:

^[p]MENE, MENE, ^[q]TEKEL, ^[r]UPHARSIN.

²⁶ This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; ²⁷ TEKEL: ^(AB)You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the ^(AC)Medes and ^(AD)Persians.”^{[s] 29} Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him ^(AE)that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Belshazzar’s Fall

^30 (AF)That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. ^31 (AG)And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Nehemiah Prays for His People

1 The words of ^(A)Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the ^(B)twentieth year, as I was in ^(C)Shushan^[a] the ^[b]citadel, ² that ^(D)Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. ³ And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the ^(E)province are there in great distress and ^(F)reproach. ^(G)The wall of Jerusalem ^(H)is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

⁴ So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

⁵ And I said: “I pray, ^(I)Lord God of heaven, O great and ^(J)awesome God, ^(K)You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love ^[c]You and observe ^[d]Your commandments, ⁶ please let Your ear be attentive and ^(L)Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and ^(M)confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. ^7 (N)We have acted very corruptly against You, and have ^(O)not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ^(P)‘If you ^[e]are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; ^9 (Q)but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, ^(R)though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ ^10 (S)Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I pray, please ^(T)let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who ^(U)desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

For I was the king’s ^(V)cupbearer.

Do Not Judge^(A)

7 “Judge^{[a] (B)}not, that you be not judged. ² For with what ^[b]judgment you judge, you will be judged; ^(C)and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ^3 (D)And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

^6 (E)“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking^(F)

^7 (G)“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For ^(H)everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ^9 (I)Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, ^(J)being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, ^(K)whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for ^(L)this is the Law and the Prophets.

The Narrow Way^(M)

^13 (N)“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ^14 [c]Because narrow is the gate and ^[d]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Sectarianism Is Carnal

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to ^(A)babes in Christ. ² I fed you with ^(B)milk and not with solid food; ^(C)for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and ^[a]behaving like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Watering, Working, Warning

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ^(D)ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ^6 (E)I planted, ^(F)Apollos watered, ^(G)but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then ^(H)neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, ^(I)and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹ For ^(J)we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are ^(K)God’s building. ^10 (L)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid ^(M)the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than ^(N)that which is laid, ^(O)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each one’s work will become clear; for the Day ^(P)will declare it, because ^(Q)it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. ¹⁴ If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

^16 (R)Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone ^[b]defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Avoid Worldly Wisdom

^18 (S)Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ^(T)“He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, ^(U)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ Therefore let no one boast in men. For ^(V)all things are yours: ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. ²³ And ^(W)you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.