Judgment before the Ancient One

¹¹ I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.^{(C) 12} As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. ¹³ As I watched in the night visions,

Daniel’s Visions Interpreted

¹⁵ As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me,^[d] and the visions of my head terrified me.^{(F) 16} I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter:^{(G) 17} “As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸ But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”^(H)

¹⁹ Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet; ²⁰ and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and concerning the other horn that came up and before which three others had fallen—the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly and that seemed greater than the others. ²¹ As I looked, that horn made war with the holy ones and was prevailing over them,^{(I) 22} until the Ancient One^[e] came; then judgment was given for the holy ones of the Most High, and the time arrived when the holy ones gained possession of the kingdom.^(J)

²³ This is what he said: “As for the fourth beast,

²⁸ Here the account ends. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly terrified me, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter in my mind.^(P)

Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment.^{(A) 2} For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature,^[a] able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.^{(B) 3} If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. ⁴ Or look at ships: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!^{(C) 6} And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.^{[b](D) 7} For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue—a restless^[c] evil, full of deadly poison.^{(E) 9} With it we bless the Lord^[d] and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God.^{(F) 10} From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.^{(G) 14} But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.^{(H) 16} For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.^{(I) 17} But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.^{(J) 18} And the fruit of righteousness^[e] is sown in peace by those who make peace.^(K)

Daniel’s Prayer for the People

9 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, by birth a Mede, who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans,^{(A) 2} I,^[a] Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.^(B)

³ Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.^{(C) 4} I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying,

“Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you^[b] and keep your^[c] commandments,^{(D) 5} we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances.^{(E) 6} We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.^{(F) 8} Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our princes, and our ancestors because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, but we have rebelled against him^{(G) 10} and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

¹¹ “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against you.^{(H) 12} He has confirmed his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a calamity so great that what has been done against Jerusalem has never before been done under the whole heaven.^{(I) 13} Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. We did not entreat the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and reflecting on his^[d] fidelity.^{(J) 14} So the Lord kept watch over this calamity until he brought it upon us. Indeed, the Lord our God is right in all that he has done, for we have disobeyed his voice.^(K)

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made your name renowned even to this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly.^{(L) 16} O Lord, in view of all your righteous acts, let your anger and wrath, we pray, turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become a disgrace among all our neighbors.^{(M) 17} Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, and for your own sake, Lord,^[e] let your face shine upon your desolated sanctuary.^{(N) 18} Incline your ear, O my God, and hear. Open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that bears your name. We do not present our supplication before you on the ground of our righteousness but on the ground of your great mercies.^{(O) 19} O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people bear your name!”^(P)

The Seventy Weeks

²⁰ While I was speaking and was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God,^{(Q) 21} while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.^{(R) 22} He came^[f] and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved. So consider the word and understand the vision:^(S)

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.^{[g](T) 25} Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks, and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time.^{(U) 26} After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its^[h] end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.^{(V) 27} He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease, and in their place^[i] shall be a desolating sacrilege until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.”^(W)

Friendship with the World

4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet^[a] something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.^{(A) 4} Adulterers!^[b] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(B) 5} Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell^[c] in us desire envy?^{(C) 6} But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.^{(E) 8} Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.^{(F) 9} Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.^(G)

Warning against Judging Another

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.^{(H) 12} There is one lawgiver and judge^[d] who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?^(I)

Boasting about Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”^{(J) 14} Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(K) 15} Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”^{(L) 16} As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.^(M)