Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

98 A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.

² The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people.

³ Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy:

⁴ And the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.

⁵ Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy.

⁶ Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them:

⁷ He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.

⁸ Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.

⁹ Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.

¹⁹ Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated.

²⁰ And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire.

²¹ And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments.

²² For the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago.

²³ But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire.

²⁴ And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord.

²⁵ Then Azarias standing up prayed in this manner, and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said:

²⁶ Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and thy name is worthy of praise, and glorious for ever:

²⁷ For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us, and all thy works are true, and thy ways right, and all thy judgments true.

²⁸ For thou hast executed true judgments in all the things that thou hast brought upon us, and upon Jerusalem the holy city of our fathers: for according to truth and judgment, thou hast brought all these things upon us for our sins.

²⁹ For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from thee: and we have trespassed in all things:

³⁰ And we have not hearkened to thy commandments, nor have we observed nor done as thou hadst commanded us, that it might go well with us.

²¹ And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With such violence as this shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

²² And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and of them that play on the pipe, and on the trumpet, shall no more be heard at all in thee; and no craftsman of any art whatsoever shall be found any more at all in thee; and the sound of the mill shall be heard no more at all in thee;

²³ And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for all nations have been deceived by thy enchantments.

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.