Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 O Lord God of all, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. 9 Look upon our safe-covering, O God. And look upon the face of Your chosen one. 10 For a day in Your house is better than a thousand outside. I would rather be the one who opens the door of the house of my God, than to live in the tents of the sinful. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and a safe-covering. The Lord gives favor and honor. He holds back nothing good from those who walk in the way that is right. 12 O Lord of all, how happy is the man who trusts in You!
Daniel Tells What the Writing Means
13 So Daniel was brought to the king. And the king said to him, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the people whom my father the king brought from Judah? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you. Light and understanding and special wisdom have been found in you also. 15 The wise men and wonder-workers were brought in to me so that they might read this writing and tell me what it means. But they could not tell me its meaning. 16 Now I have heard that you are able to tell the meaning of such things and give answers to hard problems. If you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you will be dressed in purple and wear a chain of gold around your neck. And you will be the third in power in the nation.”
17 Then Daniel answered the king, saying, “Keep your gifts for yourself, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing to the king and tell him what it means. 18 O king, the Most High made your father Nebuchadnezzar king, and gave him greatness, honor, and power. 19 Because of the greatness He gave to him, all the people of every nation and language shook in fear in front of him. He killed whomever he wanted. And he let live whomever he wanted. He gave honor to whomever he wanted. And he put down whomever he wanted. 20 But when his heart and spirit became proud and he acted in pride, he was taken from his throne and his greatness was taken from him. 21 He was driven away from people, and his mind became like that of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys. He ate grass like cattle, and his body became wet with the water from heaven. It was like this for him until he understood that the Most High God is ruler over the nation of all men, and that He lets whomever He wants rule it. 22 Yet you, his son Belshazzar, have not put away the pride from your heart, even though you knew all this. 23 You have honored yourself more than the Lord of heaven. The cups of His house have been brought to you. And you and your important men and all your wives have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But you have not honored the God Who holds your life and your ways in His hand. 24 So the hand was sent from Him to write on your wall. 25 “This is what was written: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.’ 26 And this is what it means: ‘MENE’ means that God has numbered the days of your rule and has brought it to an end. 27 ‘TEKEL’ means that you have been weighed and found to be too light. 28 ‘PERES’ means that your nation has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
29 Then Belshazzar had them dress Daniel in purple and put a chain of gold around his neck. And he made it known that Daniel was the third most powerful ruler in the nation.
Belshazzar Is Killed
30 That very night Belshazzar the king of Babylon was killed. 31 So Darius the Mede became the king when he was sixty-two years old.
The Picture-Story of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think about this? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first son and said, ‘My son, go to my grape-field and work today.’ 29 He said, ‘I will go.’ But he did not go. 30 The father came to the second son and asked the same thing. The son said, ‘No, I will not go.’ Later he was sorry and went. 31 Which one of the two sons did what his father wanted?” They said to Jesus, “The second son.” Jesus said to them, “For sure, I tell you this: Tax-gatherers and women who sell the use of their bodies will get into the holy nation of heaven before you. 32 For John came to you preaching about being right with God. You did not believe him. But tax-gatherers and women who sell the use of their bodies did believe him. When you saw this, you were not sorry for your sins and did not turn from them and believe him.
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