Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹³ When Daniel was brought in, the king said:

So you are Daniel, one of the captives my father brought back from Judah! ¹⁴ I was told that the gods have given you special powers and that you are intelligent and very wise. ¹⁵ Neither my advisors nor the men who talk with the spirits of the dead could read this writing or tell me what it means. ¹⁶ But I have been told that you understand everything and that you can solve difficult problems. Now then, if you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. You will wear royal purple robes and have a gold chain around your neck.

¹⁷ Daniel answered:

Your Majesty, I will read the writing and tell you what it means. But you may keep your gifts or give them to someone else. ¹⁸ Sir, the Most High God made your father a great and powerful man and brought him much honor and glory. ¹⁹ God did such great things for him that people of all nations and races shook with fear.

Your father had the power of life or death over everyone, and he could honor or ruin anyone he chose. ²⁰ But when he became proud and stubborn, his glorious kingdom was taken from him. ²¹ His mind became like that of an animal, and he was forced to stay away from people and live with wild donkeys. Your father ate grass like an ox, and he slept outside where his body was soaked with dew. He was forced to do this until he learned that the Most High God rules all kingdoms on earth and chooses their kings.

²² King Belshazzar, you knew all of this, but you still refused to honor the Lord who rules from heaven. ²³ Instead, you turned against him and ordered the cups from his temple to be brought here, so that you and your wives and officials could drink wine from them. You praised idols made of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, even though they cannot see or hear or think. You refused to worship the God who gives you breath and controls everything you do. ²⁴ That's why he sent the hand to write this message on the wall.

^25-28 The words written there are mene, which means “numbered,” tekel, which means “weighed,” and parsin,^[a] which means “divided.” God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has brought it to an end. He has weighed you on his balance scales, and you fall short of what it takes to be king. So God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.

²⁹ Belshazzar gave a command for Daniel to be made the third most powerful man in his kingdom and to be given a purple robe and a gold chain.

³⁰ That same night, the king was killed. ³¹ Then Darius the Mede, who was 62 years old, took over his kingdom.

A Story about Two Sons

²⁸ Jesus said:

I will tell you a story about a man who had two sons. Then you can tell me what you think. The father went to the older son and said, “Go work in the vineyard today!” ²⁹ His son told him he would not do it, but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ The man then told his younger son to go work in the vineyard. The boy said he would, but he didn't go. ³¹ Which one of the sons obeyed his father?

“The older one,” the chief priests and leaders answered.

Then Jesus told them:

You can be sure tax collectors^[a] and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you ever will! ^32 (A) When John the Baptist showed you how to do right, you would not believe him. But these evil people did believe. And even when you saw what they did, you still would not change your minds and believe.