Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

16 Save me, O God, because I have come to you for refuge. ² I said to him, “You are my Lord; I have no other help but yours.” ³ I want the company of the godly men and women in the land; they are the true nobility. ⁴ Those choosing other gods shall all be filled with sorrow; I will not offer the sacrifices they do or even speak the names of their gods.

⁵ The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine. ⁶ He sees that I am given pleasant brooks and meadows as my share!^[a] What a wonderful inheritance! ⁷ I will bless the Lord who counsels me; he gives me wisdom in the night. He tells me what to do.

⁸ I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or fall.

⁹ Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy. ¹⁰ For you will not leave me among the dead; you will not allow your beloved one to rot in the grave. ¹¹ You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence.

⁴ I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in peace and prosperity, ⁵ when one night I had a dream that greatly frightened me. ⁶ I called in all the wise men of Babylon to tell me the meaning of my dream, ⁷ but when they came—the magicians, astrologers, fortune-tellers, and wizards—and I told them the dream, they couldn’t interpret it. ⁸ At last Daniel came in—the man I named Belteshazzar after my god—the man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and I told him the dream.

⁹ “O Belteshazzar, master magician,” I said, “I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery is too great for you to solve. Tell me what my dream means:

^10-11 “I saw a very tall tree out in a field, growing higher and higher into the sky until it could be seen by everyone in all the world. ¹² Its leaves were fresh and green, and its branches were weighted down with fruit, enough for everyone to eat. Wild animals rested beneath its shade and birds sheltered in its branches, and all the world was fed from it. ¹³ Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw one of God’s angels^[a] coming down from heaven.

¹⁴ “He shouted, ‘Cut down the tree; lop off its branches; shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Get the animals out from under it and the birds from its branches, ¹⁵ but leave its stump and roots in the ground, banded with a chain of iron and brass, surrounded by the tender grass. Let the dew of heaven drench him and let him eat grass with the wild animals! ¹⁶ For seven years let him have the mind of an animal instead of a man. ¹⁷ For this has been decreed by the Watchers, demanded by the Holy Ones. The purpose of this decree is that all the world may understand that the Most High dominates the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he wants to, even the lowliest of men!’

¹⁸ “O Belteshazzar, that was my dream; now tell me what it means. For no one else can help me; all the wisest men of my kingdom have failed me. But you can tell me, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

¹¹ O Timothy, you are God’s man. Run from all these evil things, and work instead at what is right and good, learning to trust him and love others and to be patient and gentle. ¹² Fight on for God. Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you and that you have confessed with such a ringing confession before many witnesses.

¹³ I command you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a fearless testimony before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you fulfill all he has told you to do so that no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. ¹⁵ For in due season Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only Almighty God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone can never die, who lives in light so terrible that no human being can approach him. No mere man has ever seen him nor ever will. Unto him be honor and everlasting power and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁷ Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. ¹⁹ By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.

²⁰ Oh, Timothy, don’t fail to do these things that God entrusted to you. Keep out of foolish arguments with those who boast of their “knowledge” and thus prove their lack of it. ²¹ Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God. May God’s mercy be upon you.

Sincerely, Paul