Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

13 How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How long will you look the other way when I am in need? ² How long must I be hiding daily anguish in my heart? How long shall my enemy have the upper hand?

³ Answer me, O Lord my God; give me light in my darkness lest I die. ⁴ Don’t let my enemies say, “We have conquered him!” Don’t let them gloat that I am down.

⁵ But I will always trust in you and in your mercy and shall rejoice in your salvation. ⁶ I will sing to the Lord because he has blessed me so richly.

¹⁵ As I was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, suddenly a man was standing in front of me—or at least he looked like a man— ¹⁶ and I heard a man’s voice calling from across the river, “Gabriel, tell Daniel the meaning of his dream.”

¹⁷ So Gabriel started toward me. But as he approached, I was too frightened to stand and fell down with my face to the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision will not take place until the end times come.”

¹⁸ Then I fainted, lying face downward on the ground. But he roused me with a touch and helped me to my feet. ¹⁹ “I am here,” he said, “to tell you what is going to happen in the last days of the coming time of terror—for what you have seen pertains to that final event in history.

²⁰ “The two horns of the ram you saw are the kings of Media and Persia; ²¹ the shaggy-haired goat is the nation of Greece, and its long horn represents the first great king of that country. ²² When you saw the horn break off and four smaller horns replace it, this meant that the Grecian Empire will break into four sections with four kings, none of them as great as the first.

²³ “Toward the end of their kingdoms, when they have become morally rotten, an angry king shall rise to power with great shrewdness and intelligence.^{[a] 24} His power shall be mighty, but it will be satanic strength and not his own.^[b] Prospering wherever he turns, he will destroy all who oppose him, though their armies be mighty, and he will devastate God’s people.

²⁵ “He will be a master of deception, defeating many by catching them off guard as they bask in false security. Without warning he will destroy them. So great will he fancy himself to be that he will even take on the Prince of Princes in battle; but in so doing he will seal his own doom, for he shall be broken by the hand of God, though no human means could overpower him.

²⁶ “And then in your vision you heard about the twenty-three hundred days to pass before the rights of worship are restored. This number is literal, and means just that.^[c] But none of these things will happen for a long time, so don’t tell anyone about them yet.”

²⁷ Then I grew faint and was sick for several days. Afterward I was up and around again and performed my duties for the king, but I was greatly distressed by the dream and did not understand it.

³² Don’t ever forget those wonderful days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you kept right on with the Lord even though it meant terrible suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were laughed at and beaten, and sometimes you watched and sympathized with others suffering the same things. ³⁴ You suffered with those thrown into jail, and you were actually joyful when all you owned was taken from you, knowing that better things were awaiting you in heaven, things that would be yours forever.

³⁵ Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! ³⁶ You need to keep on patiently doing God’s will if you want him to do for you all that he has promised. ³⁷ His coming will not be delayed much longer. ³⁸ And those whose faith has made them good in God’s sight must live by faith, trusting him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them.

³⁹ But we have never turned our backs on God and sealed our fate. No, our faith in him assures our souls’ salvation.