Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daniel: ² As I dreamed that night, I saw a vision: I was looking and saw the four winds of heaven blow in from all directions and sweep across the surface of the Mediterranean Sea,^[a] whipping up waves and turmoil within the deep. ³ Four great beasts rose up from the churning waters, each one different from the other. ⁴ The first to surface was like a lion. It had giant wings like an eagle’s protruding from its shoulders. I watched as suddenly its feathers were plucked and its wings removed. The great beast was lifted up from the earth so that it could stand on two feet like a human being. Then it was given human intellect. ⁵ After this I looked and saw a second beast rising from the sea, this one resembling a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and in its mouth, gripped tightly between its teeth, were three ribs. And the bear was told to get up and devour even more flesh. ⁶ After witnessing this, I continued to look and saw another beast appear from beneath the waves. This one was fierce and fast like a leopard. It had a bird’s wings like the lion, but two pairs instead of one coming out of its back. It had four heads, and men bowed to this beast, and it was permitted to rule over them. ⁷ While I continued to gaze at this vision that night, a fourth beast arose. As if from a nightmare, it was terrifying, more awful and more powerful than anything I had ever seen. Its enormous iron teeth devoured and shattered its prey. Everything was crushed beneath its massive feet. And this fourth beast was unlike the previous three, having ten horns protruding from its head. ⁸ As I stared at the creature and wondered about the ten horns, suddenly another horn grew out of its head, smaller than the rest. Three of the first horns were pushed up from their roots to make room for the little horn. It appeared to have eyes like a human and a mouth that boasted and bragged of its great exploits.

¹⁵ As for me, Daniel, I was deeply disturbed by all that I saw; these night visions terrified me. ¹⁶ So I approached one of the heavenly beings standing before the flaming throne and asked him to explain exactly what had happened. So he did. And this is what he told me it all meant, the interpretation he gave me to all I had seen and heard:

Heavenly Being: ¹⁷ The four great beasts you saw that rose from the wind-whipped sea are four kings who will rise from the earth and come to rule vast empires. ¹⁸ But the holy ones of the Most High God will receive that kingdom which will last for all the ages to come, forever and ever.