Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ O, LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer! Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

⁹ Behold, O God Our Shield, and look upon the face of Your Anointed.

¹⁰ For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the tabernacles of wickedness.

¹¹ For the LORD God is the Sun and Shield. The LORD will give grace and glory; and He will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

¹² O, LORD of Hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You. To him who excels: A Psalm committed to the sons of Korah

5 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his princes and drank wine before the thousand.

² And Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring him the golden and silver vessels, which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had brought from the Temple in Jerusalem; that the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink from them.

³ Then were brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the Temple of the Lord’s House at Jerusalem. And the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.

⁴ They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

⁵ At the same hour, appeared fingers of a man’s hand, which wrote over near the candlestick, upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace. And the king saw the palm of the hand that wrote.

⁶ Then the king’s countenance was changed. And his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened, and his knees struck against each other.

⁷ Therefore, the king loudly cried that they should bring the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the wise men of Babel, “Whoever can read this writing, and declare me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and shall have a chain of gold around his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom!”

⁸ Then came all the king’s wise men, but they could neither read the writing, nor show the king the interpretation.

⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed, and his princes were astonished.

¹⁰ Now the queen, by reason of the talk of the king and his princes, came into the banquet house. And the queen spoke, and said, “O king, live forever. Let not your thoughts trouble you, nor your countenance change.

¹¹ “There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, your father, the king, I say, your father, made chief of the enchanters, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

¹² “Because a more excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding (for he expounded dreams, and declared hard sentences, and dissolved doubts) were found in him, even in Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now, let Daniel be called. And he will declare the interpretation.”

5 I encourage the elders among you. I am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the Glory that shall be revealed.

² Feed the flock of God which depends on you. Care for it - not by compulsion, but voluntarily; not greedily, but eagerly;

³ not as though you were Lords over God’s estate, but that you may be examples to the flock.

⁴ And when that chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive an incorruptible crown of Glory.

⁵ Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to the elders. And everyone submit yourselves one to another. Clothe yourselves inwardly in humility. For “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time.

⁷ Cast all your cares on Him. For He cares for you.

⁸ Be sober, and watch. For your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

⁹ Steadfastly resist him in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers who are in the world.

¹⁰ And the God of all grace - Who has called us to His eternal Glory by Christ Jesus - will, after you have suffered a little, make you perfect; will confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

¹¹ To Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.