Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ O Jehovah, God of the heavenly armies, hear my prayer! Listen, God of Israel. ⁹ O God, our Defender and our Shield, have mercy on the one you have anointed as your king.^[a]

¹⁰ A single day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a doorman of the Temple of my God than live in palaces^[b] of wickedness. ¹¹ For Jehovah God is our Light and our Protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk along his paths.^[c]

¹² O Lord of the armies of heaven, blessed are those who trust in you.

5 Belshazzar the king invited a thousand of his officers to a great feast where the wine flowed freely. ^2-4 While Belshazzar was drinking, he was reminded of the gold and silver cups taken long before from the Temple in Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and brought to Babylon. Belshazzar ordered that these sacred cups be brought in to the feast, and when they arrived, he and his princes, wives, and concubines drank toasts from them to their idols made of gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone.

⁵ Suddenly, as they were drinking from these cups, they saw the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand. The king himself saw the fingers as they wrote. ⁶ His face blanched with fear, and such terror gripped him that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way beneath him.

⁷ “Bring the magicians and astrologers!” he screamed. “Bring the Chaldeans! Whoever reads that writing on the wall and tells me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor, with a gold chain around his neck, and he will become the third ruler in the kingdom!”^[a]

⁸ But when they came, none of them could understand the writing or tell him what it meant.

⁹ The king grew more and more hysterical; his face reflected the terror he felt, and his officers too were shaken. ¹⁰ But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she rushed to the banquet hall and said to Belshazzar, “Calm yourself, Your Majesty, don’t be so pale and frightened over this. ¹¹ For there is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father this man was found to be as full of wisdom and understanding as though he were himself a god. And in the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar,^[b] he was made chief of all the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers of Babylon. ¹² Call for this man, Daniel—or Belteshazzar, as the king called him—for his mind is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve knotty problems. He will tell you what the writing means.”

5 And now, a word to you elders of the church. I, too, am an elder; with my own eyes I saw Christ dying on the cross; and I, too, will share his glory and his honor when he returns. Fellow elders, this is my plea to you: ² Feed the flock of God; care for it willingly, not grudgingly; not for what you will get out of it but because you are eager to serve the Lord. ³ Don’t be tyrants, but lead them by your good example, ⁴ and when the Head Shepherd comes, your reward will be a never-ending share in his glory and honor.

⁵ You younger men, follow the leadership of those who are older. And all of you serve each other with humble spirits, for God gives special blessings to those who are humble, but sets himself against those who are proud. ⁶ If you will humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, in his good time he will lift you up.

⁷ Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.

⁸ Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. ⁹ Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too.

¹⁰ After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come and pick you up, and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever. ¹¹ To him be all power over all things, forever and ever. Amen.