Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 Lord God Almighty,
please listen to my prayer!
God of Jacob, hear me!
Selah.
9 God, look at our king,
the one who protects us like a shield!
Take care of the king that you have chosen.
10 I would rather be near your temple for one day
than have a thousand days anywhere else.
I would rather stand near the door of God's temple
than live among wicked people.
11 The Lord God is like a sun
and a shield for his people.
He is kind to his people
and he gives glory to them.
To those who do what is right,
he gives every good thing that they need.
12 Lord Almighty,
you have truly blessed everyone who trusts in you!
Belshazzar asks Daniel to explain the message
13 So they brought Daniel to stand in front of the king. The king said to him, ‘Are you one of the men that my father, the king, brought here from Judah? Is your name Daniel? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you. You are very wise and clever. I have heard that you understand many things. 15 I told my wise men and enchanters to read these words. I asked them to tell me what the words mean. But they could not explain the message to me. 16 I have heard that you can tell people what their dreams mean. And I have heard that you can find the answer to difficult problems. So can you read these words? Can you tell me what they mean? If you can do that, then I will put valuable purple clothes on you. You will have a gold chain around your neck. You will become the third ruler in the kingdom.’
Daniel warns the king
17 Then Daniel answered the king, ‘You can keep your gifts for yourself. You can make someone else important. But I will read the words for the king, and I will tell him what they mean. 18 I tell you this, King Belshazzar. The powerful God who rules over everything gave authority to your father, Nebuchadnezzar, to rule as king. God made him very great and very famous, so that he ruled with power. People respected him as a great king. 19 Because God made him so great, the people in every nation, who spoke every language, were very afraid of him. If he wanted to kill someone, he could kill them. And if he wanted to save someone, he could let them live. If he wanted to make someone important, he did that. And if he wanted to make someone poor, he did that too. 20 But he became very proud and he boasted about his power. So God took away his kingdom. People did not respect him any longer as king. 21 They chased him away from his home. His mind became like an animal's mind. He lived with the wild donkeys. He ate grass like cows do. Dew from the sky made his body wet. He lived in that way until he understood that the powerful God above rules over human kingdoms. God gives authority to rule to anyone that he chooses.
22 King Belshazzar, you are Nebuchadnezzar's son, and you knew all that. But you did not become humble. 23 You thought that you were greater than the Lord of heaven. So you told your servants to bring the valuable cups that belong to God's temple. You yourself, your wives, your other women and your important friends drank wine from those cups. You praised your gods that were made from silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Those are idols that cannot see or hear. They cannot understand anything. But you worshipped them instead of the true God. He is the God who gives life to you. He has power over everything that you do. 24 Because of that, God sent the hand that wrote this message.
25 These are the words:
Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin.
26 This is what the words mean:
Mene means “counted”. It shows that God has counted the days of your kingdom. Now these days are finished. Your kingdom has come to an end.
27 Tekel means “weighed”. It shows that God has weighed you. But the scales show that you are too light.
28 Peres means “separate”.[a] It shows that God has cut your kingdom into two separate parts. He has given it to the people from Media and Persia.’
29 When Belshazzar heard that, he caused his servants to put purple clothes on Daniel. They put a gold chain round his neck to show that he was an important person. The king told everyone that Daniel had become the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 That same night, Belshazzar, the king of the Babylonians, died. His enemies killed him. 31 Then Darius from Media received power as king. He was 62 years old.
Jesus tells a story about two sons
28 Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, ‘Tell me what you think about this story. A man had two sons. He went to the older son and said, “Son, go and work in my field today.”
29 The older son replied, “I do not want to go and work there today.” But after he had said that, he did go and work in the field.
30 The man went to his other son and he said the same thing to him. The second son replied, “Yes, father, I will go.” But then he did not go to work in the field.
31 Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’
The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you. 32 John the Baptist came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him. But the men who take taxes did believe him. Prostitutes also believed him. Even after you saw this, you did not believe him. You did not change the way that you live.’
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