Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, hearken, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine [a]Anointed.
10 For [b]a day in thy courts is better than a thousand other where: I had 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 unto us: the Lord will give grace and glory, and no [c]good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
13 ¶ Then was Daniel brought before the king, and the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom my father the king brought out of Jewry?
14 Now I have heard of thee, that [a]the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and that light and understanding, and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
15 Now therefore wise men and Astrologians have been brought before me, that they should read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof: but they could not declare the interpretation of the thing.
16 Then heard I of thee, that thou couldest show interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and shall have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
17 Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, Keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to another: yet I will read the writing unto the king, and show him the interpretation.
18 O king, hear thou, The most high God gave unto [b]Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and honor, and glory.
19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled, and feared before him: he put to death whom he would: he smote whom he would: whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down.
20 But when his heart was puffed up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his honor from him.
21 And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heaven, till he knew that the most high God bare rule over the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it, whomsoever he pleaseth.
22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all these things,
23 But hast lifted thyself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his House before thee, and thou and thy princes, thy wives and thy concubines have drunk wine in them, and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone, which neither see, neither hear, nor understand: and the God in whose hand thy breath is and all thy ways, him hast thou not glorified.
24 [c]Then was the palm of the hand sent from him, and hath written this writing.
25 And this is the writing that he hath written, [d]MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing, MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it.
27 TEKEL, thou art weighed in the balance, and art found [e]too light.
28 PERES, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
29 Then at the commandment of Belshazzar they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30 The same night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans slain.
31 And Darius [f]of the Medes took the kingdom, being threescore and two years old.
28 ¶ [a]But what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and came to the elder, and said, Son, go and work today in my vineyard.
29 But he answered, and said, I will not: yet afterward he repented himself, and went.
30 Then came he to the second, and said likewise. And he answered, and said, I will, Sir: yet he went not.
31 Whether of them twain did the will of the father? They said unto him, The first. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the Publicans and the harlots [b]go before you into the kingdom of God.
32 For John came unto you in the [c]way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the Publicans and the harlots believed him, and ye though ye saw it, were not moved with repentance afterward, that ye might believe him.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.