Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the director: A song of David.

Daniel’s Vision of a Ram and a Goat

8 After that vision,^[a] I, Daniel, saw another vision during the third year that Belshazzar^[b] was king. ² In the vision I saw that I was in the city of Susa.^[c] Susa was the capital city in the province of Elam. I was standing by the Ulai River. ³ I looked up and saw a ram standing at the side of the river. The ram had two long horns. The horns were both long, but one horn was longer than the other horn. The long horn was farther back than the other horn. ⁴ I watched the ram run into things with its horns. I watched the ram run to the west, to the north, and to the south. No animal could stop the ram, and no one could save the other animals. That ram did whatever it wanted, and it became very powerful.

⁵ I thought about the ram. While I was watching, I saw a male goat come from the west. It had one large horn that was easy to see. It ran so fast its feet barely touched the ground.

⁶ The goat came to the ram with the two horns. (This was the ram I had seen standing by the Ulai River.) The goat was very angry and ran at the ram. ⁷ As I watched, the goat ran at the ram and broke both of the ram’s horns. The ram could not stop the goat. The goat knocked it to the ground and walked all over it. There was no one to save the ram from the goat.

⁸ So the goat became very powerful. But after he became strong, his big horn broke off. Then four horns grew in place of the one big horn. Those four horns were easy to see. They pointed in four different directions.

⁹ Then a little horn grew from one of those four horns. It grew and became very big. It grew toward the southeast, toward the Beautiful Land. ¹⁰ The little horn became very big. It grew until it reached the sky. It even threw some of heaven’s army^[d] to the ground and trampled them. ¹¹ That little horn became very strong, and it turned against God, the Ruler of heaven’s army. It stopped the daily sacrifices that were offered to the Ruler. And the holy place where people worshiped the Ruler was pulled down. ¹² Because of this sin, the daily sacrifices were stopped. Truth was thrown down to the ground. The little horn did these things and was very successful.

¹³ Then I heard two holy ones^[e] talking with each other. One of them asked the other one, who had been speaking, “How long will the things in this vision last—the stopping of the daily sacrifices, the sin that destroys, and the trampling down of the holy place and heaven’s army?”

¹⁴ The other holy one said, “This will last for 2300 days. Then the holy place will be repaired.”

Don’t Turn Away From God’s Son

²⁶ If we decide to continue sinning after we have learned the truth, then there is no other sacrifice that will take away sins. ²⁷ If we continue sinning, all that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy those who live against God. ²⁸ Whoever refused to obey the Law of Moses was found guilty from the testimony given by two or three witnesses. Such people were not forgiven. They were killed. ²⁹ So think how much more punishment people deserve who show their hate for the Son of God—people who show they have no respect for the blood sacrifice that began the new agreement and once made them holy or who insult the Spirit of God’s grace. ³⁰ We know that God said, “I will punish people for the wrongs they do; I will repay them.”^[a] And he also said, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{[b] 31} It is a terrible thing to face punishment from the living God.