Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 13

How Long, O Lord?

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For the choir director. A psalm by David.

Anguished Questions

An Urgent Prayer

A Solid Answer

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar,^[a] a vision appeared to me—I, Daniel—after the one that appeared to me previously.

² I saw the vision, and as I watched, I was in the citadel^[b] of Susa, which is in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal. ³ I looked up and right there in front of me I saw a ram standing beside the canal. He had two horns. The two horns were large. One, however, was larger than the other, but the larger one had grown up later. ⁴ I saw the ram pushing toward the west, north, and south, and no beast was able to stand in his way. Nothing could rescue anyone from his power. So he did as he pleased and made himself great.

⁵ As I was thinking about this, I saw a male goat coming from the west, moving across the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. ⁶ He came up to the ram with the two horns that I saw standing beside the canal, and he ran at him with fierce anger. ⁷ I saw him coming up to the ram, and he was enraged against him. He struck the ram and broke his two horns. The ram had no power to stand up against him, so the goat threw the ram to the ground and trampled him. There was no one who could rescue the ram from his power.

⁸ The male goat made himself very great. But as he became strong, his large horn was broken, and four conspicuous horns grew up in its place toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹ Then from one of these horns a single horn came up. It began small, but it became very large toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ¹⁰ It exalted itself against the army of heaven. It made some of that army and some of the stars fall to earth, and it trampled them. ¹¹ It exalted itself against the Prince of the Army. It deprived him of the continual sacrifice, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down. ¹² The army and the continual sacrifice will be handed over to the horn during the rebellion, and it will throw truth to the ground. It will succeed in doing this.

¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one speaking, “How long is the vision about the continual sacrifice and the rebellion that causes desolation going to last—this handing over of both the Holy Place and the army to be trampled?”

¹⁴ He said to him, “Until two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, and then the Holy Place will be consecrated.”

²⁶ For if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins. ²⁷ Instead, there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that is going to consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without pity, on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the person who trampled the Son of God underfoot, who considered insignificant the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, and who insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the one who said:

And again:

³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.