Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David.

¹ ¶ How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

² How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³ Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death,

⁴ lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

⁵ But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

⁶ I will sing unto the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.

8 ¶ In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, Daniel, after that vision which had appeared unto me before.

² And I saw in the vision; (and it came to pass, when I saw it, that I was at Shushan, which is the head of the kingdom in the province of Persia); so that I saw in that vision, being by the river of Ulai,

³ and I lifted up my eyes and saw, and, behold, a ram was standing before the river, which had two horns; and even though they were high, the one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

⁴ I saw that the ram smote with the horns to the west, to the north, and to the south and that no beast could stand before him, nor could anyone escape from his hand; but he did according to his will and made himself great.

⁵ And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west upon the face of the whole earth and did not touch the earth: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

⁶ And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing before the river and ran against him in the fury of his power.

⁷ And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he rose up against him and smote him, and broke his two horns: because the ram did not have the strength to stand before him; therefore he cast him down to the ground and trod him under; and there was no one to deliver the ram out of his hand.

⁸ And the he goat made himself very great, and when he was at his greatest strength, that great horn was broken; and in its place came up another four marvellous ones toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹ And out of the first of them came forth a little horn, which grew much toward the south and toward the east and toward the desirable land.

¹⁰ And it magnified itself unto the host of heaven, and it cast down part of the host and of the stars to the ground and trod them under.

¹¹ Even against the prince of the host did he magnify himself, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast to the earth.

¹² And the host was given over by reason of the prevarication upon the daily sacrifice; and he cast the truth to the ground; and he did whatever he would and prospered.

¹³ Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto the one which spoke, How long shall the vision of the daily sacrifice last and the prevarication of desolation that places both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

¹⁴ And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days of evening and morning; then shall the sanctuary be justified.

²⁶ For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

²⁷ but a certain fearful hope of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

²⁸ He that despised the law of Moses died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

²⁹ Of how much greater punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

³⁰ For we know who he is that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

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