Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 13

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

Vision of a Ram and a Goat

8 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me at first.^{(A) 2} In the vision^[a] I saw myself in Susa the capital, in the province of Elam,^[b] and I was by the Ulai Gate.^{[c](B) 3} I looked up and saw a ram standing beside the gate.^[d] It had two horns. Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second.^{(C) 4} I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. All beasts were powerless to withstand it, and no one could rescue from its power; it did as it pleased and became strong.^(D)

⁵ As I was watching, a male goat appeared from the west, coming across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a horn^[e] between its eyes.^{(E) 6} It came toward the ram with the two horns that I had seen standing beside the gate,^[f] and it ran at it with savage force.^{(F) 7} I saw it approaching the ram. It was enraged against it and struck the ram, breaking its two horns. The ram did not have power to withstand it; it threw the ram down to the ground and trampled upon it, and there was no one who could rescue the ram from its power.^{(G) 8} Then the male goat grew exceedingly great, but at the height of its power the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four prominent horns toward the four winds of heaven.^(H)

⁹ Out of one of them came another^[g] horn, a little one, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land.^{(I) 10} It grew as high as the host of heaven. It threw down to earth some of the host and some of the stars and trampled on them.^{(J) 11} Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary.^{(K) 12} Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt offering;^[h] it cast truth to the ground and kept prospering in what it did. ¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, “For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled?”^{[i](L) 14} And he answered him,^[j] “For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

²⁶ For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins^{(A) 27} but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.^{(B) 28} Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”^{(C) 29} How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?^{(D) 30} For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”^[a] And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{(E) 31} It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.