Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

133 A Song of the Ascents, by David. Lo, how good and how pleasant The dwelling of brethren -- even together!

² As the good oil on the head, Coming down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, That cometh down on the skirt of his robes,

³ As dew of Hermon -- That cometh down on hills of Zion, For there Jehovah commanded the blessing -- Life unto the age!

2 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, dreamed hath Nebuchadnezzar dreams, and his spirit doth move itself, and his sleep hath been against him;

² and the king saith to call for scribes, and for enchanters, and for sorcerers, and for Chaldeans, to declare to the king his dreams. And they come in and stand before the king;

³ and the king saith to them, `A dream I have dreamed, and moved is my spirit to know the dream.'

⁴ And the Chaldeans speak to the king [in] Aramaean, `O king, to the ages live, tell the dream to thy servants, and the interpretation we do shew.'

⁵ The king hath answered and said to the Chaldeans, `The thing from me is gone; if ye do not cause me to know the dream and its interpretation, pieces ye are made, and your houses are made dunghills;

⁶ and if the dream and its interpretation ye do shew, gifts, and fee, and great glory ye receive from before me, therefore the dream and its interpretation shew ye me.'

⁷ They have answered a second time, and are saying, `Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and the interpretation we do shew.

⁸ The king hath answered and said, `Of a truth I know that time ye are gaining, because that ye have seen that the thing is gone from me,

⁹ [so] that, if the dream ye do not cause me to know -- one is your sentence, seeing a word lying and corrupt ye have prepared to speak before me, till that the time is changed, therefore the dream tell ye to me, then do I know that its interpretation ye do shew me.'

¹⁰ The Chaldeans have answered before the king, and are saying, `There is not a man on the earth who is able to shew the king's matter; therefore, no king, chief, and ruler, hath asked such a thing as this of any scribe, and enchanter, and Chaldean;

¹¹ and the thing that the king is asking [is] precious, and others are there not that do shew it before the king, save the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.'

¹² Therefore the king hath been angry and very wroth, and hath said to destroy all the wise men of Babylon;

¹³ And the sentence hath gone forth, and the wise men are being slain, and they have sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.

¹⁴ Then Daniel hath replied [with] counsel and discretion to Arioch chief of the executioners of the king, who hath gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁵ He hath answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, `Wherefore [is] the sentence so urgent from before the king?' Then Arioch hath made the thing known to Daniel,

¹⁶ and Daniel hath gone up, and sought of the king that he would give him time to shew the interpretation to the king.

¹⁷ Then Daniel to his house hath gone, and to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, he hath made the thing known,

¹⁸ and to seek mercies from before the God of the heavens concerning this secret, that they destroy not Daniel and his companions with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹ Then to Daniel, in a vision of the night, the secret hath been revealed. Then hath Daniel blessed the God of the heavens.

²⁰ Daniel hath answered and said, `Let the name of God be blessed from age even unto age, for wisdom and might -- for they are His.

²¹ And He is changing times and seasons, He is causing kings to pass away, and He is raising up kings; He is giving wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those possessing understanding.

²² He is revealing deep and hidden things; He hath known what [is] in darkness, and light with Him hath dwelt.

²³ Thee, O God of my fathers, I am thanking and praising, for wisdom and might Thou hast given to me; and now, Thou hast caused me to know that which we have sought from Thee, for the king's matter Thou hast caused us to know.'

²³ And being let go, they went unto their own friends, and declared whatever the chief priests and the elders said unto them,

²⁴ and they having heard, with one accord did lift up the voice unto God, and said, `Lord, thou [art] God, who didst make the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all that [are] in them,

²⁵ who, through the mouth of David thy servant, did say, Why did nations rage, and peoples meditate vain things?

²⁶ the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ;

²⁷ for gathered together of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, were both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with nations and peoples of Israel,

²⁸ to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel did determine before to come to pass.

²⁹ `And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant to Thy servants with all freedom to speak Thy word,

³⁰ in the stretching forth of Thy hand, for healing, and signs, and wonders, to come to pass through the name of Thy holy child Jesus.'

³¹ And they having prayed, the place was shaken in which they were gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and were speaking the word of God with freedom,