Daniel’s Vision by the Tigris

¹In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, and it concerned a great conflict.And the understanding of the message was given to him in a vision.

²In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.

³I ate no rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with oil until the three weeks were completed.

⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris,

⁵I lifted up my eyes, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.

⁶His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of polished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

⁷Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.

⁸So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

⁹I heard the sound of his words, and as I listened, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.

¹⁰Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.

¹¹He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man who is highly precious. Consider carefully the words that I am about to say to you. Stand up, for I have now been sent to you.”And when he had said this to me, I stood up trembling.

¹²“Do not be afraid, Daniel,” he said, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.

¹³However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

¹⁴Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision concerns those days.”

¹⁵While he was speaking these words to me, I set my face toward the ground and became speechless.

¹⁶And suddenly one with the likeness of a mantouched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.

¹⁷How can I, your servant, speak with you, my lord? Now I have no strength, nor is any breath left in me.”

¹⁸Again the one with the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.

¹⁹“Do not be afraid, you who are highly precious,” he said. “Peace be with you! Be strong now; be very strong!”As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

²⁰“Do you know why I have come to you?” he said. “I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Greecewill come.

²¹But first I will tell you what is inscribed in the Book of Truth. Yet no one has the courage to support me against these, except Michael your prince.

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

¹In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier.

²And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.

³Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later.

⁴I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

⁵As I was contemplating all this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground.

⁶He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with furious power.

⁷I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him, and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and no one could deliver the ram from his power.

⁸Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.

⁹From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land.

¹⁰It grew as high as the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the earth and trampled them.

¹¹It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary.

¹²And in the rebellion,the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.

¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”

¹⁴He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.”

Gabriel Interprets Daniel’s Vision

¹⁵While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.

¹⁶And I heard the voice of a man calling from between the banks of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

¹⁷As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown.“Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”

¹⁸While he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.Then he touched me, helped me to my feet,

¹⁹and said, “Behold, I will make known to you what will happen in the latter time of wrath, because it concerns the appointed time of the end.

²⁰The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.

²¹The shaggy goat represents the king of Greece,and the large horn between his eyes is the first king.

²²The four horns that replaced the broken one represent four kingdoms that will rise from that nation but will not have the same power.

²³In the latter part of their reign, when the rebellion has reached its full measure, an insolent king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne.

²⁴His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause terrible destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men along with the holy people.

²⁵Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.

²⁶The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been spoken is true. Now you must seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.”

²⁷I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.

Intermarriage with Neighboring Peoples

¹After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

²Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”

³When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled out some hair from my head and beard, and sat down in horror.

⁴Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat there in horror until the evening offering.

Ezra’s Prayer of Confession

⁵At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

⁶and said:“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.

⁷From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and subjected to the sword and to captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.

⁸But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stakein His holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes.

⁹Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments

¹¹that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.

¹²Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

¹³After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

¹⁴shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor?

¹⁵O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”

Come Quickly to Me

¹I call upon You, O LORD; come quickly to me.Hear my voice when I call to You.

²May my prayer be set before You like incense;my uplifted hands, like the evening offering.

³Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;keep watch at the door of my lips.

⁴Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thingor take part in works of wickednesswith men who do iniquity;let me not feast on their delicacies.

⁵Let the righteous man strike me;let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion.It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it.For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.

⁶When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs,the people will listen to my words,for they are pleasant.

⁷As when one plows and breaks up the soil,so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

⁸But my eyes are fixed on You,O GOD the Lord.In You I seek refuge;do not leave my soul defenseless.

⁹Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,and from the lures of evildoers.

¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets,while I pass by in safety.