Daily Reading

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, a Median descendant who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,

2 In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by means of the Scriptures the number of the years, which came as the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, that is, seventy years.

3 So I set my face toward the Lord God to seek Him in prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

4 And I prayed to Jehovah my God and confessed; and I said, Ah, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments,

5 We have sinned and have committed iniquity, and we have acted wickedly and rebelled, to the point of even turning away from Your commandments and from Your judgments.

6 And we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our chief men, and our fathers, as well as to all the people of the land.

7 To You, Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, shamefacedness, as it is this day, that is, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off in all the lands to which You have driven them because of their trespass by which they have trespassed against You.

8 O Jehovah, to us belongs shamefacedness, to our kings, our chief men, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

9 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;

10 And we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in His instruction, which He set before us through the hand of His servants the prophets.

11 Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law, to the point of even turning away so as not to obey Your voice; thus the curse has been poured out upon us, the very oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

12 And He has confirmed His words which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us great ill; for under all heaven there has not been done anything like that which has been done in Jerusalem.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this ill has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God by turning from our iniquities and attending to Your truth.

14 Therefore Jehovah has been vigilant with the ill and has brought it upon us, for Jehovah our God is righteous in all the deeds that He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

15 And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made for Yourself a name, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have been wicked.

16 O Lord, in accordance with all the manifestations of Your righteousness, may Your anger and Your wrath be turned away, I pray, from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

17 And now hear, O our God, the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that has been desolated, for the Lord’s sake.

18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You based upon any righteous doings that we have done, but based upon Your great compassion.

19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your own name.

20 And while I was still speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God,

21 Even while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, reached me in my utter exhaustion about the time of the evening oblation.

22 And he informed me and talked with me and said, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went forth, and I have come to tell you, for you are preciousness itself. Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are apportioned for your people and for your holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make propitiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.

25 Know therefore and comprehend: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with street and trench, even in distressful times.

26 And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing; and the people of the prince who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end of it will be with a flood, and even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week; and in the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and will replace the sacrifice and the oblation with abominations of the desolator, even until the complete destruction that has been determined is poured out upon the desolator.

1 In the third year of Cyrus the king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the word was true and concerning a great distress. And he understood the word and had an understanding of the vision.

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

3 I ate no desirable food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, until the three full weeks were completed.

4 And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the great river, that is, the Hiddekel,

5 I lifted up my eyes and I looked, and there was a certain man, clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with the fine gold of Uphaz.

6 His body also was like beryl, His face like the appearance of lightning, His eyes like torches of fire, His arms and His feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of His words like the sound of a multitude.

7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; instead, a great dread fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.

8 Thus I was left alone and I saw this great vision; and no strength was left in me, but my color turned deathly pale; and I retained no strength.

9 Yet I heard the sound of His words; and when I heard the sound of His words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

10 And at that moment a hand touched me and sent me trembling on my knees and the palms of my hands.

11 And he said to me, Daniel, man of preciousness, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand in your place, for I have now been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

12 And he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand this matter and to afflict yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days; but now Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I remained there alone with the kings of Persia.

14 Thus I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, yet the vision pertains to something many days from now.

15 And when he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face to the ground and was dumb.

16 And at that moment one who resembled the sons of men touched my lips; and I opened my mouth and spoke, and I said to him who stood before me, Sir, because of the vision my anguish has turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.

17 For how can such a servant of my lord speak with such as my lord? For as for me, just now there is no strength in me, nor has there been breath left in me.

18 Then the one who was in appearance like a man touched me again and strengthened me;

19 And he said, Do not be afraid, man of preciousness. Peace to you. Be strong, yes, be strong. And when he spoke to me, I received strength and said, Speak, sir, for you have strengthened me.

20 Then he said, Do you know why I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia; so I go forth, and the prince of Javan is now about to come.

21 However I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who holds strongly with me against these ones except Michael your prince.

1 And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, stood up to support and strengthen him.

1 3J 1 The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truthfulness.

2 3J 2 Beloved, concerning all things I wish that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.

3 3J 3 For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers’ coming and testifying to your steadfastness in the truth, even as you walk in truth.

4 3J 4 I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5 3J 5 Beloved, you do faithfully in whatever you have wrought for the brothers, and this for strangers,

6 3J 6 Who testified to your love before the church; whom you will do well to send forward in a manner worthy of God;

7 3J 7 For on behalf of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles.

8 3J 8 We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth.

9 3J 9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us.

10 3J 10 For this reason, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, babbling against us with evil words; and not being satisfied with these, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbids and casts out of the church.

11 3J 11 Beloved, do not imitate the evil, but the good. He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen God.

12 3J 12 To Demetrius testimony has been borne by all and by the truth itself; and we also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.

13 3J 13 I had many things to write to you, but I do not want to write to you with ink and pen;

14 3J 14 But I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. Peace to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.