King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. The siege began in the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ¹ 

So all these Judeans returned to the land of Judah from the places where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Thus they harvested a large amount of wine and dates and figs. ¹ 

Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

When the king heard this, ¹  he was very upset and began thinking about ²  how he might rescue Daniel. Until late afternoon ³  he was struggling to find a way to rescue him.

A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence. Many thousands were ministering to him; Many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him. ¹  The court convened ²  and the books were opened.

I approached one of those standing nearby and asked him about the meaning ¹  of all this. So he spoke with me and revealed ²  to me the interpretation of the vision: ³ 

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ²  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

So I ¹  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ²  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ³  calling one “Pleasantness” ⁴  and the other “Binders,” ⁵  and I tended the flock.

At that time Jesus said, ¹  “I praise ²  you, Father, Lord ³  of heaven and earth, because ⁴  you have hidden these things from the wise ⁵  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

A ¹  Canaanite woman from that area came ²  and cried out, ³  “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!”

So ¹  Peter said ²  to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make ³  three shelters ⁴  – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Then ¹  Jesus entered the temple area ²  and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, ³  and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

Now after Jesus ¹  entered the temple courts, ²  the chief priests and elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority ³  are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from people?” ¹  They discussed this among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

They were all amazed so that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

Then ¹  he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So ²  they served the crowd.

So they brought the boy ¹  to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He ²  fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

But he denied it again. A short time later the bystanders again said to Peter, “You must be ¹  one of them, because you are also a Galilean.”

When ¹  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ²  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ³  has made known to us.”

He got into ¹  one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then ²  Jesus ³  sat down ⁴  and taught the crowds from the boat.