Then Daniel (whose name is also Belteshazzar) was upset for a brief time; ¹  his thoughts were alarming him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream and its interpretation alarm you.” But Belteshazzar replied, “Sir, ²  if only the dream were for your enemies and its interpretation applied to your adversaries!

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ¹  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ²  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.”

When Herod ¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

You people ¹  are from ²  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ³  He ⁴  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ⁵  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ⁶  he speaks according to his own nature, ⁷  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁸ 

Then Festus ¹  said, “King Agrippa, ²  and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace ³  petitioned ⁴  me both in Jerusalem ⁵  and here, ⁶  shouting loudly ⁷  that he ought not to live any longer.

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹  He is our father ²  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ³  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁴ 

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf ¹  before God.

I went there ¹  because of ²  a revelation and presented ³  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ⁴  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ⁵  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ⁶  – in vain.

keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹ 

I have written to you, children, that ¹  you have known the Father. ²  I have written to you, fathers, that ³  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁴  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss ¹  and then go to destruction. The ²  inhabitants of the earth – all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world – will be astounded when they see that ³  the beast was, and is not, but is to come.

Men were assigned to take the prisoners and find clothes among the plunder for those who were naked. ¹  So they clothed them, supplied them with sandals, gave them food and drink, and provided them with oil to rub on their skin. ²  They put the ones who couldn’t walk on donkeys. ³  They brought them back to their brothers at Jericho, ⁴  the city of the date palm trees, and then returned to Samaria.

“So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ¹  – do not regard as inconsequential ²  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!