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Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia.
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In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the LORD had told the prophet Jeremiah.
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And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.
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I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed the sins of my people. I said, "Lord God, you are great, and we honor you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command.
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"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.
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We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers, our ancestors, and our whole nation.
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You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.
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Our kings, our rulers, and our ancestors have acted shamefully and sinned against you, Lord.
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You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.
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We did not listen to you, O LORD our God, when you told us to live according to the laws which you gave us through your servants the prophets.
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All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant.
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You did what you said you would do to us and our rulers. You punished Jerusalem more severely than any other city on earth,
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giving us all the punishment described in the Law of Moses. But even now, O LORD our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth.
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You, O LORD our God, were prepared to punish us, and you did, because you always do what is right, and we did not listen to you.
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"O Lord our God, you showed your power by bringing your people out of Egypt, and your power is still remembered. We have sinned; we have done wrong.
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You have defended us in the past, so do not be angry with Jerusalem any longer. It is your city, your sacred hill. All the people in the neighboring countries look down on Jerusalem and on your people because of our sins and the evil our ancestors did.
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O God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God.
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Listen to us, O God; look at us and see the trouble we are in and the suffering of the city that bears your name. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right.
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Lord, hear us. Lord, forgive us. Lord, listen to us, and act! In order that everyone will know that you are God, do not delay! This city and these people are yours."
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I went on praying, confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel and pleading with the LORD my God to restore his holy Temple.
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While I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came flying down to where I was. It was the time for the evening sacrifice to be offered.
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He explained, "Daniel, I have come here to help you understand the prophecy.
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When you began to plead with God, he answered you. He loves you, and so I have come to tell you the answer. Now pay attention while I explain the vision.
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"Seven times seventy years is the length of time God has set for freeing your people and your holy city from sin and evil. Sin will be forgiven and eternal justice established, so that the vision and the prophecy will come true, and the holy Temple will be rededicated.
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Note this and understand it: From the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until God's chosen leader comes, seven times seven years will pass. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, and will stand for seven times sixty-two years, but this will be a time of troubles.
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And at the end of that time God's chosen leader will be killed unjustly. The city and the Temple will be destroyed by the invading army of a powerful ruler. The end will come like a flood, bringing the war and destruction which God has prepared.
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That ruler will have a firm agreement with many people for seven years, and when half this time is past, he will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The Awful Horror will be placed on the highest point of the Temple and will remain there until the one who put it there meets the end which God has prepared for him."
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In the third year that Cyrus was emperor of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar. The message was true but extremely hard to understand. It was explained to him in a vision.
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At that time I was mourning for three weeks.
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I did not eat any rich food or any meat, drink any wine, or comb my hair until the three weeks were past.
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On the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the year I was standing on the bank of the mighty Tigris River.
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I looked up and saw someone who was wearing linen clothes and a belt of fine gold.
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His body shone like a jewel. His face was as bright as a flash of lightning, and his eyes blazed like fire. His arms and legs shone like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a great crowd.
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I was the only one who saw the vision. Those who were with me did not see anything, but they were terrified and ran and hid.
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I was left there alone, watching this amazing vision. I had no strength left, and my face was so changed that no one could have recognized me.
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When I heard his voice, I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downward.
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Then a hand took hold of me and raised me to my hands and knees; I was still trembling.
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The angel said to me, "Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you." When he had said this, I stood up, still trembling.
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Then he said, "Daniel, don't be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer.
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The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia.
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I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future. This is a vision about the future."
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When he said this, I stared at the ground, speechless.
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Then the angel, who looked like a human being, reached out and touched my lips. I said to him, "Sir, this vision makes me so weak that I can't stop trembling.
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I am like a slave standing before his master. How can I talk to you? I have no strength or breath left in me."
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Once more he took hold of me, and I felt stronger.
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He said, "God loves you, so don't let anything worry you or frighten you." When he had said this, I felt even stronger and said, "Sir, tell me what you have to say. You have made me feel better."
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He said, "Do you know why I came to you? It is to reveal to you what is written in the Book of Truth. Now I have to go back and fight the guardian angel of Persia. After that the guardian angel of Greece will appear. There is no one to help me except Michael, Israel's guardian angel.
1
One day Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret while the people pushed their way up to him to listen to the word of God.
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He saw two boats pulled up on the beach; the fishermen had left them and were washing the nets.
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Jesus got into one of the boats---it belonged to Simon---and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and taught the crowd.
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When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch."
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"Master," Simon answered, "we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets."
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They let them down and caught such a large number of fish that the nets were about to break.
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So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full of fish that the boats were about to sink.
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When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, "Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!"
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He and the others with him were all amazed at the large number of fish they had caught.
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The same was true of Simon's partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."
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They pulled the boats up on the beach, left everything, and followed Jesus.
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Once Jesus was in a town where there was a man who was suffering from a dreaded skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he threw himself down and begged him, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean!"
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Jesus reached out and touched him. "I do want to," he answered. "Be clean!" At once the disease left the man.
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Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go straight to the priest and let him examine you; then to prove to everyone that you are cured, offer the sacrifice as Moses ordered."
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But the news about Jesus spread all the more widely, and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from their diseases.
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But he would go away to lonely places, where he prayed.
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One day when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of the Law were sitting there who had come from every town in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was present for Jesus to heal the sick.
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Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a bed, and they tried to carry him into the house and put him in front of Jesus.
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Because of the crowd, however, they could find no way to take him in. So they carried him up on the roof, made an opening in the tiles, and let him down on his bed into the middle of the group in front of Jesus.
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When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the man, "Your sins are forgiven, my friend."
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The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who speaks such blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!"
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Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Why do you think such things?
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Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?
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I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, pick up your bed, and go home!"
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At once the man got up in front of them all, took the bed he had been lying on, and went home, praising God.
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They were all completely amazed! Full of fear, they praised God, saying, "What marvelous things we have seen today!"
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After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
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Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.
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Then Levi had a big feast in his house for Jesus, and among the guests was a large number of tax collectors and other people.
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Some Pharisees and some teachers of the Law who belonged to their group complained to Jesus' disciples. "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and other outcasts?" they asked.
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Jesus answered them, "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick.
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I have not come to call respectable people to repent, but outcasts."
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Some people said to Jesus, "The disciples of John fast frequently and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but your disciples eat and drink."
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Jesus answered, "Do you think you can make the guests at a wedding party go without food as long as the bridegroom is with them? Of course not!
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But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."
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Jesus also told them this parable: "You don't tear a piece off a new coat to patch up an old coat. If you do, you will have torn the new coat, and the piece of new cloth will not match the old.
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Nor do you pour new wine into used wineskins, because the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will pour out, and the skins will be ruined.
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Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins!
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And you don't want new wine after drinking old wine. 'The old is better,' you say."
