Daniel 8; Daniel 9; Daniel 10; 3 John 1

Daniel 8

1 In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning,

2 Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of Ulai.

3 And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and growing up. Afterward

4 I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him, nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will, and became great.

5 And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6 And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his strength.

7 And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8 And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven.

9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength.

10 And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them.

11 And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary.

12 And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper.

13 And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another I know not to whom, that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot?

14 And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed.

15 And it came to pass when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and sought the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man.

16 And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

17 And he came, and stood near where I stood: and when he was come, I fell on my face, trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled.

18 And when he spoke to me, I fell flat on the ground: and he touched me, and set me upright.

19 And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end.

20 The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians.

21 And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn that was between his eyes, the same is the first king.

22 But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it, four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength.

23 And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences.

24 And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints,

25 According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand.

26 And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou, therefore, seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days.

27 And I, Daniel, languished, and was sick for some days: and when I was risen up, I did the king’s business, and I was astonished at the vision, and there was none that could interpret it.

Daniel 9

1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Assuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:

2 The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.

3 And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

4 And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

5 We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments.

6 We have not hearkened to thy servants, the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities, by which they have sinned against thee.

8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers, that have sinned.

9 But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:

10 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

11 And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him.

12 And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth.

14 And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord, our God, is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice.

15 And now, O Lord, our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity,

16 O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to all that are round about us.

17 Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake.

18 Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies.

19 O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.

20 Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:

21 As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice.

22 And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.

23 From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore, do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be anointed.

25 Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times.

26 And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation.

27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.

Daniel 10

1 In the third year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel, surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of understanding in a vision.

2 In those days I, Daniel, mourned the days of three weeks.

3 I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine, entered into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of three weeks were accomplished.

4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, I was by the great river, which is the Tigris.

5 And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold:

6 And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude.

7 And I, Daniel alone, saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they fled away, and hid themselves.

8 And I, being left alone, saw this great vision: and there remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength.

9 And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard I lay in a consternation upon my face, and my face was close to the ground.

10 And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands.

11 And he said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, understand the words that I speak to thee, and stand upright: for I am sent now to thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling.

12 And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words.

13 But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians.

14 But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days.

15 And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my countenance to the ground, and held my peace.

16 And behold as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my lips: then I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to him that stood before me: O my lord, at the sight of thee my joints are loosed, and no strength hath remained in me.

17 And how can the servant of my lord speak with my lord? for no strength remaineth in me; moreover, my breath is stopped.

18 Therefore, he that looked like a man, touched me again, and strengthened me.

19 And he said: Fear not, O man of desires, peace be to thee: take courage, and be strong. And when he spoke to me, I grew strong, and I said: Speak, O my lord, for thou hast strengthened me.

20 And he said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee? And now I will return, to fight against the prince of the Persians. When I went forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming.

21 But I will tell thee what is set down in the scripture of truth: and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince.

3 John 1

1 The Ancient, to the dearly beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Dearly beloved, concerning all things I make it my prayer that thou mayest proceed prosperously and fare well, as thy soul doth prosperously.

3 I was exceedingly glad when the brethren came and gave testimony to the truth in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

4 I have no greater grace than this, to hear that my children walk in truth.

5 Dearly beloved, thou dost faithfully whatever thou dost for the brethren: and that for strangers,

6 Who have given testimony to thy charity in the sight of the church. Whom thou shalt do well to bring forward on their way in a manner worthy of God:

7 Because, for his name they went out, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

8 We therefore ought to receive such: that we may be fellow helpers of the truth.

9 I had written perhaps to the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, doth not receive us.

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11 Dearly beloved, follow not that which is evil: but that which is good. He that doth good is of God: he that doth evil hath not seen God.

12 To Demetrius, testimony is given by all, and by the truth itself: yea and we also give testimony. And thou knowest that our testimony is true.

13 I had many things to write unto thee: but I would not by ink and pen write to thee.

14 But I hope speedily to see thee: and we will speak mouth to mouth. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name.