¹Now Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his forces together; thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it. ²Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: ³‘Your silver and your gold are mine; your loveliest wives and children are mine.’ ” ⁴And the king of Israel answered and said, “My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.” ⁵Then the messengers came back and said, “Thus speaks Ben-Hadad, saying, ‘Indeed I have sent to you, saying, “You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children”; ⁶but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hands and take it.’ ” ⁷So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, “Notice, please, and see how this man seeks trouble, for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold; and I did not deny him.” ⁸And all the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen or consent.” ⁹Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’ ” And the messengers departed and brought back word to him. ¹⁰Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me.” ¹¹So the king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’ ” ¹²And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the command post, that he said to his servants, “Get ready.” And they got ready to attack the city. ¹³Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ.’ ” ¹⁴So Ahab said, “By whom?” And he said, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘By the young leaders of the provinces.’ ” Then he said, “Who will set the battle in order?” And he answered, “You.” ¹⁵Then he mustered the young leaders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he mustered all the people, all the children of Israel—seven thousand. ¹⁶So they went out at noon. Meanwhile Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post. ¹⁷The young leaders of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out a patrol, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out of Samaria!” ¹⁸So he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive.” ¹⁹Then these young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. ²⁰And each one killed his man; so the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them; and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. ²²And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.” ²³Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. ²⁴So do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places; ²⁵and you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so. ²⁶So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. ²⁸Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lᴏʀᴅ is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ.’ ” ²⁹And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. ³⁰But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber. ³¹Then his servants said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” ³²So they wore sackcloth around their waists and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ³³Now the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him; and they quickly grasped at this word and said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad.” So he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben-Hadad came out to him; and he had him come up into the chariot. ³⁴So Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Then Ahab said, “I will send you away with this treaty.” So he made a treaty with him and sent him away. ³⁵Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ, “Strike me, please.” And the man refused to strike him. ³⁶Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lᴏʀᴅ, surely, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.” And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. ³⁷And he found another man, and said, “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. ³⁸Then the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹Now as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ ⁴⁰While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” Then the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” ⁴¹And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. ⁴²Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’ ” ⁴³So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria.

¹Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, ²and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, ³that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. ⁴For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. ⁵For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain. ⁶But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— ⁷therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. ⁸For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. ⁹For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, ¹⁰night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith? ¹¹Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, ¹³so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

¹Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. ²Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. ³And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.” ⁴Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” ⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. ⁶However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” ⁸The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: ⁹if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.” ¹⁰The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. ¹¹It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” ¹²For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. ¹⁴Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; ¹⁵he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel. ¹⁶So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. ¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. ²¹And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. ²²He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. ²³“I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.” ²⁴Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.” ²⁵Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” ²⁷Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. ²⁸But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: ²⁹As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. ³⁰But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. ³¹“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. ³²This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ³⁶“This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. ³⁷You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; ³⁸and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. ³⁹But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. ⁴¹Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. ⁴²And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. ⁴³As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ⁴⁵Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” ⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. ⁴⁷The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lᴏʀᴅ of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” ⁴⁸Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

¹Praise the Lᴏʀᴅ! Oh, give thanks to the Lᴏʀᴅ, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. ²Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lᴏʀᴅ? Who can declare all His praise? ³Blessed are those who keep justice, And he who does righteousness at all times! ⁴Remember me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, with the favor You have toward Your people; Oh, visit me with Your salvation, ⁵That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance. ⁶We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, We have done wickedly. ⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. ⁸Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known. ⁹He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; So He led them through the depths, As through the wilderness. ¹⁰He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹The waters covered their enemies; There was not one of them left. ¹²Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. ¹³They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, ¹⁴But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. ¹⁵And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul. ¹⁶When they envied Moses in the camp, And Aaron the saint of the Lᴏʀᴅ, ¹⁷The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, And covered the faction of Abiram. ¹⁸A fire was kindled in their company; The flame burned up the wicked. ¹⁹They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molded image. ²⁰Thus they changed their glory Into the image of an ox that eats grass. ²¹They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, ²²Wondrous works in the land of Ham, Awesome things by the Red Sea. ²³Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them. ²⁴Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe His word, ²⁵But complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²⁶Therefore He raised up His hand in an oath against them, To overthrow them in the wilderness, ²⁷To overthrow their descendants among the nations, And to scatter them in the lands. ²⁸They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, And ate sacrifices made to the dead. ²⁹Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them. ³⁰Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, And the plague was stopped. ³¹And that was accounted to him for righteousness To all generations forevermore. ³²They angered Him also at the waters of strife, So that it went ill with Moses on account of them; ³³Because they rebelled against His Spirit, So that he spoke rashly with his lips. ³⁴They did not destroy the peoples, Concerning whom the Lᴏʀᴅ had commanded them, ³⁵But they mingled with the Gentiles And learned their works; ³⁶They served their idols, Which became a snare to them. ³⁷They even sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons, ³⁸And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹Thus they were defiled by their own works, And played the harlot by their own deeds. ⁴⁰Therefore the wrath of the Lᴏʀᴅ was kindled against His people, So that He abhorred His own inheritance. ⁴¹And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, And those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were brought into subjection under their hand. ⁴³Many times He delivered them; But they rebelled in their counsel, And were brought low for their iniquity. ⁴⁴Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, When He heard their cry; ⁴⁵And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies. ⁴⁶He also made them to be pitied By all those who carried them away captive. ⁴⁷Save us, O Lᴏʀᴅ our God, And gather us from among the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise. ⁴⁸Blessed be the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lᴏʀᴅ!