Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses— is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock— not one!”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就说明指示你们吗？并且你们是我的见证！除我以外，岂有真神吗？诚然没有磐石，我不知道一个！”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就告诉并指示你们了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，岂有上帝呢？诚然没有磐石，就我所知，一个也没有！”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就告诉并指示你们了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，岂有神呢？诚然没有磐石，就我所知，一个也没有！”

不要恐惧，不要害怕，我不是早已告诉过你们吗？你们是我的证人。除我以外还有真神吗？没有，没有别的磐石，一个也没有。’”

你们不要惊惶，也不要惧怕。我不是老早就说了给你们听，告诉了你们吗？你们就是我的见证人。除我以外，还有真神吗？没有别的磐石；我一个也不知道。”

你们不要惧怕，也不要害怕！难道我从前不就告知了你们、向你们宣告了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，难道还有神吗？没有别的磐石！我知道没有！”

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就說明指示你們嗎？並且你們是我的見證！除我以外，豈有真神嗎？誠然沒有磐石，我不知道一個！

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就告訴並指示你們了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，豈有上帝呢？誠然沒有磐石，就我所知，一個也沒有！」

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就告訴並指示你們了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，豈有神呢？誠然沒有磐石，就我所知，一個也沒有！」

不要恐懼，不要害怕，我不是早已告訴過你們嗎？你們是我的證人。除我以外還有真神嗎？沒有，沒有別的磐石，一個也沒有。』」

你們不要驚惶，也不要懼怕。我不是老早就說了給你們聽，告訴了你們嗎？你們就是我的見證人。除我以外，還有真神嗎？沒有別的磐石；我一個也不知道。”

你們不要恐懼，不要懼怕我不是從上古就說給你聽，就告訴了你了麼？你們就是我的見證！我以外哪有真神呢？實在沒有磐石；我不知道有啊。』

你們不要懼怕，也不要害怕！難道我從前不就告知了你們、向你們宣告了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，難道還有神嗎？沒有別的磐石！我知道沒有！」

爾勿畏葸、勿驚惶、我豈非自古宣示爾乎、爾為我證、我外豈有上帝乎、無有磐石、我不知其他也、

爾毋畏葸、在昔我有預言、已告乎爾、爾可為證。我乃全能上帝、外此我弗知之矣。

爾勿畏懼、勿驚惶、我豈未自始已示爾告爾乎、爾曹可為我作證、在我之外豈有天主、我之外實無可賴之主、我不知有誰也、

Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Do not tremble with fear. Do not be afraid. Didn’t I announce everything that has happened? Didn’t I tell you about it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any other God but me? No! There is no other Rock. I do not know even one.”

Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.

Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.’ ”

Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’”

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared[ it]? ye[ are] even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea,[ there is] no God; I know not[ any].

Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock; I know of none.

Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”

“ But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.“ You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God— there never has been, and there never will be.

“ He showed you these things so you would know that the Lord is God and there is no other.

No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

“ So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other.

The Father and I are one.”

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?

For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?

Look now; I myself am he! There is no other god but me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!

This is what the Lord says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:“ I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.

That is why I told you what would happen; I told you beforehand what I was going to do. Then you could never say,‘ My idols did it. My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere— in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Then you will know that I am among my people Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. Never again will my people be disgraced.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed.

“ This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:“ The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord— to the Rock of Israel.

Then the Lord said to Abram,“ You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.( As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said,“ I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

“ Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the Lord your God.You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.“ If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.“ I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.“ I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!I will live among you, and I will not despise you.I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.“ However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands,I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you— wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them.I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!“ And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.“ If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.“ And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me,then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.“ If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.“ And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you.Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies’ lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.“ But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.“ But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God.For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.”These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the Lord gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.

But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize.

“ Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes.( The men alone numbered about 5,000.)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied,“ O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments.And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames.But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers,“ Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”“ Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did,” they replied.“ Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted.“ I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted:“ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire.Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!Then Nebuchadnezzar said,“ Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

“ If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:Your towns and your fields will be blessed.Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.“ The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!“ The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.“ If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do.Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.“ The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops.The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.“ But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:Your towns and your fields will be cursed.Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed.Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed.Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed.“ The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me.The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy.The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die.The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron.The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.“ The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.“ The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic.You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.“ You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit.Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you.You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them.A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment.You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you.The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.“ The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone!You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.“ You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops.You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines.You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens.You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity.Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.“ The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker.They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!“ If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed.These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever.If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received,you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.“ The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand,a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young.Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death.They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land— the walls you trusted to protect you— are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.“ The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children.He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring— the flesh of one of his own children— because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.The most tender and delicate woman among you— so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot— will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.“ If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God,then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick.He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief.The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed.Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.“ Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone!There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair.Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive.In the morning you will say,‘ If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say,‘ If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you.Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”

He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.“ See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated. Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing.You will look in vain for those who tried to conquer you. Those who attack you will come to nothing.For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you,‘ Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.’

But his father refused.“ I know, my son; I know,” he replied.“ Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”

The king said to Daniel,“ Truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret.”

At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said,“ I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions— to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you.

“ Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings— just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

You will be driven from human society, and you will live in the fields with the wild animals. You will eat grass like a cow, and you will be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way, until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord.

Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.

I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me,so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

“ In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the Lord your God and will arouse his anger.“ Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed.For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone— gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.“ In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.

“ I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said.“ Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation.

Then Jacob called together all his sons and said,“ Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.“ Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.“ Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power.But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.“ Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.May I never join in their meetings; may I never be a party to their plans. For in their anger they murdered men, and they crippled oxen just for sport.A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel. I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel.“ Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you.Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness— who dares to rouse him?The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.He ties his foal to a grapevine, the colt of his donkey to a choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.“ Zebulun will settle by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships; his borders will extend to Sidon.“ Issachar is a sturdy donkey, resting between two saddlepacks.When he sees how good the countryside is and how pleasant the land, he will bend his shoulder to the load and submit himself to hard labor.“ Dan will govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.Dan will be a snake beside the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse’s hooves so its rider is thrown off.I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!“ Gad will be attacked by marauding bands, but he will attack them when they retreat.“ Asher will dine on rich foods and produce food fit for kings.“ Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.“ Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring— one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.Archers attacked him savagely; they shot at him and harassed him.But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the heights of the eternal hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers.“ Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening.”These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.

This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us.

Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”

For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone— gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!So God has sent this hand to write this message.“ This is the message that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.This is what these words mean: Mene means‘ numbered’— God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.Tekel means‘ weighed’— you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.Parsin means‘ divided’— your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.

My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”

for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it:‘ To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.“ He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man made temples,and human hands can’t serve his needs— for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.“ His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him— though he is not far from any one of us.For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said,‘ We are his offspring.’And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.“ God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king,“ Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.”

The Lord who made you and helps you says: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, O dear Israel, my chosen one.

You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked,for the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.

“ So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” says the Lord.“ For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them.For I am with you and will save you,” says the Lord.“ I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.”