which altereth not.' Then answered they and said before the king: "That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the interdict that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.' Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to rescue him. 16Then these men came tumultuously unto the king, and said unto the king: 'Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no interdict nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.' 17Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spoke and said unto Daniel: "Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.' 18And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were diversions brought before him; and his sleep fled from him. 20Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried with a pained voice; the king spoke and said to Daniel: 'O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?' Then said Daniel unto the king: 'O king, live for ever! 23My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.' 24Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he had trusted in his God. 25 And the king commanded, and they brought those men that had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and they had not come to the bottom of the den, when the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces. 26 Then king Darius wrote unto all the peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: 'Peace be multiplied unto you. 27I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God, And His kingdom that which shall And His dominion shall be even unto the end; 28He delivereth and rescueth, And He worketh signs and wonders Who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.' 29So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. 7 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed; then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. 'Daniel spoke and said: I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven broke forth upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings; I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was said thus unto it: 'Arise, devour much flesh.' "After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the sides of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. 'I beheld Till thrones were placed, And the books were opened. "I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. 12And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13I saw in the night visions, And, behold, there came with the One like unto a son of man, And he was brought near before Him. Should serve him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, And his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 15As for me Daniel, my spirit was pained in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head affrighted me. 16I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation And one that was ancient of days of the things: 17'These great beasts, did sit: His raiment was as white snow, His throne was fiery flames, And came forth from before him; And ten thousand times ten thou- which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth. 18But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.' 19Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; 20and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which first. And I saw in the vision; now came up, and before which three fell; it was so, that when I saw, I was in even that horn that had eyes, and a Shushan the castle, which is in the mouth that spoke great things, whose province of Elam; and I saw in the appearance was greater than that of vision, and I was by the stream Ulai. its fellows. 211 beheld, and the same And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, horn made war with the saints, and and, behold, there stood before the prevailed against them; 22until the stream a ram which had two horns; Ancient of days came, and judgment and the two horns were high, but was given for the saints of the Most one was higher than the other, and the High; and the time came, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram saints possessed the kingdom. 23Thus pushing westward, and northward, he said: "The fourth beast shall be a and southward; and no beasts could fourth kingdom upon earth, which stand before hím, neither was there shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, any that could deliver out of his hand; and shall devour the whole earth, and but he did according to his will, and shall tread it down, and break it in magnified himself. pieces. And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings. 25And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the seasons and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. 26But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. 27And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.' 28Here is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my thoughts much affrighted me, and my countenance was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart. 8 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the stream, and ran at him in the fury of his power. 'And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up the appearance of four horns toward the four winds of heaven. 'And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauteous land. 10And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to 23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have completed their transgression, there shall stand up a king of fierce countenance, and understanding stratagems. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do; and he shall destroy them that are mighty and the people of the saints. 25And through his cunning he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in time of security shall he destroy many; he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 26And the vision of the evenings and mornings which hath been told is true; but thou, shut thou up the vision; for it belongeth to many days to come.' 27 And Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was appalled at the vision, but understood it not. the ground, and trampled upon them. Greece; and the great horn that is "Yea, it magnified itself, even to the between his eyes is the first king. prince of the host; and from him 22And as for that which was broken, the continual burnt-offering was in the place whereof four stood up, taken away, and the place of his four kingdoms shall stand up out of sanctuary was cast down. 12And the nation, but not with his power. the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt-offering through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it wrought, and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that certain one who spoke: 'How long shall be the vision concerning the continual burnt-offering, and the transgression that causeth appalment, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?" "And he said unto me: 'Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be victorious.' 15And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. 16And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, who called, and said: 'Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.' So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was terrified, and fell upon my face; but he said unto me: Understand, 9 In the first year of Darius the son O son of man; for the vision belongeth to the time of the end.' 18Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright. 19And he said: 'Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongeth to the appointed time of the end. 20The ram which thou sawest having the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough he-goat is the king of and ashes. I of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel meditated in the books, over the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish for the desolations of Jerusalem seventy years. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made confession, and said: 'O Lord, the great and awful God, who keepest covenant and mercy with them that love Thee and keep Thy commandments, "we have sinned, and have dealt iniquitously, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Thy commandments and from Thine ordinances; neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, that spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. "Unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because they dealt treacherously with Thee. O LORD, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee. "To the Lord our God belong compassions and forgivenesses; for we have rebelled against Him; 10neither have we hearkened to the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. "Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law, and have turned aside, so as not to hearken to Thy voice; and so there hath been poured out upon us the curse and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against Him. 12And He hath confirmed His word, which He spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the 13 Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet have we not entreated the favour of the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in Thy truth. 14And so the LORD hath watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works which He hath done, and we have not hearkened to His voice. 15And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten Thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 160 Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, let Thine anger and Thy fury, I pray Thee, be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us. 17Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 180 my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city upon which Thy name is called; for we do not present our supplications before Thee because of our righteousness, but because of Thy great compassions. 190 Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, attend and do, defer not; for Thine own sake, O my God, because Thy name is called upon Thy city and Thy people.' 20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, |