Dec 11th

O Yahweh, to us belongs open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;

nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His laws which He put before us through His slaves the prophets.

Indeed all Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

Thus He has established His words which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by turning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth.

Therefore Yahweh has watched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

“So now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.

O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.

So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

O my God, incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion.

O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

and while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, touched me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

Then he made me understand and spoke with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

At the beginning of your supplications the word was issued, so I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so understand the message and gain understanding in what has appeared.

“Seventy weeks have been determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.

So you are to know and have insight that from the going out of a word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be restored and rebuilt, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.

And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offering cease; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the word was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the word and had an understanding of what had appeared.

In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.

I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were fulfilled.

And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris,

I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose loins were girded with a belt of pure fine gold of Uphaz.

His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision that appeared, but the men who were with me did not see the vision that appeared; nevertheless, a great terror fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.

So I alone remained and saw this great vision that appeared; yet no might remained in me, for my outward splendor turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no might.

But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Then behold, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees.

And he said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to speak to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you gave your heart to understand this and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing against me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. Now I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”

Now when he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.

And behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, as a result of the vision that appeared, pains have come upon me, and I have retained no might.

Now how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, right now no might stands within me, nor does any breath remain within me.”

Then this one with the appearance of a man touched me again and strengthened me.

And he said, “O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; gather strength and be strong!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

Then he said, “Do you know why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Now there is no one who exerts strength with me against these forces except Michael your prince.

“Now I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to strengthen and to be a fortress for him.

So now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to stand in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the kingdom of Greece.

And a mighty king will stand, and he will dominate with great domination and do as he pleases.

But as soon as he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his own descendants, nor according to his domination with which he dominated, for his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others besides them.

“Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will grow strong over him and obtain dominion; indeed, his domain will be a great dominion.

And after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out an equitable arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he continue to stand with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who fathered her as well as he who strengthened her in those times.

But one of the descendants of her line will stand in his place, and he will come against their military force and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display strength.

And also their gods with their metal images and their desirable vessels of silver and gold he will bring into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will stand back from attacking the king of the North for some years.

Then the latter will enter the kingdom of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

“And his sons will wage war. So they will gather a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.

And the king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will cause a great multitude to stand, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former.

Then the multitude will be carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail.

And the king of the North will again cause a much greater multitude than the former to stand, and at the end of the times of those years, he will keep on coming with a great military force and much equipment.

“Now in those times many will stand against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to cause the vision to stand, but they will fall down.

Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the might of the South will not stand, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand.

But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand in opposition to him; he will also stand for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.

And he will set his face to come with the authority of his whole kingdom, bringing with him an equitable proposal which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to destroy it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.

Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a ruler will make his reproach against him cease; moreover, he will repay him for his reproach.

So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the One who gives new birth loves also the one who has been born of Him.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the overcoming that has overcome the world—our faith.

Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.

For there are three that bear witness:

the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness about His Son.

The one who believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has borne witness about His Son.

And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have that life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.

All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, guard yourselves from idols.