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Against Loose Talk

⁴ One who trusts others too quickly has a shallow mind,
   and one who sins does wrong to himself.
⁵ One who rejoices in wickedness^* will be condemned,^*
6   but one who hates gossip has less evil.
⁷ Never repeat a conversation,
   and you will lose nothing at all.
⁸ With friend or foe do not report it,
   and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it;
⁹ for someone may have heard you and watched you,
   and in time will hate you.
¹⁰ Have you heard something? Let it die with you.
   Be brave, it will not make you burst!
¹¹ Having heard something, the fool suffers birth-pangs
   like a woman in labour with a child.
¹² Like an arrow stuck in a person’s thigh,
   so is gossip inside a fool.

¹³ Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;
   or if he did, so that he may not do it again.
¹⁴ Question a neighbour; perhaps he did not say it;
   or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it.
¹⁵ Question a friend, for often it is slander;
   so do not believe everything you hear.
¹⁶ A person may make a slip without intending it.
   Who has not sinned with his tongue?
¹⁷ Question your neighbour before you threaten him;
   and let the law of the Most High take its course.^*

Vision of a Ram and a Goat

8In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me at first. ²In the vision I was looking and saw myself in Susa the capital, in the province of Elam,^* and I was by the river Ulai.^{* 3}I looked up and saw a ram standing beside the river.^* It had two horns. Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second. ⁴I saw the ram charging westwards and northwards and southwards. All beasts were powerless to withstand it, and no one could rescue from its power; it did as it pleased and became strong.

5 As I was watching, a male goat appeared from the west, coming across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a horn^* between its eyes. ⁶It came towards the ram with the two horns that I had seen standing beside the river,^* and it ran at it with savage force. ⁷I saw it approaching the ram. It was enraged against it and struck the ram, breaking its two horns. The ram did not have power to withstand it; it threw the ram down to the ground and trampled upon it, and there was no one who could rescue the ram from its power. ⁸Then the male goat grew exceedingly great; but at the height of its power, the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four prominent horns towards the four winds of heaven.

9 Out of one of them came another^* horn, a little one, which grew exceedingly great towards the south, towards the east, and towards the beautiful land. ¹⁰It grew as high as the host of heaven. It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars, and trampled on them. ¹¹Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt-offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary. ¹²Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt-offering;^* it cast truth to the ground, and kept prospering in what it did. ¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, ‘For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt-offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled?’^{* 14}And he answered him,^* ‘For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.’