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Psalm 62

1  On God alone my soul in stillness waits; ♦︎
   from him comes my salvation.
2  He alone is my rock and my salvation, ♦︎
   my stronghold, so that I shall never be shaken.
3  How long will all of you assail me to destroy me, ♦︎
   as you would a tottering wall or a leaning fence?
4  They plot only to thrust me down from my place of honour;
      lies are their chief delight; ♦︎
   they bless with their mouth, but in their heart they curse.
5  Wait on God alone in stillness, O my soul; ♦︎
   for in him is my hope.
6  He alone is my rock and my salvation, ♦︎
   my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.
7  In God is my strength and my glory; ♦︎
   God is my strong rock; in him is my refuge.
8  Put your trust in him always, my people; ♦︎
   pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.
9  The peoples are but a breath,
      the whole human race a deceit; ♦︎
   on the scales they are altogether lighter than air.
10  Put no trust in oppression; in robbery take no empty pride; ♦︎
   though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it.
11  God spoke once, and twice have I heard the same, ♦︎
   that power belongs to God.
12  Steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord, ♦︎
   for you repay everyone according to their deeds.

The Seventy Weeks

20 While I was speaking, and was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God— ²¹while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²²He came^* and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. ²³At the beginning of your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved. So consider the word and understand the vision:

24 ‘Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.^{* 25}Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. ²⁶After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its^* end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. ²⁷He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place^* shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.’

The Woman and the Dragon

12A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. ³Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. ⁵And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule^* all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; ⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Michael Defeats the Dragon

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
‘Now have come the salvation and the power
   and the kingdom of our God
   and the authority of his Messiah,^*
for the accuser of our comrades^* has been thrown down,
   who accuses them day and night before our God.
¹¹ But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
   and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
¹² Rejoice then, you heavens
   and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
   for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
   because he knows that his time is short!’

The Dragon Fights Again on Earth

13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued^* the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. ¹⁶But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.

The First Beast

18 Then the dragon^* took his stand on the sand of the seashore.