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Psalm 82

A Plea for Justice

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ God has taken his place in the divine council;
   in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
² ‘How long will you judge unjustly
   and show partiality to the wicked?
          Selah
³ Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
   maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’

⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
   they walk around in darkness;
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ I say, ‘You are gods,
   children of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
   and fall like any prince.’^*

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
   for all the nations belong to you!

BEL AND THE DRAGON

(Chapter 14 of the Greek version of Daniel)

Daniel and the Priests of Bel

1 When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom. ²Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honoured of all his friends.

3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they provided for it twelve bushels of choice flour and forty sheep and six measures^* of wine. ⁴The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshipped his own God.

So the king said to him, ‘Why do you not worship Bel?’ ⁵He answered, ‘Because I do not revere idols made with hands, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all living creatures.’

6 The king said to him, ‘Do you not think that Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?’ ⁷And Daniel laughed, and said, ‘Do not be deceived, O king, for this thing is only clay inside and bronze outside, and it never ate or drank anything.’

8 Then the king was angry and called the priests of Bel^* and said to them, ‘If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die. ⁹But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he has spoken blasphemy against Bel.’ Daniel said to the king, ‘Let it be done as you have said.’

10 Now there were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. So the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. ¹¹The priests of Bel said, ‘See, we are now going outside; you yourself, O king, set out the food and prepare the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet. ¹²When you return in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten it all, we will die; otherwise Daniel will, who is telling lies about us.’ ¹³They were unconcerned, for beneath the table they had made a hidden entrance, through which they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions. ¹⁴After they had gone out, the king set out the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes, and they scattered them throughout the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then they went out, shut the door and sealed it with the king’s signet, and departed. ¹⁵During the night the priests came as usual, with their wives and children, and they ate and drank everything.

16 Early in the morning the king rose and came, and Daniel with him. ¹⁷The king said, ‘Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?’ He answered, ‘They are unbroken, O king.’ ¹⁸As soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table, and shouted in a loud voice, ‘You are great, O Bel, and in you there is no deceit at all!’

19 But Daniel laughed and restrained the king from going in. ‘Look at the floor’, he said, ‘and notice whose footprints these are.’ ²⁰The king said, ‘I see the footprints of men and women and children.’

21 Then the king was enraged, and he arrested the priests and their wives and children. They showed him the secret doors through which they used to enter to consume what was on the table. ²²Therefore the king put them to death, and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.

Daniel Kills the Dragon

23 Now in that place^* there was a great dragon, which the Babylonians revered. ²⁴The king said to Daniel, ‘You cannot deny that this is a living god; so worship him.’ ²⁵Daniel said, ‘I worship the Lord my God, for he is the living God. ²⁶But give me permission, O king, and I will kill the dragon without sword or club.’ The king said, ‘I give you permission.’

27 Then Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon ate them, and burst open. Then Daniel said, ‘See what you have been worshipping!’

28 When the Babylonians heard about it, they were very indignant and conspired against the king, saying, ‘The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests.’ ²⁹Going to the king, they said, ‘Hand Daniel over to us, or else we will kill you and your household.’ ³⁰The king saw that they were pressing him hard, and under compulsion he handed Daniel over to them.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

31 They threw Daniel into the lions’ den, and he was there for six days. ³²There were seven lions in the den, and every day they had been given two human bodies and two sheep; but now they were given nothing, so that they would devour Daniel.

33 Now the prophet Habakkuk was in Judea; he had made a stew and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. ³⁴But the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, ‘Take the food that you have to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions’ den.’ ³⁵Habakkuk said, ‘Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den.’ ³⁶Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head and carried him by his hair; with the speed of the wind^* he set him down in Babylon, right over the den.

37 Then Habakkuk shouted, ‘Daniel, Daniel! Take the food that God has sent you.’ ³⁸Daniel said, ‘You have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you.’ ³⁹So Daniel got up and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Habakkuk to his own place.

40 On the seventh day the king came to mourn for Daniel. When he came to the den he looked in, and there sat Daniel!

The Thousand Years

20Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. ²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus^* and for the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Satan’s Doom

7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands of the sea. ⁹They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven^* and consumed them. ¹⁰And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The Dead Are Judged

11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; ¹⁵and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.