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Psalm 73

1  Truly, God is loving to Israel, ♦︎
   to those who are pure in heart.
2  Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone; ♦︎
   my steps had well-nigh slipped.
3  For I was envious of the proud; ♦︎
   I saw the wicked in such prosperity;
4  For they suffer no pains ♦︎
   and their bodies are sleek and sound;
5  They come to no misfortune like other folk; ♦︎
   nor are they plagued as others are;
6  Therefore pride is their necklace ♦︎
   and violence wraps them like a cloak.
7  Their iniquity comes from within; ♦︎
   the conceits of their hearts overflow.
8  They scoff, and speak only of evil; ♦︎
   they talk of oppression from on high.
9  They set their mouth against the heavens, ♦︎
   and their tongue ranges round the earth;
10  And so the people turn to them ♦︎
   and find in them no fault.
11  They say, ‘How should God know? ♦︎
   Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12  Behold, these are the wicked; ♦︎
   ever at ease, they increase their wealth.
13  Is it in vain that I cleansed my heart ♦︎
   and washed my hands in innocence?
14  All day long have I been stricken ♦︎
   and chastened every morning.
15  If I had said, ‘I will speak as they do,’ ♦︎
   I should have betrayed the generation of your children.
16  Then thought I to understand this, ♦︎
   but it was too hard for me,
17  Until I entered the sanctuary of God ♦︎
   and understood the end of the wicked:
18  How you set them in slippery places; ♦︎
   you cast them down to destruction.
19  How suddenly do they come to destruction, ♦︎
   perish and come to a fearful end!
20  As with a dream when one awakes, ♦︎
   so, Lord, when you arise you will despise their image.
21  When my heart became embittered ♦︎
   and I was pierced to the quick,
22  I was but foolish and ignorant; ♦︎
   I was like a brute beast in your presence.
23  Yet I am always with you; ♦︎
   you hold me by my right hand.
24  You will guide me with your counsel ♦︎
   and afterwards receive me with glory.
25  Whom have I in heaven but you? ♦︎
   And there is nothing upon earth that I desire
      in comparison with you.
26  Though my flesh and my heart fail me, ♦︎
   God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27  Truly, those who forsake you will perish; ♦︎
   you will put to silence the faithless who betray you.
28  But it is good for me to draw near to God; ♦︎
   in the Lord God have I made my refuge,
      that I may tell of all your works.

² Do not praise individuals for their good looks,
   or loathe anyone because of appearance alone.
³ The bee is small among flying creatures,
   but what it produces is the best of sweet things.
⁴ Do not boast about wearing fine clothes,
   and do not exalt yourself when you are honoured;
for the works of the Lord are wonderful,
   and his works are concealed from humankind.
⁵ Many kings have had to sit on the ground,
   but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.
⁶ Many rulers have been utterly disgraced,
   and the honoured have been handed over to others.

Deliberation and Caution

⁷ Do not find fault before you investigate;
   examine first, and then criticize.
⁸ Do not answer before you listen,
   and do not interrupt when another is speaking.
⁹ Do not argue about a matter that does not concern you,
   and do not sit with sinners when they judge a case.

¹⁰ My child, do not busy yourself with many matters;
   if you multiply activities, you will not be held blameless.
If you pursue, you will not overtake,
   and by fleeing you will not escape.
¹¹ There are those who work and struggle and hurry,
   but are so much the more in want.
¹² There are others who are slow and need help,
   who lack strength and abound in poverty;
but the eyes of the Lord look kindly upon them;
   he lifts them out of their lowly condition
¹³ and raises up their heads
   to the amazement of many.

¹⁴ Good things and bad, life and death,
   poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.^*
17 The Lord’s gift remains with the devout,
   and his favour brings lasting success.
¹⁸ One becomes rich through diligence and self-denial,
   and the reward allotted to him is this:
¹⁹ when he says, ‘I have found rest,
   and now I shall feast on my goods!’
he does not know how long it will be
   until he leaves them to others and dies.

²⁰ Stand by your agreement and attend to it,
   and grow old in your work.

Visions of the Four Beasts

7In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream:^{* 2}I,^* Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, ³and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. ⁴The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a human being; and a human mind was given to it. ⁵Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks^* in its mouth among its teeth and was told, ‘Arise, devour many bodies!’ ⁶After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads; and dominion was given to it. ⁷After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. ⁸I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it, three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly.

Judgement before the Ancient One

⁹ As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
   and an Ancient One^* took his throne;
his clothing was white as snow,
   and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
   and its wheels were burning fire.
¹⁰ A stream of fire issued
   and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousand served him,
   and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgement,
   and the books were opened.
¹¹I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. ¹²As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. ¹³As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being^*
   coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One^*
   and was presented before him.
¹⁴ To him was given dominion
   and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
   should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
   that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
   that shall never be destroyed.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four^* horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ ¹⁵So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. ¹⁶The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. ¹⁷And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the colour of fire and of sapphire^* and of sulphur; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulphur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they inflict harm.

20 The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.