1 Now when David was living in his house, he said to the prophet Nathan: “Behold, I live in a house of cedar. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under tent skins.”
2 And Nathan said to David: “Do all that is in your heart. For God is with you.”
3 And yet, that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4 Go, and speak to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build a house for me as a dwelling place.
5 For I have not stayed in a house from the time when I led out Israel, even to this day. Instead, I have been continually changing places, in a tabernacle and tent,
6 dwelling with all of Israel. When did I ever speak to any one at all, among the judges of Israel whom I placed in charge so that they might pasture my people, saying: ‘Why have you not built a house of cedar for me?’
7 And so, now you shall say this to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you when you were following the flock in the pastures, so that you would be the leader of my people Israel.
8 And I have been with you wherever you have gone. And I have slain all your enemies before you, and I have made a name for you like one of the great ones who are celebrated upon the earth.
9 And I have given a place to my people Israel. They shall be planted, and they shall live in it, and they shall no longer be moved. Neither shall the sons of iniquity wear them away, as in the beginning,
10 from the days when I gave judges to my people Israel, and I humbled all your enemies. Therefore, I announce to you that the Lord will build a house for you.
11 And when you will have completed your days, so that you go to your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall be from your sons. And I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build a house for me, and I will make firm his throne, even unto eternity.
13 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And I will not take away my mercy from him, as I took it away from the one who was before you.
14 And I will station him in my house and in my kingdom, even forever. And his throne will be very firm, in perpetuity.”
15 According to all these words, and according to this entire vision, so did Nathan speak to David.
16 And when king David had departed, and had sat down before the Lord, he said: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you would grant such things to me?
17 But even this has seemed little in your sight, and therefore you have also spoken about the house of your servant even for the future. And you have made me a spectacle above all men, O Lord God.
18 What more can David add, since you have so glorified your servant, and have known him?
19 O Lord, because of your servant, in accord with your own heart, you have brought about all this magnificence, and you have willed all these great things to be known.
20 O Lord, there is no one like you. And there is no other God apart from you, out of all whom we have heard about with our ears.
21 For what other single nation upon earth is like your people Israel, to whom God reached out, so that he might free them, and might make a people for himself, and by his greatness and terribleness cast out the nations before the face of those whom he had freed from Egypt?
22 And you have set your people Israel to be your people, even unto eternity. And you, O Lord, have become their God.
23 Now therefore, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken to your servant, and over his house, be confirmed in perpetuity, and do just as you have spoken.
24 And may your name remain and be magnified even for all time. And let it be said: ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel. And the house of his servant David remains forever before him.’
25 For you, O Lord my God, have revealed to the ear of your servant that you will build a house for him. And therefore your servant has found faith so that he might pray before you.
26 Now then, O Lord, you are God. And you have spoken to your servant such great benefits.
27 And you have begun to bless the house of your servant, so that it may be always before you. For since it is you who is blessing, O Lord, it shall be blessed forever.”
1 Now after these things, it happened that David struck the Philistines, and he humbled them, and he took Gath and her daughters from the hand of the Philistines.
2 And he struck Moab. And the Moabites became the servants of David, offering gifts to him.
3 In that time, David also struck Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, in the region of Hamath, when he went forth so that he might extend his dominion as far as the river Euphrates.
4 Then David seized one thousand of his four-horse chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand men on foot. And he hamstrung all the chariot horses, except for one hundred four-horse chariots, which he reserved for himself.
5 Then the Syrians of Damascus also arrived, so that they might offer assistance to Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. And so, David then struck of them twenty-two thousand men.
6 And he stationed soldiers in Damascus, so that Syria also would serve him, and would offer gifts. And the Lord assisted him in all the things to which he went forth.
7 Also, David took the golden quivers, which the servants of Hadadezer had, and he brought them to Jerusalem.
8 In addition, from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, he brought very much brass, from which Solomon made the sea of brass, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.
9 Now when Toi, the king of Hamath, had heard this, specifically that David had struck the entire army of Hadadezer, the king of Zobah,
10 he sent his son Hadoram to king David so that he might petition peace from him, and so that he might congratulate him that he had struck and defeated Hadadezer. For indeed, Toi was an adversary to Hadadezer.
11 Moreover, all the vessels of gold and silver and brass king David consecrated to the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had taken from all the nations, as much from Idumea, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, as from the Philistines and Amalek.
12 Truly, Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, struck eighteen thousand of the Edomites in the Valley of the Salt Pits.
13 And he stationed a garrison in Edom, so that Idumea would serve David. And the Lord saved David in all the things to which he went forth.
14 Therefore, David reigned over all of Israel, and he executed judgment and justice among all his people.
15 Now Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was over the army, and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the keeper of records.
16 And Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were the priests. And Shavsha was the scribe.
17 Also, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the legions of the Cherethites and Pelethites. But the sons of David were first at the hand of the king.
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15 And now the wise astrologers have entered into my presence, so as to read this writing and to reveal to me its interpretation. And they were not able to tell me the meaning of this writing.
16 Furthermore, I have heard about you that you can interpret obscure things and solve difficulties. So then, if you succeed in reading the writing, and in revealing its interpretation, you will be clothed with purple, and you will have a chain of gold around your neck, and you will be the third leader in my kingdom.”
17 To this Daniel responded by saying directly to the king, “Your rewards should be for yourself, and the gifts of your house you may give to another, but I will read to you the writing, O king, and I will reveal to you its interpretation.
18 O king, the Most High God gave to Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a kingdom and greatness, glory and honor.
19 And because of the greatness that he gave to him, all peoples, tribes, and languages trembled and were afraid of him. Whomever he wished, he put to death; and whomever he wished, he destroyed; and whomever he wished, he exalted; and whomever he wished, he lowered.
20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened in arrogance, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom and his glory was taken away.
21 And he was expelled from the sons of men, and so his heart was placed with the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys, and he ate hay like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he realized that the Most High holds power over the kingdom of men, and that whoever he wishes, he will set over it.
22 Likewise, you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all these things.
23 But you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been presented before you. And you, and your nobles, and your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. Likewise, you have praised the gods of silver, and gold, and brass, iron, and wood and stone, who neither see, nor hear, nor feel, yet you have not glorified the God who holds your breath and all your ways in his hand.
24 Therefore, he has sent the part of the hand which has written this, which has been inscribed.
25 But this is the writing that has been decreed: MANE, THECEL, PHARES.
26 And this is the interpretation of the words. MANE: God has numbered your kingdom and has finished it.
27 THECEL: you have been weighed on the scales and found lacking.
28 PHARES: your kingdom has been divided and has been given to the Medes and the Persians.
29 Then, by the king’s command, Daniel was dressed with purple, and a chain of gold was placed around his neck, and it was proclaimed of him that he held power as the third in the kingdom.
30 That same night, king Belshazzar the Chaldean was killed.
31 And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two years.
6 They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have murdered the fatherless.
7 And they have said: The Lord shall not see: neither shall the God of Jacob understand.
8 Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be wise at last.
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that formed the eye, doth he not consider?
10 He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that teacheth man knowledge?
11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.
12 Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law.
1 So then, what shall we say that Abraham had achieved, who is our father according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he would have glory, but not with God.
3 For what does Scripture say? “Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.”
4 But for he who works, wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to debt.
5 Yet truly, for he who does not work, but who believes in him who justifies the impious, his faith is reputed unto justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God.
6 Similarly, David also declares the blessedness of a man, to whom God brings justice without works:
7 Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin.”
9 Does this blessedness, then, remain only in the circumcised, or is it even in the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was reputed to Abraham unto justice.
10 But then how was it reputed? In circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
11 For he received the sign of circumcision as a symbol of the justice of that faith which exists apart from circumcision, so that he might be the father of all those who believe while uncircumcised, so that it might also be reputed to them unto justice,
12 and he might be the father of circumcision, not only for those who are of circumcision, but even for those who follow the footsteps of that faith which is in the uncircumcision of our father Abraham.
13 For the Promise to Abraham, and to his posterity, that he would inherit the world, was not through the law, but through the justice of faith.
14 For if those who are of the law are the heirs, then faith becomes empty and the Promise is abolished.
15 For the law works unto wrath. And where there is no law, there is no law-breaking.
16 Because of this, it is from faith according to grace that the Promise is ensured for all posterity, not only for those who are of the law, but also for those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all before God,
17 in whom he believed, who revives the dead and who calls those things that do not exist into existence. For it is written: “I have established you as the father of many nations.”
18 And he believed, with a hope beyond hope, so that he might become the father of many nations, according to what was said to him: “Thus shall your posterity shall be.”
19 And he was not weakened in faith, nor did he consider his own body to be dead (though he was then almost one hundred years old), nor the womb of Sarah to be dead.
20 And then, in the Promise of God, he did not hesitate out of distrust, but instead he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
21 knowing most fully that whatever God has promised, he is also able to accomplish.
22 And for this reason, it was reputed to him unto justice.
23 Now this has been written, that it was reputed to him unto justice, not only for his sake,
24 but also for our sake. For the same shall be reputed to us, if we believe in him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead,
25 who was handed over because of our offenses, and who rose again for our justification.
