אֲנִי

In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.

…but he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age? You would endanger my head before the king!”

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier.

And in the vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. I saw in the vision that I was beside the Ulai Canal.

As I was contemplating all this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came out of the west, crossing the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground.

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.

I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.

…in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain—

…while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

At the beginning of your petitions, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly precious. So consider the message and understand the vision:

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris,

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.

So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

I heard the sound of his words, and as I listened, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.

“Do not be afraid, Daniel,” he said, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.

However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

How can I, your servant, speak with you, my lord? Now I have no strength, nor is any breath left in me.”

“Do you know why I have come to you?” he said. “I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Greece will come.

“And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, stood up to strengthen and protect him.

Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing there, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank.

I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”

Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.”

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all.

I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.

So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.

For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.

Although I trained and strengthened their arms, they plot evil against Me.

Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.

I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.

Then you will know that I am present in Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.

“I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

“I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”

“Pick me up,” he answered, “and cast me into the sea, so it may quiet down for you. For I know that I am to blame for this violent storm that has come upon you.”

At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’

But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”

So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

…yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”