Daniel Interprets the Second Dream

19 ^cThen Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies! 20 The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, 21 whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived— 22 it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. 23 And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ 24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, 25 that ^dyou shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. 26 And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, ^eyour kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

19 By this we shall know that we are ^fof the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and ^gwhatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ^hdo what pleases him. 23 And ⁱthis is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and ^jlove one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 ^kWhoever keeps his commandments abides in God,¹ and God² in him. ^lAnd by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Test the Spirits

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but ^mtest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for ⁿmany false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come ^oin the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the ^pantichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world ^qalready. 4 Little children, ^ryou are from God and ^shave overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 ^tThey are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. ^uWhoever ^vknows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the ^wSpirit of truth and the ^xspirit of error.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 ^wAnd Jesus returned in the ^xpower of the Spirit to Galilee, and a ^yreport about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he ^ztaught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

16 ^aAnd he came to ^bNazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ^h“Is not this ⁱJoseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” ^jWhat we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ^kno prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, ^lthere were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And ^mthere were many lepers¹ in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.