The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just in all he has done, and we have not obeyed him.

While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my request before the LORD my God concerning his holy mountain --

yes, while I was still praying, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously in a vision, was approaching me in my state of extreme weariness, around the time of the evening offering.

In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar). This message was true and concerned a great war. He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.

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

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was beside the great river, the Tigris.

I looked up and saw a man clothed in linen; around his waist was a belt made of gold from Upaz.

I alone was left to see this great vision. My strength drained from me, and my vigor disappeared; I was without energy.

However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was opposing me for twenty-one days. But Michael, one of the leading princes, came to help me, because I was left there with the kings of Persia.

While he was saying this to me, I was flat on the ground and unable to speak.

Then one who appeared to be a human being was touching my lips. I opened my mouth and started to speak, saying to the one who was standing before me, "Sir, due to the vision, anxiety has gripped me and I have no strength.

He said to me, "Don't be afraid, you who are valued. Peace be to you! Be strong! Be really strong!" When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. I said, "Sir, you may speak now, for you have given me strength."

One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, "When will the end of these wondrous events occur?"

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever: "It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished."

This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea son of Beeri during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ruled Israel.

However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, "You are not my people," it will be said to them, "You are children of the living God!"

Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and expose her like she was when she was born. I will turn her land into a wilderness and make her country a parched land, so that I might kill her with thirst.

Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, "I will go back to my husband, because I was better off then than I am now."

Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold -- which they used in worshiping Baal!

From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the "Valley of Trouble" into an "Opportunity for Hope." There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt.

Ephraim will be oppressed, crushed under judgment, because he was determined to pursue worthless idols.

That idol was made by a workman -- it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.

When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame -- they became as detestable as what they loved.

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yokeon her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! Let Jacob break up the unplowed ground for himself!

When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt.

Yet it was I who led Ephraim, I took them by the arm; but they did not acknowledge that I had healed them.

The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.

When Ephraim spoke, there was terror; he was exalted in Israel, but he became guilty by worshiping Baal and died.

I cared for you in the wilderness, in the dry desert where no water was.

This is the Lord's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel:

The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. He was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him during the time of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Disaster will be inescapable, as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

Amos replied to Amaziah, "I was not a prophet by profession. No, I was a herdsman who also took care of sycamore fig trees.

"In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by.

We have heard a report from the Lord. An envoy was sent among the nations, saying, "Arise! Let us make war against Edom!"

The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep.

The sailors said to one another, "Come on, let's cast lots to find out whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us." So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out.

Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, "What have you done?" (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had previously told them.)

Because the storm was growing worse and worse, they said to him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the Lord, and my prayer came to your holy temple.

So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, as the Lord had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous city -- it required three days to walk through it!)

He prayed to the Lord and said, "Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! -- because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.

The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant.

Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, but now her people are running away; she cries out: "Stop! Stop!" -- but no one turns back.

You are no more secure than Thebes -- she was located on the banks of the Nile; the waters surrounded her, her rampart was the sea, the water was her wall.

This is how the once-proud city will end up -- the city that was so secure. She thought to herself, "I am unique! No one can compare to me!" What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live! Everyone who passes by her taunts her and shakes his fist.

You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?' asks the Lord who rules over all. 'Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house!

Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, before one stone was laid on another in the Lord's temple.

Think carefully about the past: from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, think about it.

The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.

I was attentive that night and saw a man seated on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet."

The Lord then addressed good, comforting words to the angelic messenger who was speaking to me.

But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted. I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.

I looked again, and there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel.

Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll!

Then a round lead cover was raised up, revealing a woman sitting inside the basket.

I asked the messenger who was speaking to me, "Where are they taking the basket?"

Then I asked the angelic messenger who was speaking with me, "What are these, sir?"

Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah were also populated?

Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody -- each one -- against everyone else.

But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,' says the Lord who rules over all,

"For the Lord who rules over all says, 'As I had planned to hurt you when your fathers made me angry,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'and I was not sorry,

Return to the stronghold, you prisoners, with hope; today I declare that I will return double what was taken from you.

So it was annulled that very day, and then the most afflicted of the flock who kept faith with me knew that that was the word of the Lord.

Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, 'You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.' Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies.

"I have shown love to you," says the Lord, but you say, "How have you shown love to us?" "Esau was Jacob's brother," the Lord explains, "yet I chose Jacob

"My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.

He taught what was true; sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

Then those who respected the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. A scroll was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

and Jesse the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah),

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.

This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem

When King Herod heard this he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him.

After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

After listening to the king they left, and once again the star they saw when it rose led them until it stopped above the place where the child was.

He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: "I called my Son out of Egypt."

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone."

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.

He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.

and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished.

so that what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled:

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen).

"You have heard that it was said to an older generation, 'Do not murder,' and 'whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'

"It was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.'

"Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, 'Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'