Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the
captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? I have
heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light
and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the
wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they
should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation
thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing. But I
have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and dissolve
doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the
interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and have a
chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt rule as one of three in the
kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king: Let thy gifts be
to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; nevertheless I will read
the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O
thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom,
and greatness, and glory, and majesty: and because of the greatness that
he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared
before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and
whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. But when his
heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened that he dealt proudly,
he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the
beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass
like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven: until he knew
that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth
up over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not
humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this: but hast lifted up
thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of
his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy
concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of
silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor
hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are
all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: then was the part of the hand
sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the
writing that was inscribed[2]:
M U P
E L H
N E A
E K R
M E S
E T I
N E N
[Footnote 2: Daniel reads down, up, down: instead of across.]
This is the interpretation of the thing:
MENE
God hath NUMBERED thy kingdom:
And brought it to an end!
TEKEL
Thou art WEIGHED in the balances:
And art found wanting!
PERES
Thy kingdom is DIVIDED:
And given to the Medes and Persians!
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put
a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him,
that he should rule as one of three in the kingdom. In that night
Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. And Darius the Mede received the
kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
ORATORY
I
THE ORATION OF MOSES
AT THE REHEARSAL OF THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I
command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above
all the nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come upon
thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou
be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit
of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine,
and the young of thy flock. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
kneadingtrough. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed
shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies
that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee: they shall come out
against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways. The LORD
shall command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou
puttest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the
LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee for an holy
people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee; if thou shalt keep the
commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all the
peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the
LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee
plenteous for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy
cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware
unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good
treasury the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to
bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations,
and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and
not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be
beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy
God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them; and shalt
not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to
the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of
the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes
which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon
thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed
shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy
kneadingtrough. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of
thy ground, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock. Cursed
shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou
goest out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and
rebuke, in all that thou puttest thine hand unto for to do, until thou
be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the evil of thy
doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The LORD shall make the
pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the
land, whither thou goest in to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee
with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery
heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they
shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy
head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The
LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall
it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The LORD shall cause
thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way
against them, and shalt flee seven ways before them: and thou shalt be
tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase
shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the
earth, and there shall be none to fray them away. The LORD shall smite
thee with the boil of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scurvy,
and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall
smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of
heart: and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in
darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only
oppressed and spoiled alway, and there shall be none to save thee. Thou
shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt
build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a
vineyard, and shalt not use the fruit thereof. Thine ox shall be slain
before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shalt be
violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to
thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have
none to save thee. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto
another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for
them all the day: and there shall be nought in the power of thine hand.
The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou
knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
see. The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a
sore boil, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot
unto the crown of thy head. The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king
which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known,
thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and
stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword,
among all the peoples whither the LORD shall lead thee away. Thou shalt
carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the
locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but
thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the
worm shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy
borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive
shall cast its fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they
shall not be thine; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and
the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess. The stranger that is
in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher; and
thou shalt come down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou
shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and
overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto
the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes
which he commanded thee: and they shall be upon thee for a sign, and for
a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD
thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the
abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which
the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in
nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron
upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The LORD shall bring a
nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle
flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of
fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor
shew favour to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and
the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not
leave thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy kine, or the young of
thy flock, until he have caused thee to perish. And he shall besiege
thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down,
wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege
thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God
hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the
flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given
thee; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
straiten thee. The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his
eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom,
and toward the remnant of his children which he hath remaining: so that
he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he
shall eat, because he hath nothing left him; in the siege and in the
straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee in all thy gates.
The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to
set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and
tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and
toward her son, and toward her daughter; and toward her young one that
cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she
shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly: in
the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten
thee in thy gates.
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are
written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful
name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful,
and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long
continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. And he will
bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid
of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every
plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD
bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in
number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because
thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And it shall
come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to
multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish,
and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither
thou goest in to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all
peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known,
thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt
thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot:
but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of
eyes, and pining of soul: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;
and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have none assurance of thy
life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even
thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart
which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the
way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there
ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for
bondwomen: and no man shall buy you.
II
A DISCOURSE ON
IMMORTALITY AND THE COVENANT WITH DEATH
Court not death in the error of your life;
Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.
Because God made not death: neither delighteth he when the living
perish. For he created all things that they might have being; and the
generative powers of the world are healthsome, and there is no poison of
destruction in them, nor hath Hades royal dominion upon earth: for
righteousness is immortal. But ungodly men by their hands and their
words called death unto them; deeming him a friend they consumed away,
and they made a covenant with him because they are worthy to be of his
portion.
For they said within themselves, reasoning not aright: "Short and
sorrowful is our life; and there is no healing when a man cometh to his
end, and none was ever known that gave release from Hades. Because by
mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had
never been; because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and while our
heart beateth reason is a spark, which being extinguished, the body
shall be turned into ashes, and the spirit shall be dispersed as thin
air. And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall remember
our works; and our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud, and
shall be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the beams of the
sun, and overcome by the heat thereof. For our allotted time is the
passing of a shadow, and our end retreateth not; because it is fast
sealed, and none turneth it back. Come therefore and let us enjoy the
good things that now are; and let us use the creation with all our soul
as youth's possession. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and
perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass us by; let us crown ourselves
with rosebuds before they be withered; let none of us go without his
share in our proud revelry; everywhere let us leave tokens of our mirth:
because this is our portion, and our lot is this. Let us oppress the
righteous poor: let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the hairs of
the old man gray for length of years, but let our strength be to us a
law of righteousness; for that which is weak is found to be of no
service. But let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is of
disservice to us, and is contrary to our works, and upbraideth us with
sins against the law, and layeth to our charge sins against our
discipline. He professeth to have knowledge of God, and nameth himself
servant of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts. He is
grievous unto us even to behold, because his life is unlike other men's,
and his paths are of strange fashion. We were accounted of him as base
metal, and he abstaineth from our ways as from uncleannesses. The latter
end of the righteous he calleth happy; and he vaunteth that God is his
father. Let us see if his words be true, and let us try what shall
befall in the ending of his life: for if the righteous man is God's son,
he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his
adversaries. With outrage and torture let us put him to the test, that
we may learn his gentleness, and may prove his patience under wrong. Let
us condemn him to a shameful death; for he shall be visited according to
his words."
Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray. For their wickedness
blinded them; and they knew not the mysteries of God, neither hoped they
for wages of holiness, nor did they judge that there is a prize for
blameless souls. Because God created man for incorruption, and made him
an image of his own proper being; but by the envy of the devil death
entered into the world, and they that are of his portion make trial
thereof.
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment
shall touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;
and their departure was accounted to be their hurt, and their journeying
away from us to be their ruin: but they are in peace. For even if in
the sight of men they be punished, their hope is full of immortality;
and having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good.
Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself; as
gold in the furnace he proved them, and as a whole burnt offering he
accepted them. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine
forth, and as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro. They shall
judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; and the Lord shall reign
over them for evermore. They that trust on him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love: because grace and mercy
are to his chosen.
But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned, they which
lightly regarded the righteous man, and revolted from the Lord: for he
that setteth at nought wisdom and discipline is miserable. And void is
their hope and their toils unprofitable, and useless are their works.
Their wives are foolish, and wicked are their children; accursed is
their begetting.[3] For good labours have fruit of great renown; and the
root of understanding cannot fail. But children of adulterers shall not
come to maturity, and the seed of an unlawful bed shall vanish away.
For if they live long they shall be held in no account, and at the last
their old age shall be without honour; and if they die quickly they
shall have no hope, nor in the day of decision shall they have
consolation. For the end of an unrighteous generation is alway grievous.
Better than this is childlessness with virtue. For in the memory of
virtue is immortality, because it is recognised both before God and
before men; when it is present men imitate it, and they long after it
when it is departed; and throughout all time it marcheth crowned in
triumph, victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled. But
the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit, and with
bastard slips they shall not strike deep root, nor shall they establish
a sure hold. For even if these put forth boughs and flourish for a
season, yet, standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind, and by
the violence of winds they shall be rooted out. Their branches shall be
broken off before they come to maturity; and their fruit shall be
useless, never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing. For children unlawfully
begotten are witnesses of wickedness against parents when God searcheth
them out.
[Footnote 3: Because happy is the barren that is indefiled, she who hath
not conceived in transgression; she shall have fruit when God visiteth
souls. And happy is the eunuch which hath wrought no lawless deed with
his hands, nor imagined wicked things against the Lord; for there shall
be given him for his faithfulness a peculiar favour, and a lot in the
sanctuary of the Lord more delightsome than wife or children.]
But a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest.
For honourable old age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor
is its measure given by number of years: but understanding is gray hairs
unto men, and an unspotted life is ripe old age. Being found well
pleasing unto God he was beloved of him, and while living among sinners
he was translated. He was caught away lest wickedness should change his
understanding, or guile deceive his soul; for the bewitching of
naughtiness bedimmeth the things which are good, and the giddy whirl of
desire perverteth an innocent mind. Being made perfect in a little while
he fulfilled long years: for his soul was pleasing unto the Lord;
therefore hasted he out of the midst of wickedness.
But as for the peoples, seeing and understanding not, neither laying
this to heart, that grace and mercy are with his chosen, and that he
visiteth his holy ones:[4] they shall see, and they shall despise; but
them the Lord shall laugh to scorn. And after this they shall become a
dishonoured carcase, and a reproach among the dead for ever. Because he
shall dash them speechless to the ground, and shall shake them from the
foundations, and they shall lie utterly waste, and they shall be in
anguish, and their memory shall perish. They shall come, when their sins
are reckoned up, with coward fear; and their lawless deeds shall convict
them to their face. Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness
before the face of them that afflicted him, and them that make his
labours of no account. When they see it, they shall be troubled with
terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the marvel of God's salvation.
[Footnote 4: But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly
that are living, and youth that is quickly perfected the many years of
an unrighteous man's old age; for the ungodly shall see a wise man's
end, and shall not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him, and
for what he safely kept him.]
They shall say within themselves, repenting, and for distress of spirit
shall they groan: "This was he whom aforetime we had in derision, and
made a parable of reproach; we fools accounted his life madness and his
end without honour. How was he numbered among sons of God? and how is
his lot among saints? Verily we went astray from the way of truth; and
the light of righteousness shined not for us, and the sun rose not for
us. We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction, and we
journeyed through trackless deserts; but the way of the Lord we knew
not. What did our arrogancy profit us? and what good have riches and
vaunting brought us? Those things all passed away as a shadow, and as a
message that runneth by; as a ship passing through the billowy water,
whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found, neither
pathway of its keel in the billows; or as when a bird flieth through the
air, no token of her passage is found, but the lightwind, lashed with
the stroke of her pinions, and rent asunder with the violent rush of the
moving wings, is passed through, and afterwards no sign of her coming is
found therein; or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the air disparted
closeth up again immediately, so that men know not where it passed
through: so we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be; and of
virtue we had no sign to shew, but in our wickedness we were utterly
consumed."
Because the hope of the ungodly man is as chaff carried by the wind, and
as foam vanishing before a tempest; and is scattered as smoke is
scattered by the wind; and passeth by as the remembrance of a guest that
tarrieth but a day. But the righteous live for ever, and in the Lord is
their reward, and the care for them with the Most High. Therefore shall
they receive the crown of royal dignity and the diadem of beauty from
the Lord's hand; because with his right hand shall he cover them, and
with his arm shall he shield them. He shall take his jealousy as
complete armour, and shall make the whole creation his weapons for
vengeance on his enemies; he shall put on righteousness as a
breastplate, and shall array himself with judgement unfeigned as with a
helmet: he shall take holiness as an invincible shield, and he shall
sharpen stern wrath for a sword. And the world shall go forth with him
to fight against his insensate foes. Shafts of lightning shall fly with
true aim, and from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow, shall they leap
to the mark; and as from an engine of war shall be hurled hailstones
full of wrath; the water of the sea shall be angered against them, and
rivers shall sternly overwhelm them; a mighty blast shall encounter
them, and as a tempest shall it winnow them away. And so shall
lawlessness make all the land desolate, and their evil-doing shall
overturn the thrones of princes.