Though every living creature tremble and the earth itself be shaken, I will keep its foundations firm.

"How ignorant you are! How stupid! You are completely corrupt, and justice has disappeared from the world.

Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses."

But the solid foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; and on it are written these words: "The Lord knows those who are his" and "Those who say that they belong to the Lord must turn away from wrongdoing."

Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"

and prayed, "O LORD, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky.

We all know, LORD, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate,

and gave the following order to Hilkiah the priest, to Ahikam son of Shaphan, to Achbor son of Micaiah, to Shaphan, the court secretary, and to Asaiah, the king's attendant:

Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to consult a woman named Huldah, a prophet who lived in the newer part of Jerusalem. (Her husband Shallum, the son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas, was in charge of the Temple robes.) They described to her what had happened,

Don't you know what my ancestors and I have done to the people of other nations? Did the gods of any other nation save their people from the emperor of Assyria?

Now don't let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like that. Don't believe him! No god of any nation has ever been able to save his people from any Assyrian emperor. So certainly this god of yours can't save you!"

About this time I went to visit Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was unable to leave his house. He said to me, "You and I must go and hide together in the Holy Place of the Temple and lock the doors, because they are coming to kill you. Any night now they will come to kill you."

When I thought it over, I realized that God had not spoken to Shemaiah, but that Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him to give me this warning.

Then the priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people, "This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears."

You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing, and must obey the LORD your God. If you do, he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you.

But be sure of this: if you kill me, you and the people of this city will be guilty of killing an innocent man, because it is the LORD who sent me to give you this warning."

Now then, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, oboes, lyres, zithers, harps, and all the other instruments, bow down and worship the statue. If you do not, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Do you think there is any god who can save you?"

If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will.

When Daniel learned that the order had been signed, he went home. In an upstairs room of his house there were windows that faced toward Jerusalem. There, just as he had always done, he knelt down at the open windows and prayed to God three times a day.

all of them went together to the king to accuse Daniel. They said, "Your Majesty, you signed an order that for the next thirty days anyone who requested anything from any god or from any human being except you, would be thrown into a pit filled with lions." The king replied, "Yes, that is a strict order, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."

When the king heard this, he was upset and did his best to find some way to rescue Daniel. He kept trying until sunset.

So the king gave orders for Daniel to be taken and thrown into the pit filled with lions. He said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve so loyally, rescue you."

Then the king returned to the palace and spent a sleepless night, without food or any form of entertainment.

When he got there, he called out anxiously, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Was the God you serve so loyally able to save you from the lions?"

God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. He did this because he knew that I was innocent and because I have not wronged you, Your Majesty."

Then the king gave orders to arrest all those who had accused Daniel, and he had them thrown, together with their wives and children, into the pit filled with lions. Before they even reached the bottom of the pit, the lions pounced on them and broke all their bones.

I command that throughout my empire everyone should fear and respect Daniel's God. "He is a living God, and he will rule forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his power will never come to an end.

Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

"Teacher," the disciples answered, "just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?"

But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light."

The next day the Jewish leaders, the elders, and the teachers of the Law gathered in Jerusalem.

They made the apostles stand before them and asked them, "How did you do this? What power do you have or whose name did you use?"

if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed,

Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'

When the believers heard it, they all joined together in prayer to God: "Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them!

The kings of the earth prepared themselves, and the rulers met together against the Lord and his Messiah.'

They gathered to do everything that you by your power and will had already decided would happen.

Reach out your hand to heal, and grant that wonders and miracles may be performed through the name of your holy Servant Jesus."

The group of believers was one in mind and heart. None of them said that any of their belongings were their own, but they all shared with one another everything they had.