They answered, "If you return the Covenant Box of the God of Israel, you must, of course, send with it a gift to him to pay for your sin. The Covenant Box must not go back without a gift. In this way you will be healed, and you will find out why he has kept on punishing you."

Then watch it go; if it goes toward the town of Beth Shemesh, this means that it is the God of the Israelites who has sent this terrible disaster on us. But if it doesn't, then we will know that he did not send the plague; it was only a matter of chance."

When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places---

The advisers replied, "There is no one on the face of the earth who can tell Your Majesty what you want to know. No king, not even the greatest and most powerful, has ever made such a demand of his fortunetellers, magicians, and wizards.

What Your Majesty is asking for is so difficult that no one can do it for you except the gods, and they do not live among human beings."

Then that same night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he praised the God of heaven:

No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.

No, it is rather by means of God's power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.

So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, "What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing!

"What shall we do with these men?" they asked. "Everyone in Jerusalem knows that this extraordinary miracle has been performed by them, and we cannot deny it.