¹ In the first year of Baltasar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream: and the vision of his head was upon his bed: and writing the dream, he comprehended it in few words: and relating the sum of it in short, he said:

² I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

³ And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea.

⁴ The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle: I beheld till her wings were plucked off, and she was lifted up from the earth, and stood upon her feet as a man, and the heart of a man was given to her.

⁵ And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side: and there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof, and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh.

⁶ After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, and it had upon it four wings as of a fowl, and the beast had four heads, and power was given to it.

⁷ After this I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding strong, it had great iron teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with its feet: and it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before it, and had ten horns.

⁸ I considered the horns, and behold another little horn sprung out of the midst of them: and three of the first horns were plucked up at the presence thereof: and behold eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.

⁹ I beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire.

¹⁰ A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened.

¹¹ I beheld because of the voice of the great words which that horn spoke: and I saw that the beast was slain, and the body thereof was destroyed, and given to the fire to be burnt:

¹² And that the power of the other beasts was taken away: and that times of life were appointed them for a time, and time.

¹³ I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days: and they presented him before him.

¹⁴ And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed.

¹⁵ My spirit trembled, I Daniel was affrighted at these things, and the visions of my head troubled me.

¹⁶ I went near to one of them that stood by, and asked the truth of him concerning all these things, and he told me the interpretation of the words, and instructed me:

¹⁷ These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth.

¹⁸ But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever.

¹⁹ After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast. which was very different from all, and exceeding terrible: his teeth and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest he stamped upon with his feet:

²⁰ And concerning the ten horns that he had on his head: and concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell: and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than the rest.

²¹ I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them,

²² Till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom.

²³ And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

²⁴ And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings: and another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three kings.

²⁵ And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time.

²⁶ And judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end.

²⁷ And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him.

²⁸ Hitherto is the end of the word. I Daniel was much troubled with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the word in my heart.

¹ The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.

² They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king."

³ Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "So you say."

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."

⁵ But they insisted, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place."

⁶ But when Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean.

⁷ When he found out that he was in Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸ Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him.

⁹ He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers.

¹⁰ The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.

¹¹ Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.

¹² Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

¹⁴ and said to them, "You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and see, I have examined him before you, and found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

¹⁵ Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him.

¹⁶ I will therefore chastise him and release him."

¹⁷ Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.

¹⁸ But they all cried out together, saying, "Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!"--

¹⁹ one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.

²⁰ Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus,

²¹ but they shouted, saying, "Crucify! Crucify him!"

²² He said to them the third time, "Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him."

²³ But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed.

²⁴ Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.

²⁵ He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.

²⁶ When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus.

²⁷ A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.

²⁸ But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹ For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.'

³⁰ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and tell the hills, 'Cover us.'

³¹ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?"

³² There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.

³³ When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

³⁴ Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

³⁵ The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!"

³⁶ The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,

³⁷ and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"

³⁸ An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."

³⁹ One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!"

⁴⁰ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Don't you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

⁴¹ And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."

⁴² He said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."

⁴³ Jesus said to him, "Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

⁴⁵ The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

⁴⁶ Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" Having said this, he breathed his last.

⁴⁷ When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous man."

⁴⁸ All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts.

⁴⁹ All his acquaintances, and the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰ Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man

⁵¹ (he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for the Kingdom of God:

⁵² this man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body.

⁵³ He took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.

⁵⁴ It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near.

⁵⁵ The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid.

⁵⁶ They returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.