Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks
Through His Servants the Prophets

Volume II: Restoration & Redemption

Lesson 19 Old Testament Eschatology
the Book of Daniel 7:1–28
the Book of Daniel 9:20–24
the Book of Daniel 12:1–8a
the Book of Daniel 13:1–9
the Book of Daniel 13:15–17
the Book of Daniel 13:19–24
the Book of Daniel 13:27–28
the Book of Daniel 13:36–61

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for Thus Says the LORD—Volume II
cross references in Thus Says the LORD—Volume II
next lesson: The Voice in the Wilderness

This online supplemental material coordinates with the lesson on pages 133–140 of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

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“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I intend
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
—the Book of Isaiah 55:10–11 (RSVCE)**

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welcome to Volume II of our in-depth study of the biblical prophets
We invite you to check out the sample first lesson and video from Volume II of this Turning to God’s Word two-part Catholic Bible study. Our online pages link to the free related lesson videos, a glossary, and cross references in the biblical text, and include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption contains 23 lessons and has been granted an imprimatur. It may be purchased from our website shop. The companion 28-lesson Volume I: A Kingdom Divided also is available for purchase. If you have a Bible-study question or comment, click on the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” button on any study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit
to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the Book of Daniel 1:1–20, the Book of Daniel 3:1, the Book of Daniel 3:3–6, the Book of Daniel 3:8–9, the Book of Daniel 3:12–14, the Book of Daniel 3:16–20, the Book of Daniel 3:22–23, the Book of Daniel 3:(1), the Book of Daniel 3:(23–27), the Book of Daniel 3:24–25, the Book of Daniel 3:28–29, the Book of Daniel 5:1–8, the Book of Daniel 5:13, the Book of Daniel 5:17–31, and the Book of Daniel 6:1–28
Lesson 18 Daniel: A Model Jew looks at the Book of Daniel in its historical context. Most scholars agree that although the work purports to have been written at the time of the Babylonian Exile, it actually was composed considerably later during the time when the Seleucids were persecuting Jews in Judea. In addition to providing a picture of what life might have been like for descendants of Judah who were exiled to Babylon in 587–586 B.C., the Book of Daniel offers encouragement to those Jews who were suffering religious persecution in later times. In the present day, it can be understood as offering a key to how Christians are to approach living in a secular culture. Sections of the work are deuterocanonical and appear only in Catholic translations of the Old Testament—including the canticle of Daniel, which consists of the prayer offered by the three youths while they were in the fiery furnace.

illustration note—an Old Testament description of Jesus
The description of one like a son of man in the seventh chapter in the Book of Daniel is eerily similar to another figure with that title who appears in the first chapter in the book of Revelation. This New Testament figure is interpreted to be the risen Jesus and will be examined in more detail in Lesson 22 An Apocalyptic Vision of Christian Tribulation. Present-day Christians see in Daniel’s vision of a son of man a description of Jesus as the Messiah who will usher in God’s Final Judgment, somewhat different from the way that the term son of man is used by the prophet Ezekiel to call attention to his own human nature in contrast to the divinity of God. The son of man in Daniel’s vision, however, is consistent with the way the term son of the gods is used in the Book of Daniel 3:25. For more information, see “Contradicting the Aristotelian View of Humanity” and “The Book of Daniel Holds that Death Is Not Inevitable,” two commentaries found on the online study page for Lesson 18 Daniel: A Model Jew. Click to enlarge the illustration (right) by Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino. Her original illustration is on page 139 of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption and in Lesson 2 Behold, I Am Alive for Evermore in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Servant.

Daniel’s apocalyptic visions are going to show up again (01:07:46)
In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses the apocalyptic visions found in the seventh through twelfth chapters in the Book of Daniel. The bizarre images that frequently appear in apocalyptic writing are notoriously difficult to access, but this section in the Book of Daniel is especially important because the same apocalyptic visions show up with only slight variations in the final book of the New Testament—the book of Revelation. This lesson, “Old Testament Eschatology,” addresses the visions in their historical context. Lesson 23 A Revelation: Jesus Christ, King of Kings & Lord of Lords in this Bible study, will address the Old Testament prophetic vision of heaven in more depth to consider how it changed in meaning after the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study match the ranges for the sets of questions in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. You can follow along as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 19, “Old Testament Eschatology,” on pages 133–140 in the study book.

the Book of Daniel looks backward in history
Apocalyptic writing generally is thought of as a revelation about the future, but that’s not exactly correct. What’s interesting in the Book of Daniel is that the apocalyptic visions seen by the author disclose important information about the time that the book was being written, and they do so by looking back in history instead of looking forward. These visions are rooted in a reinterpretation of the past to see how God’s people can best behave in similar circumstances that they encounter later. Because the visions recorded in the Book of Daniel employ colorful and broad imagery, they’re wide open to wild, speculative theories. It’s possible to posit almost any interpretation for these images, which generally are limited to views about the end of the world. Although these bizarre images insidiously lead us to want to look forward, that’s actually not how they’re written.

images in the Book of Daniel reappear in the book of Revelation
Consistent with everything Scripture has been telling us about prophecy, the images in the Book of Daniel are best understood as a means of uncovering some truth about God, which may be related but isn’t the same thing at all as revealing the future. The more abstract images in the book of Revelation clearly have been inspired by the visions presented in the second half of the Book of Daniel. Familiarity with this Old Testament apocalyptic writing is critical to understand the final book of the New Testament. The book of Revelation most obviously is about where the future of humanity’s relationship with God is heading. The author of the book of Revelation restates apocalyptic visions in the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah to provide a picture of what heaven is going to look like after Jesus’ Resurrection. It’s impossible to do justice to a study of biblical prophecy without examining its multifaceted nature in terms of telling us about God in all times—not just at specific points in history.

what Matthew says—prepositions matter
The Book of Daniel 7:1 (RSVCE—Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition—as well as the newer RSV2CE—Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition) specifies that Daniel’s visions are “of” his head. Most present-day readers might be expected to stumble over the use of that preposition, suggesting as it does that Daniel has involved his own intellect in the creation of the visions that have shown up. The New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) translates the Book of Daniel 7:1 (NABRE) with a slightly different preposition: “In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, as Daniel lay in bed he had a dream, visions in his head.” Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps notes that although the RSVCE and RSV2CE translations go on to describe Daniel’s visions as occurring in a dream, the NABRE (and some other translations as well) puts immediate emphasis on the fact that the visions occur in a dream.

Daniel resembles Joseph in the book of Genesis & John in the book of Revelation
The most important point to remember about Daniel’s visions is that they’d have been readily understood by the immediate audience to whom his writing is addressed. That Daniel resembles Joseph in the first book of the Old Testament is intentional, as is the similarity between Daniel, Joseph, and the author of the last book of the New Testament. The author of the Book of Daniel expected his audience to recognize this similarity. Unfortunately, many present-day readers get hung up on the idea that the four beasts in Daniel’s vision are abstract representations of something still to come in the future. The symbolism of these beasts would have been apparent to descendants of Jacob living under Greek occupation after the Babylonian Exile, and the meaning of the beasts is explained in more detail in the commentary box “Daniel’s Vision of Four Great Beasts” on page 140 in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. A clear understanding of Daniel’s vision as representative of the past will be important when we reach Lesson 23 A Revelation: Jesus Christ, King of Kings & Lord of Lords. You can learn more about Joseph in the last seven lessons in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

what matters about these beasts?
It’s easy to miss that none of the beasts in Daniel’s vision have a throne, a primary symbol of rule. The Ancient of Days arrives on the scene with a throne, an indicator that God is the only legitimate king. This is a critical idea when we’re trying to figure out who has power. It turns out that all authority belongs only to God. This was true in Daniel’s time, and it’s true today. The important point about Daniel’s vision is that when humanity lets man-made institutions assume authority over life, the man-made rulers become beastly and monstrous. It’s essential that we place the authority of God above all else. In the apocalyptic vision in the Book of Daniel, God is the only figure who appears human.

about large numbers in ancient texts
The Book of Daniel 7:10 records that in the prophet’s vision “ten thousand times ten thousand” stood before the throne of the ancient of days. It’s easy to overlook the significance of this passage. In the ancient Greek language of the original biblical text, the number 10,000 is the highest number possible, so when an author wanted to indicate an impossibly large number he referred to 10,000 multiplied by 10,000. This represents a number greater than can be counted—and not 100 million. Modern Greek language, however, has evolved to allow for numbers greater than 10,000.

ex libris—present-day insight into Daniel’s vision
The Our Father: A New Reading, a short work by Gerhard Lohfink, provides an in-depth look at the prayer known as the “Our Father” or “the Lord’s Prayer. “The fifth chapter pays particular attention to the second petition—thy kingdom come—and emphasizes its connection to the apocalyptic vision found in the seventh chapter in the Book of Daniel “. After describing the Book of Daniel as “an incredible interpretation of history,” the likes of which had never been seen before, Lohfink, a priest and former professor at the University of Tubingen in Germany, explains how Jesus adapts Daniel’s vision by asking the disciples to pray for the coming of God’s reign—a reign that Daniel foretold wouldn’t be in heaven but in the world. Visit ex libris—main bookshelf to read excerpts from The Our Father: A New Reading and other recommended books about religious topics.

son of man—you could look it up in our archives
The Book of Daniel 7:13 mentions “one like a son of man,” and the term son of man shows up in the Old Testament Books of Ezra and Daniel, and also in the New Testament where Jesus adopts the term as a title to refer to himself. In Lost in Translation, an online column that can help readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps looks at the difficulty in sorting out the linguistic roots behind how this term is used in both Testaments. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

son of man is a common term in the Old Testament, but its meaning varies
The Hebrew term “son of man,” (ben adam) appears 107 times in the Old Testament. Ninety-three of these instances are in the Book of Ezekiel as a synonym for human being. In the book of Numbers 23:19 and Psalm 8:5, “son of man” contrasts the lowly status of humanity against the permanence and exalted dignity of God and the angels. In the Book of Daniel, son of man indicates a being that differs from humanity in that this son of man is immortal, and the author of the Book of Daniel also uses the term to identify a future eschatological figure whose coming will signal the end of history and the time of God’s judgment. Christians interpret this figure to be Jesus, the long-awaited  son of God who’s both human and divine. In the New Testament, Jesus claims the title Son of man for himself.

what Matthew says—don’t forget about Rome
In describing the duration of the reign of the fourth beast, the phrase “a time, two times, and half a time” appears in the Book of Daniel 7:25. This unusual temporal phrase will show up again in the book of Revelation. On the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps observes that, for now, it’s enough to note that this phrase totals three and a half, a number that’s half of seven. What’s of more immediate interest in terms of the Old Testament prophecy in the Book of Daniel is that the description of beastly world powers stops with Greece, indicating that the author’s writing about a recent past and a present time with which he’s familiar—but not about the future. When the Book of Daniel was written, Rome hadn’t yet come into play as the dominant world power. The Geopolitics box, “The Beginning of the Roman Empire” on page 138 of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption explains the history of the world after the Book of Daniel and immediately preceding the period described in the New Testament Gospels According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The primary concern of the Book of Daniel isn’t what’s going to happen in the future but how God’s people can exist in a world where God doesn’t have obvious political authority. This is an equally important concern for Christians. In the Book of Daniel 7:28, the author writes that his thoughts about this subject “greatly alarmed” him. Present-day Christians aren’t the first people to wrestle with this issue. While it’s important to understand the problem, understanding doesn’t necessarily bring tranquility.

death is the enemy
The Book of Daniel 12:1–2, with its reference to the archangel Michael, is almost identical in feeling to the book of Revelation 12:7. The significant difference is in the enemy that Michael is battling. In the Book of Daniel, that enemy is the nations of the world, while in the book of Revelation Michael is fighting the dragon in heaven. What’s most interesting, however, is that in both cases it appears that death is the enemy being defeated. Some people who are dead aren’t dead any more, and the end result of Michael’s battle brings eternal justice and righteousness to the world.

the Word of God has power
In the Book of Daniel 12:4, Daniel is instructed to “shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end,” an eerie foreshadowing of one of the key dramatic elements in the book of Revelation involving unsealing the scroll as the end times are beginning. This section of the Book of Daniel provides a strong argument in favor of the performative power of God’s speech, something that begins with the first account of Creation in the book of Genesis and gains momentum in the New Testament when Jesus is identified in the Gospel According to John as the Word of God.

?  Consider who’s speaking in the Book of Daniel 12:1–4.
?  What might be expected to happen to those whose names aren’t recorded in the book (probably a scroll) mentioned in this section of the Book of Daniel?

what Matthew says—Daniel asks the question on everyone’s mind
When are these events that Daniel has just been told to write down and seal up until the end of time finally going to occur? In the Book of Daniel 12:5–8, Daniel addresses his question to a man clothed in linen, the traditional garb of a priest. Daniel then learns that these future events will occur after “a time, two times, and half a time”—the same language used in the Book of Daniel 7:25. In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses the relationship to these two periods of three and a half to the number seven, which has a specific meaning in Scripture.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about the unusual story about Susanna?
The thirteenth chapter in the Book of Daniel takes a somewhat unexpected shift to record the account of Daniel’s encounter with Susanna. Instead of coming at the beginning of the work, where it would fit chronologically, this description of Daniel’s call as a prophet occurs at the end of the Book of Daniel, where it surprisingly also functions as a parable.

?  Why might the author of the Book of Daniel have determined not to name the two judges?
?  Who might these corrupt judges represent in the history of the descendants of Judah?
?  What should their role be concerning God’s people?
?  What characterization best describes the way that they’ve been behaving?
?  Consider how the young Daniel demonstrates that he’s been chosen to speak for God.

how is this relevant?
What do you think about the apocalyptic sections and the deuterocanonical sections of the Book of Daniel? Although written centuries before the time of Jesus, the visions in the Book of Daniel form the basis for the final work in the Old Testament. The book of Revelation describes a vision of heaven built on Old Testament prophetic visions taking into account New Testament Christian teaching. Each lesson in the study book Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption contains commentaries designed to make it easier to reflect on ways that God’s Word applies to present-day Christians.

?  What seems most difficult to understand in connection with Daniel’s apocalyptic visions?
?  What might be the easiest parts of Daniel’s vision to understand?
?  How would a person in the prophet’s original intended audience be likely to interpret the visions in the seventh through twelfth chapters in the Book of Daniel?
?  Consider why the story of Susanna found in the deuterocanonical thirteenth chapter in the Book of Daniel was included by the original author of that biblical work.

where we’re going next in this Bible study
The final four lessons of our overview will transition from what’s been built by the Old Testament prophets to move into the New Testament where the prophetic message will realize its potential in the mission of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we’ll look at the prophetic images in the book of Revelation to learn where Christianity is headed.

the Book of Daniel 7:10—paragraph 678
the Book of Daniel 7:13—paragraph 440
the Book of Daniel 7:14—paragraph 664
the Book of Daniel 12:1–13—paragraph 992
the Book of Daniel 12:2—paragraph 998

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons and places mentioned in the biblical text under multiple names or spellings. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the primary biblical text for Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

to learn more, read more Scripture
It can help to check out the cross references listed in Scripture, but looking them up is time-consuming. To make that part easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following links are to readings from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open one of the links and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV readings provide an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical texts. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Audio versions of the New International Version (NIV) translation don’t include the deuterocanonical thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the Book of Daniel.

the Book of Daniel 7:1–28 (NIV)
the Book of Daniel 9:20–24 (NIV)
the Book of Daniel 12:1–8a (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers you can follow our four easy steps, or you can use the following  prayer based on this lesson’s biblical texts.

Ancient of Days, Most High God,
you have given everlasting authority, glory,
and kingdom to your Son.
We pray that at the final goal for Creation—a new world—
our names will be written in your book of life,
and we can shine like the stars forever with your saints.
We ask this in unity with the Holy Spirit
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who made the ultimate reward of faith possible for humanity,
and who will pronounce judgment for your people. Amen.

Lesson 20 The Voice in the Wilderness—the Book of Isaiah 40:1–11, the Book of Malachi 3:1–3, the Book of Malachi 4:5–6, the Gospel According to Luke 1:5–17, the Gospel According to Luke 1:67–79, the Gospel According to Matthew 3:1–3, the Gospel According to John 1:19–34, the Book of Isaiah 61:1, the Gospel According to Matthew 11:2–15, the Book of Joel 2:27–32 and the Acts of the Apostles 2:14–21
Lesson 18 Daniel: A Model Jew—the Book of Daniel 1:1–20, the Book of Daniel 3:1, the Book of Daniel 3:3–6, the Book of Daniel 3:8–9, the Book of Daniel 3:12–14, the Book of Daniel 3:16–20, the Book of Daniel 3:22–23, the Book of Daniel 3:(1), the Book of Daniel 3:(23–27), the Book of Daniel 3:24–25, the Book of Daniel 3:28–29, the Book of Daniel 5:1–8, the Book of Daniel 5:13, the Book of Daniel 5:17–31, and the Book of Daniel 6:1–28

you also may like our study of the book of Exodus
You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provides an in-depth look at how significant events in biblical history that occurred thousands of years ago to descendants of Jacob remain relevant and even critical for present-day Christians to understand. The deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and the giving of Ten Commandments are examined along with the development of Moses’ relationship to God. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

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start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. You can find information on this website about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and address any of your concerns. Contact us if you’d like to start one of our studies or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

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*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages of Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. A handful of more significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSVCE and RSV2CE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.

**The Book of Isaiah 55:10-11 (RSV2CE) reads: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I intend, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”