Daniel 2–7

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; ^hhis spirit was troubled, and ⁱhis sleep left him. ²Then the king commanded that ^dthe magicians, ^ethe enchanters, the ^jsorcerers, and ^kthe Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and ^lstood before the king. ³And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and ^hmy spirit is troubled to know the dream.” ⁴Then ^kthe Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic,^{1 m}“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” ⁵The king answered and said to ^kthe Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be ⁿtorn limb from limb, ⁿand your ^ohouses shall be laid in ruins. ⁶But if you show the dream and its interpretation, ^pyou shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. ^qTherefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” ⁸The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to ^rgain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— ⁹if you do not make the dream known to me, ^sthere is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till ^tthe times change. ^uTherefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” ^10vThe Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or ^vChaldean. ¹¹The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except ^wthe gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

¹²Because of this the king was angry and ^xvery furious, and ^ycommanded that all ^zthe wise men of Babylon be destroyed. ¹³So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought ^aDaniel and his companions, to kill them. ¹⁴Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to ^bArioch, the ^ccaptain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵He declared² to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king ^dso urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. ¹⁶And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to ^eHananiah, ^eMishael, and ^eAzariah, his companions, ^18fand told them to seek mercy from the ^gGod of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not ^hbe destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in ⁱa vision of the night. Then Daniel ^jblessed the ^gGod of heaven. ²⁰Daniel answered and said:

^k“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

^lto whom belong wisdom and might.

^21mHe changes times and seasons;

ⁿhe removes kings and sets up kings;

^ohe gives wisdom to the wise

^oand knowledge to those who have understanding;

^22phe reveals deep and hidden things;

^phe knows what is in the darkness,

^qand the light dwells with him.

²³To you, O ^rGod of my fathers,

^sI give thanks and praise,

for ^tyou have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what ^uwe asked of you,

for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”

²⁴Therefore Daniel went in to ^vArioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”

²⁵Then ^vArioch brought in Daniel before the king ^win haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^xamong the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” ²⁶The king declared to Daniel, ^ywhose name was Belteshazzar, ^z“Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, ^aenchanters, ^amagicians, or ^bastrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, ²⁸but ^cthere is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^dwhat will be in the latter days. Your dream and ^ethe visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: ²⁹To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, ^fand he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. ³⁰But ^gas for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that ^hyou may know the thoughts of your mind.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

³¹“You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. ³²ⁱThe head of this image was of fine gold, ^jits chest and arms of silver, its middle and ^jthighs of bronze, ^33kits legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴As you looked, a stone was cut out ^lby no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and ^mbroke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became ⁿlike the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that ^onot a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became ^pa great mountain ^qand filled the whole earth.

³⁶“This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷You, O king, ^rthe king of kings, to whom ^sthe God of heaven ^thas given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, ³⁸and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, ^uthe beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are ^vthe head of gold. ^39wAnother kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom ^vof bronze, ^xwhich shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰And ^ythere shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron ^zbreaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall ^zbreak and crush all these. ⁴¹And as you saw ^athe feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the ^yfirmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. ⁴²And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage,³ but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of those kings ^bthe God of heaven will set up ^ca kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. ^dIt shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and ^cit shall stand forever, ⁴⁵just as ^eyou saw that ^fa stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that ^dit broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A ^ggreat God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

Daniel Is Promoted

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar ^hfell upon his face and ⁱpaid homage to Daniel, and commanded that ^jan offering and ^kincense be offered up to him. ⁴⁷The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your ^lGod is God of gods and ^mLord of kings, and ⁿa revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” ⁴⁸Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great ^ogifts, and made him ruler over the whole ^pprovince of Babylon and ^qchief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹Daniel made a request of the king, and he ^rappointed ^sShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of ^pthe province of Babylon. But Daniel ^tremained at the king’s court.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image

3King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits¹ and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on ^uthe plain of Dura, in ^vthe province of Babylon. ²Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather ^wthe satraps, the prefects, and ^xthe governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ³Then ^wthe satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴And the herald ^yproclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O ^zpeoples, nations, and languages, ⁵that when you hear the ^asound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you ^bare to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. ⁶And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately ^cbe cast into a burning fiery furnace.” ⁷Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all ^zthe peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

The Fiery Furnace

⁸Therefore at that time certain ^dChaldeans ^ecame forward and maliciously accused the Jews. ⁹They declared² to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰You, O king, ^fhave made a decree, that every man who ^ghears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, ^gshall fall down and worship the golden image. ¹¹And whoever does not fall down and worship ^cshall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. ¹²There are certain Jews whom you have ^happointed over the affairs of ^vthe province of Babylon: ⁱShadrach, Meshach, and…