Daniel 1–12

CHAPTER 1

Daniel Brought to Babylon

¹In the third year of the reign of ^aJehoiakim king of Judah, ^bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

²And the ^aLord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the ^bvessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of ^cShinar, to the house of his ¹god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his ^2dgod.

³Then the king said for Ashpenaz, the chief of his ¹officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal ^aseed and of the nobles,

⁴youths in whom was ^ano defect, who were good in appearance, showing ^binsight in every branch of wisdom, being thoroughly ¹knowledgeable and discerning knowledge, and who had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and he said for him to teach them the ²literature and ^ctongue of the ^dChaldeans.

⁵And the king appointed for them a daily ration from the ^aking’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be ¹educated three years, at the end of which they were to ^bstand before the king.

⁶Now among them from the sons of Judah were ^aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

⁷Then the commander of the officials set names for them; and for Daniel he set the name ^aBelteshazzar, for Hananiah ^bShadrach, for Mishael ^cMeshach, and for Azariah ^dAbed-nego.

Daniel’s Heart

⁸But Daniel set in his heart that he would not ^adefile himself with the ^bking’s choice food or with the ^cwine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

⁹Now God granted Daniel ^alovingkindness and compassion before the commander of the officials,

¹⁰and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would ¹make me forfeit my head to the king.”

¹¹But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

¹²“Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be ^agiven some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

¹³“Then let our appearance be ¹observed before you and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

¹⁴So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵At the end of ten days it was seen that their appearance was ^abetter and that ¹they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food.

¹⁶So the overseer continued to ¹withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept ^agiving them vegetables.

¹⁷And as for these four youths, ^aGod gave them knowledge and insight in every branch of ¹literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of ^bvisions and dreams.

¹⁸Then at the end of the days which the king had spoken of for bringing them in, the commander of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like ^aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they ^bstood in service before the king.

²⁰And as for every matter of ^awisdom in understanding which the king sought from them, he found them ^bten times ^cbetter than all the ^1dmagicians and conjurers who were in all his kingdom.

²¹And Daniel ¹continued until the ^afirst year of Cyrus the king.

CHAPTER 2

Nebuchadnezzar’s Troubling Dream

¹Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar ^1ahad dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his ^bsleep ²left him.

²Then the king said to call in the ^1amagicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the ²Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.

³Then the king said to them, “I ^1ahad a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

⁴Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in ^1aAramaic: “^bO king, live forever! ^cSay the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”

⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be ^1atorn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

⁶“But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me ^agifts and a reward and great glory; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.”

⁷They answered a second time and said, “Let the king ^asay the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”

⁸The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you are buying time, inasmuch as you have seen that the word from me is firm,

⁹that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only ^aone law for you. Indeed, you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt ¹words before me until the time is changed; therefore say the dream to me, that I may ^bknow that you can declare to me its interpretation.”

¹⁰The Chaldeans answered ¹the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who is able to declare the matter ²for the king, inasmuch as no great king or powerful ruler has ever asked about a matter like this of any ^3amagician, conjurer, or Chaldean.

¹¹“Moreover, the matter which the king asks is ¹difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it ²to the king except ^agods, whose ^bdwelling place is not with flesh.”

¹²Because of this the king became ^aindignant and very furious and said for them to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

¹³So the law went forth that the wise men were to be killed; and they sought out ^aDaniel and his friends to ¹kill them.

¹⁴Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to ^aArioch, the captain of the king’s ¹bodyguard, who had gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon;

¹⁵he answered and said to Arioch, a powerful ¹official for the king, “For what reason is the law from the king so ²urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.

¹⁶So Daniel went in and sought from the king that he would ¹give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to his friends, to ^aHananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

¹⁸so that they might ^aseek compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be ^bdestroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night ^avision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;

²⁰Daniel answered and said,

“Let the name of God be ^ablessed forever and ever,

For ^bwisdom and might belong to Him.

²¹“And He ^achanges the times and the seasons;

He ^bremoves kings and ¹establishes kings;

He gives ^cwisdom to wise men

And knowledge to ²men of understanding.

²²“He ^areveals the deep and hidden things;

^bHe knows what is in the darkness,

And the ^clight dwells with Him.

²³“To You, O ^aGod of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,

For You have given me ^bwisdom and might;

Even now You have made known to me what we ^csought from You,

For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”

²⁴Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: “^aDo not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”

²⁵Then Arioch hurriedly ^abrought Daniel before the king and said thus to him: “I have found a man among the ^1bexiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”

²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was ^aBelteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?”

²⁷Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king is asking, neither ^awise men, conjurers, ¹magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.

²⁸“However, there is a ^aGod in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the ^1blast days. This was your dream and the ^cvisions of your head while on your bed.

²⁹“As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts ¹turned to what would happen ²in the future; and ^aHe who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will happen.

³⁰“But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me by any ^awisdom which is in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may know the ^bthoughts of your heart.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

³¹“You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great ¹image; that image, which was large and ²of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was ^3aawesome.

³²“The ^ahead of that image was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

³⁴“You ¹continued looking until a ^astone was cut out ^bwithout hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and ^ccrushed them.

³⁵“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed ¹all at the same time and became ^alike chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that ^bnot a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great ^cmountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶“This was the dream; now we will say ^aits interpretation before the king.

³⁷“You, O king, are the ^aking of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ¹kingdom, the ^bpower, the strength, and the glory;

³⁸and wherever the sons of men inhabit, or the ^abeasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has made you rule with power over them all. You are the head of gold.

³⁹“But after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule with power over all the earth.

⁴⁰“Then there will be a ^afourth kingdom…