Daniel 4–6

Chapter 4

The King Acknowledges God

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every ²language that live in all the earth: “May your ^3apeace abound!

²“It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the ^aMost High God has done for me.

³“How great are His ^asigns

And how mighty are His wonders!

His ^bkingdom is an everlasting kingdom

And His dominion is from generation to generation.

The Vision of a Great Tree

⁴“¹I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and ^aflourishing in my palace.

⁵“I saw a ^adream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the ^bvisions ¹in my mind kept alarming me.

⁶“So I gave orders to ^abring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

⁷“Then the ^1amagicians, the conjurers, the ²Chaldeans and the diviners came in and I related the dream ³to them, but they could not make its ^binterpretation known to me.

⁸“But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is ^aBelteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is ^1ba spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream ²to him, saying,

⁹‘O Belteshazzar, ^achief of the magicians, since I know that ^ba spirit of the holy gods is in you and ^cno mystery baffles you, ^dtell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretation.

¹⁰‘Now these were the ^avisions ¹in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a ^btree in the midst of the ²earth and its height was great.

¹¹‘The tree grew large and became strong

And its height ^areached to the sky,

And it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

¹²‘Its foliage was ^abeautiful and its fruit abundant,

And in it was food for all.

The ^bbeasts of the field found ^cshade under it,

And the ^dbirds of the sky dwelt in its branches,

And all ¹living creatures fed themselves from it.

¹³‘I was looking in the ^avisions ¹in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, ^ban angelic watcher, a ^choly one, descended from heaven.

¹⁴‘He shouted out and spoke as follows:

“^aChop down the tree and cut off its branches,

Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit;

Let the ^bbeasts flee from under it

And the birds from its branches.

¹⁵“Yet ^aleave the stump ¹with its roots in the ground,

But with a band of iron and bronze around it

In the new grass of the field;

And let him be drenched with the dew of heaven,

And let ²him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

¹⁶“Let his ¹mind be changed from that of a man

And let a beast’s mind be given to him,

And let ^aseven ²periods of time pass over him.

¹⁷“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers

And the decision is a command of the holy ones,

In order that the living may ^aknow

That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,

And ^bbestows it on whom He wishes

And sets over it the ^clowliest of men.”

¹⁸‘This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, inasmuch as none of the ^awise men of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for a ^bspirit of the holy gods is in you.’

Daniel Interprets the Vision

¹⁹“Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while as his ^athoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, ‘Belteshazzar, do not ^blet the dream or its interpretation alarm you.’ Belteshazzar replied, ‘^cMy lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you and its interpretation to ^dyour adversaries!

²⁰‘The ^atree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky and was visible to all the earth

²¹and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt and in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged—

²²it is ^ayou, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your ¹majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your ^bdominion to the end of the earth.

²³‘In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, “^aChop down the tree and destroy it; yet leave the stump ¹with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field, and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let ²him share with the beasts of the field until ^bseven ³periods of time pass over him,”

²⁴this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has ^acome upon my lord the king:

²⁵that you be ^adriven away from mankind and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven ¹periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the ^bMost High is ruler over the realm of mankind and ^cbestows it on whomever He wishes.

²⁶‘And in that it was commanded to ^aleave the stump ¹with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be ²assured to you after you recognize that it is ^bHeaven that rules.

²⁷‘Therefore, O king, may my ^aadvice be pleasing to you: ^1bbreak away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by ^cshowing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a ^dprolonging of your prosperity.’

The Vision Fulfilled

²⁸“All this ^ahappened to Nebuchadnezzar the king.

²⁹“^aTwelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.

³⁰“The king ¹reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the ^agreat, which I myself have built as a royal ²residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’

³¹“While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice ¹came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: ²sovereignty has been removed from you,

³²and ^ayou will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and ^bseven ¹periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the ^cMost High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’

³³“Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was ^adriven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

³⁴“But at the end of ¹that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my ²reason returned to me, and I blessed the ^aMost High and praised and honored ^bHim who lives forever;

For His dominion is an ^ceverlasting dominion,

And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

³⁵“^aAll the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

But ^bHe does according to His will in the host of heaven

And among the inhabitants of earth;

And ^cno one can ¹ward off His hand

Or say to Him, ‘^dWhat have You done?’

³⁶“At that time my ^1areason returned to me. And my majesty and ^bsplendor were ²restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my ³sovereignty, and surpassing ^cgreatness was added to me.

³⁷“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of ^aheaven, for ^ball His works are ¹true and His ways ²just, and He is able to humble those who ^cwalk in pride.”

Chapter 5

Belshazzar’s Feast

¹Belshazzar the king ¹held a great ^afeast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

²When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver ^avessels which Nebuchadnezzar his ¹father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

³Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

⁴They ^adrank the wine and praised the gods of ^bgold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

⁵Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the ¹back of the hand that did the writing.

⁶Then the king’s ^1aface grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his ^bhip joints went slack and his ^cknees began knocking together.

⁷The king called aloud to bring in the ^aconjurers, the ¹Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be ^bclothed with purple and have a ^cnecklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as ^2dthird ruler in the kingdom.”

⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but ^athey could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king.

⁹Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^aalarmed, his ^1bface grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed.

¹⁰The queen entered the banquet ¹hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, “^aO king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your ²face be pale.

¹¹“There is a ^aman in your kingdom in whom is ¹a ^bspirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father ^2cthe king, appointed him chief of the ³magicians, conjurers, ⁴Chaldeans and diviners.

¹²“This was because an ^aextraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named ^bBelteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.”

Daniel Interprets Handwriting on the Wall

¹³Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the ^1aexiles from Judah, whom my father the king ^bbrought from Judah?

¹⁴“Now I have heard about you that ¹a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found…