Daniel 1–12

Four Young Israelites at the Babylonian Court

¹In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.^{* 2}The Lord gave King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, as well as some of the vessels of the house of God. These he brought to the land of Shinar,^a and he placed the vessels in the treasury of his gods.^*

³Then the king commanded his palace master Ashpenaz to bring some of the Israelites of the royal family and of the nobility: ⁴young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king’s palace; they were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans.^{* 5}The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal rations of food and wine. They were to be educated for three years, so that at the end of that time they could be stationed in the king’s court.^{* 6}Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the tribe of Judah.^{* 7}The palace master gave them other names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.^*

⁸But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine, so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself.^{* 9}Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion from the palace master.^{* 10}The palace master said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king; he has appointed your food and your drink. If he should see you in poorer condition than the other young men of your age, you would endanger my head with the king.” ¹¹Then Daniel asked the guard whom the palace master had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations and deal with your servants according to what you observe.” ¹⁴So he agreed to this proposal and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations.^{* 16}So the guard continued to withdraw their royal rations and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. ¹⁷To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams.^*

¹⁸At the end of the time that the king had set for them to be brought in, the palace master brought them into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, ¹⁹and the king spoke with them. Among them all, no one was found to compare with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they were stationed in the king’s court.^{* 20}In every matter of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.^{* 21}And Daniel continued there until the first year of King Cyrus.^*

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

²In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.^{* 2}So the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. When they came in and stood before the king,^{* 3}he said to them, “I have had such a dream that my spirit is troubled by the desire to understand it.”^{* 4}The Chaldeans said to the king (in Aramaic),^b “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will reveal the interpretation.”^{* 5}The king answered the Chaldeans, “This is a public decree: if you do not tell me both the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.^{* 6}But if you do tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.”^{* 7}They answered a second time, “Let the king first tell his servants the dream, then we can give its interpretation.”^{* 8}The king answered, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time because you see the decree from me is firm: ⁹if you do not tell me the dream, there is but one verdict for you. You have agreed to speak lying and misleading words to me until things take a turn. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.”^{* 10}The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can reveal what the king demands! In fact, no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. ¹¹The thing that the king is asking is too difficult, and no one can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”^*

¹²Because of this the king flew into a violent rage and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. ¹³The decree was issued, and the wise men were about to be executed, and they looked for Daniel and his companions, to execute them. ¹⁴Then Daniel responded with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the king’s chief executioner, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon;^{* 15}he asked Arioch, the royal official, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel.^{* 16}So Daniel went in and requested that the king give him time and he would tell the king the interpretation.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

¹⁷Then Daniel went to his home and informed his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, of the matter ¹⁸and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.^{* 19}Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven.^*

²⁰Daniel said:

“Blessed be the name of God from age to age,

for wisdom and power are his.^*

²¹He changes times and seasons,

deposes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding.^*

²²He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and light dwells with him.^*

²³To you, O God of my ancestors,

I give thanks and praise,

for you have given me wisdom and power

and have now revealed to me what we asked of you,

for you have revealed to us what the king ordered.”

Daniel Interprets the Dream

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

²⁵Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who can tell the king the interpretation.”^{* 26}The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can show to the king the mystery that the king is asking, ²⁸but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed were these:^{* 29}To you, O king, as you lay in bed, came thoughts of what would be hereafter, and the revealer of mysteries disclosed to you what is to be.^{* 30}But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me because of any wisdom that I have more than any other living being, but in order that the interpretation may be known to the king and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.^*

³¹“You were looking, O king, and there appeared a great statue. That statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening.^{* 32}The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its midsection and thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces.^{* 35}Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.^*

³⁶“That was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory,^{* 38}into whose hand he has given human beings wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air and whom he has established as ruler over them all—you are the head of gold.^{* 39}After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth.^{* 40}And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything,^c it shall crush and shatter all these.^{* 41}As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay.^{* 42}As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage,^d but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,^{* 45}just as you saw that a stone was cut from the…