Daniel 2

¹ It was the second year of his reign. He was troubled and could not sleep. Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and was disturbed by them.

² The king summoned the magicians, enchanters conjurers, sorcerers, and the Chaldeans and commanded them to tell the king about his dreams. They came in and stood before the king.

³ The king said: »I had a dream that troubles me and I want to understand what the dream means.«

⁴ The Chaldeans spoke in the Syrian language: »O king, may you live for a very long time. Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.«

⁵ The king answered: »I have decided. If you do not make the dream known to me and it’s interpretation you will be cut in pieces, and your houses will be made a dunghill foul smelling pile of rubbish.

⁶ »But if you tell me the dream and what it means you will receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me. Therefore tell me the dream and the interpretation of it.«

⁷ They answered the second time. They said: »Let the king tell his servants the dream. Then we will tell the interpretation.«

⁸ The king responded: »I am certain that you bargain for time, because you see my command is firm.

⁹ »If you do not tell me my dream, the law will apply to you. You are stalling by speaking lies to me until I change my requirements. Tell me the dream, and I will know that you can show me the interpretation of it.«

¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered: »There is no man on earth who can do what the king requires. No king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean.

¹¹ »It is a rare thing that the king requires. There is no other person who can show it to the king, except the gods, and they do not live with humans.«

¹² This caused the king to be angry. In fact he became furious! He commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.

¹³ So the decree was delivered. The wise men were to be executed. They searched for Daniel and his companions to execute them.

¹⁴ Daniel sent an answer tempered with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who was ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁵ He asked Arioch the king's captain: »Why is the decree so urgent from the king?« Then Arioch explained it to Daniel.

¹⁶ Daniel made an appointment with the king so he could show the king the interpretation.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went back to his house, and explained everything to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

¹⁸ that they would request mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret. And they would request that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹ The secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Daniel praised the God of heaven.

²⁰ Daniel said: »Praise be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his.

²¹ »He changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to the discerning.

²² »He reveals the deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.

²³ »I thank you, and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might. You have made known to me what we desired from you. For you have made known to us the king's situation.«

²⁴ Therefore Daniel went to Arioch. Arioch was appointed by the king to destroy the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him: »Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king and I will show the king the interpretation.«

²⁵ Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said: »I have found a man of the captive children of Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king.«

²⁶ The king said to Daniel, who was also called Belteshazzar: »Are you able to tell me about my dream and interpret it?«

²⁷ Daniel answered: »Wise men, enchanters, magicians, and soothsayers cannot show the secret the king demanded.

²⁸ »There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets. He made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in days to come. Your dream and visions are these:

²⁹ »As for you, O king, your thoughts while you were in bed were about what will happen in the future. He who reveals secrets revealed the future to you.

³⁰ »Concerning me, this secret is not revealed to me to give me more wisdom than anyone else. It is for the purpose that the interpretation may be made known to the king; that you may know the thoughts of your mind.

³¹ »You, O king, saw a large statue. This statue was in fact very large. It was very bright as it stood before you. Its appearance was awesome.

³² »The statue had a head of pure gold, chest and arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass.

³³ »It had legs of iron and its feet were partly of iron, and partly of clay.

³⁴ »You watched while a stone was cut out without hands. It struck the statue upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

³⁵ »The iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broke in pieces together. It became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors. The wind carried them away and no place was found for them. The stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ »This was the dream! We will interpret it for the king.

³⁷ »You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory.

³⁸ »He gave the children of men, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens to your hand. He made you the ruler over them all! You are the head of gold.

³⁹ »After you another inferior kingdom will arise and another third kingdom of brass, which will rule over all the earth.

⁴⁰ »The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, since iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things. It is iron that crushes all these. It will break in pieces and crush.

⁴¹ »The feet and toes you saw, part of potters' clay, and part of iron will be a divided kingdom. It will have the strength of iron. However, you saw the iron mixed with clay.

⁴² »As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken.

⁴³ »The iron mixed with clay will mingle with the seed of men. But they will not adhere to one another. For iron does not stick to clay.

⁴⁴ »In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Its sovereignty will not be entrusted to another people. It will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it will stand forever!

⁴⁵ »You saw a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. It broke the iron, brass, clay, silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God made known to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is sure.«

⁴⁶ King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel. He commanded that they present an offering and burn incense to him.

⁴⁷ The king spoke to Daniel: »It is true, your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you were able to reveal this secret.«

⁴⁸ The king made Daniel great! He gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. He was appointed chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

⁴⁹ Daniel requested that the king appoint Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel sat in the court of the king.