Daniel 2

In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled, and sleep left him. The king ordered the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to be summoned to tell him his dreams. They came and stood before the king. The king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to understand it.” The Chaldeans answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” The king answered the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into rubbish heaps. But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive gifts, rewards, and great honor from me. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.” They answered a second time, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” The king answered, “I know for certain that you are buying time, because you see that my decision is firm. If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation changes. So tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.” The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean. What the king asks is difficult. No one can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.” At this the king became angry and flew into a rage. He ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be put to death. The decree went out that the wise men were to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to put them to death. Then Daniel spoke with prudence and discretion to Arioch, chief of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the king’s decree so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the matter to Daniel. Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time so that he could tell the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went home and told his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter, so that they would seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, and Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said,
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. He changes times and seasons;
he removes kings and establishes kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him. To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might.
You have now made known to me what we asked of you;
you have made known to us the king’s matter.” So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to put the wise men of Babylon to death. He went and said to him, “Do not kill the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.” Then Arioch hurried Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king the interpretation.” The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream I saw and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can tell the king the mystery he has asked about. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. This is your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed: As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to what would happen after this. He who reveals mysteries made known to you what will happen. As for me, this mystery was not revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that the interpretation might be made known to the king and you might understand the thoughts of your heart. You were looking, O king, and there before you was a great statue. This enormous statue, dazzling in splendor, stood before you, and its appearance was terrifying. The statue’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you watched, a stone was cut out without hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were all crushed together and became like chaff on summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and no trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you the kingdom, power, might, and glory. Wherever people dwell, he has given into your hand human beings, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. After you another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, and then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule over the whole earth. A fourth kingdom will be strong as iron. Just as iron crushes and shatters everything, and as iron breaks all these things, it will crush and break them. As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom. Yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, just as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw iron mixed with clay, they will mingle through human offspring, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Its rule will not be left to another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will stand forever. This is the meaning of the stone you saw cut from the mountain without hands, crushing the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God has made known to the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.” Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown and bowed before Daniel. He ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon. At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel remained at the king’s gate.

Rights and attribution