Daniel

In the second year of his reign Nabuchodonosor dreamed a dream; and his spirit was amazed, and his sleep departed from him.

And the king gave orders to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dream. And they came and stood before the king.

And the king said to them, I have dreamed, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in the Syriac language, O king, live for ever: tell the dream to thy servants, and we will declare the interpretation.

The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing has departed from me: unless ye make known to me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall be destroyed, and your houses shall be plundered.

But if ye make known to me the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and presents and great honour: only tell me the dream and the interpretation thereof.

They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.

And the king answered and said, I verily know that ye are trying to gain time, because ye see that the thing has gone from me.

If then ye do not make known to me the dream, I know that ye have conspired to utter a false and corrupt word before me, until the time shall pass away: tell me my dream, and I shall know that ye will also declare to me the interpretation thereof.

The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is no man upon the earth who shall be able to make known the king's matter: forasmuch as no great king or ruler asks such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.

For the thing which the king asks is difficult; and there is no other who shall show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with any flesh.

Then the king in rage and anger commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree went forth, and they began to slay the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to slay them.

Then Daniel answered with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon.

And he asked him, saying, O ruler of the king, wherefore has the impetuous decree gone forth from the king? So Arioch made known the matter to Daniel.

And Daniel intreated the king to give him time, that he might declare to the king the interpretation.

Then Daniel went to his house, and made known the matter to Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, his friends,

to seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this mystery; that Daniel and his friends should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night: and Daniel blessed the God of heaven,

and said, Let the name of God be blessed from everlasting and to everlasting: for wisdom and understanding are his.

And he changes times and seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: giving wisdom to the wise, and prudence to them that have understanding:

he reveals deep and secret things: knowing what is in darkness, and the light is with him.

I give thanks to thee, and praise thee, O God of my fathers: for thou hast given me wisdom and power, and hast made known to me the things which we asked of thee; and thou hast made known to me the king's vision.

And Daniel came to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.

Then Arioch in haste brought Daniel in before the king, and said to him, I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judea, who will declare the interpretation to the king.

And the king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Baltasar, Canst thou declare to me the dream which I saw, and the interpretation thereof?

Daniel answered before the king, and said, The mystery which the king asks is not in the power of the wise men, magicians, enchanters, or soothsayers to declare to the king.

But there is a God in heaven revealing mysteries; and he has made known to king Nabuchodonosor what things must come to pass in the last days. Thy dream, and the vision of thy head on thy bed, is as follows,

O king: thy thoughts upon thy bed arose as to what must come to pass hereafter: and he that reveals mysteries has made known to thee what must come to pass.

Moreover, this mystery has not been revealed to me by reason of wisdom which is in me beyond all living, but for the sake of making known the interpretation to the king, that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold an image: that image was great, and its form was excellent, standing before thy face; and its appearance was terrible.

Its head was of fine gold, its hands and breast of silver, its belly and thighs of brass,

its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of earthenware.

Thou sawest until a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and it smote the image upon its feet of iron and earthenware, and utterly reduced them to powder.

Then the iron, the earthenware, the brass, the silver, the gold were ground to powder together; and they became as the dust of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind carried them away, and there was no place found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled all the earth.

This is the dream; and we will declare the interpretation thereof before the king.

Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given thee a powerful and strong and honourable kingdom.

In every place where the children of men dwell: and he has given into thine hand the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and has made thee ruler over all. Thou art the head of gold.

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and a third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the earth.

And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron: as iron beats to powder and subdues all things, so shall it beat to powder and subdue all things.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of earthenware and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet there shall be in it of the strength of iron, as thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware.

And whereas the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of earthenware, so shall the kingdom be partly strong and partly broken.

And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware, they shall mix themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave together, even as iron is not mixed with earthenware.

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and his kingdom shall not be left to another people; it shall beat to powder and destroy all other kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Whereas thou sawest that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and that it beat to powder the iron, the brass, the earthenware, the silver, the gold; the great God has made known to the king what must come to pass hereafter: and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is sure.

Then king Nabuchodonosor fell upon his face, and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to offer to him gifts and incense.

And the king answered Daniel and said, Of a truth your God is a God of gods, and Lord of kings, who reveals mysteries: for thou hast been able to reveal this mystery.

And the king magnified Daniel, and gave him great and abundant gifts, and made him ruler of the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Sedrach, Misach, and Abdenago over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the king's palace.