Daniel 2

1In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.

2Then the king ordered the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

3And the king said to them, “I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

4Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”

5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be made into limbs, and your houses will be made a refuse heap.”

6But if you make known the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore make known to me the dream and its interpretation.

7They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will show the interpretation.”

8The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you are trying to gain time, because you have seen that the matter has gone from me.”

9But if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you, for you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the time changes. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can make its interpretation known to me.

10The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can make known the king’s matter, because no great and powerful king has asked for a thing like this from any diviner-priest, enchanter, or Chaldean.”

11And the thing that the king asks is difficult, and there is no other who can declare it before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.

12Because of this, the king became furious and very enraged, and he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.

13So the decree went out, and the wise men were being killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

14Then Daniel answered Arioch, the chief of the king’s executioners, with counsel and discretion—the one who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.

15He answered and said to Arioch, the king’s commander, “Why is the decree so harsh from before the king?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.

16So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, so that he might make the interpretation known to the king.

17Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions.

18and to seek mercy from before 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.

19Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

20Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God from everlasting to everlasting, for wisdom and might belong to him.”

21He changes times and seasons; he removes 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 fathers, I give thanks and praise, because you have given me wisdom and might, and now you have made known to me what we requested from you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.

24Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said this to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show the interpretation to the king.”

25Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man from among the exiles of Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king.”

26The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation?”

27Daniel answered before the king and said, “The mystery that the king asks, no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners are able to make known to the king.”

28But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head as you lay on your bed, were these:

29As for you, O king, your thoughts came up on your bed about what would happen after this, and he who reveals mysteries has made known to you what would happen.

30But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me not because of wisdom that is in me more than in all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

31You, O king, were watching, and behold, there was one great statue. That statue was immense, and its splendor was extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was terrifying.

32That image—its head was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze.

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

34You were watching until a stone was cut out, not by hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that no place was found for them. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36This was the dream, and we will tell its interpretation before the king.

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

38And wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens—he has given them into your hand and made you ruler over all of them. You are the head of gold.

39And after you another kingdom, inferior to yours, will arise; and yet a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

40And the fourth kingdom will be strong like iron, because iron crushes and shatters everything; and like iron that breaks all these things, it will crush and shatter.

41And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom will be divided; yet some of the firmness of iron will be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with clay mud.

42And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so part of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be brittle.

43As you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will mix themselves with the seed of man, but they will not hold together, this one with that one, just as iron does not mix with pottery.

44And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

45Just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.

46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel, and he commanded that an offering and incense be offered to him.

47The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, because you were able to reveal this mystery.”

48Then the king made Daniel great and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

49And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.