1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim R1 king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar R2 king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord R3 gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels R4 of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, R5 to the house of his god, F1 and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. R6F13 Then the king ordered F2 Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, F3 to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal F4 family R7 and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no R8 defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence R9 in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving F5 in the king's court; F6 and he ordered him to teach them the literature F7 and language R10 of the Chaldeans. R115 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's R12 choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated F8 three years, at the end of which they were to enter R13F9 the king's personal service. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, R14 Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, R15 to Hananiah Shadrach, R16 to Mishael Meshach R16 and to Azariah Abed-nego. R16
8 But Daniel made F10 up his mind that he would not defile R17 himself with the king's R18 choice food or with the wine R19 which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God granted Daniel favor R20F11 and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, 10 and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make F12 me forfeit my head to the king." 11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given R21 some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 "Then let our appearance be observed F13 in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see." 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better R22 and they F14 were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food. 16 So the overseer continued to withhold F15 their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving R23 them vegetables.
17 As for these four youths, God R24 gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature F16 and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions R25 and dreams. 18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified F17 for F18 presenting them, the commander of the officials presented F19 them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, R26 Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered R27F20 the king's personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom R28 and F21 understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten R29 times better R30 than all the magicians R31F22 and conjurers who were in all his realm. 21 And Daniel continued F23 until the first R32 year of Cyrus the king.
1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had R33F24 dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep R34 left F25 him. 2 Then the king gave F26 orders to call in the magicians, R35F27 the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans F28 to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, "I had R36F29 a dream and my spirit is F30 anxious to understand F31 the dream." 4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: R37F32 "O R38 king, live forever! Tell R39 the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation." 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, "The F33 command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn R40F34 limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 "But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts R41 and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation." 7 They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell R42 the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation." 8 The king replied, "I know for certain that you are bargaining F35 for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the F36 command from me is firm, 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one R43 decree F37 for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words F38 before me until the situation F39 is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know R44 that you can declare to me its interpretation." 10 The Chaldeans answered the F40 king and said, "There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for F41 the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, R45F42 conjurer or Chaldean. 11 "Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, F43 and there is no one else who could declare it to F44 the king except gods, R46 whose dwelling R47 place is not with mortal flesh." 12 Because of this the king became indignant R48 and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree F45 went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel R49 and his friends to kill F46 them.
14 Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, R50 the captain of the king's bodyguard, F47 who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; 15 he said to Arioch, the king's commander, "For what reason is the decree F48 from the king so urgent?" F49 Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 16 So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give F50 him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. 17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, R51 Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, 18 so that they might request R52 compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed R53 with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. R54 Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20 Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed R55 forever and ever, For wisdom R56 and power belong to Him. 21 "It is He who changes R57 the times and the epochs; He removes R58 kings and establishes F51 kings; He gives wisdom R59 to wise men And knowledge to men F52 of understanding. 22 "It is He who reveals R60 the profound and hidden things; He R61 knows what is in the darkness, And the light R62 dwells with Him. 23 "To You, O God R63 of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom R64 and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested R65 of You, For You have made known to us the king's matter."
24 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: "Do R66 not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into F53 the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king." 25 Then Arioch hurriedly brought R67 Daniel into F54 the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: "I have found a man among the exiles R68F55 from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!" 26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, R69 "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?" 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, "As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise R70 men, conjurers, magicians F56 nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 28 "However, there is a God R71 in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter R72F57 days. This was your dream and the visions R73 in F58 your mind while on your bed. 29 "As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned F59 to what would take place in F60 the future; and He R74 who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. 30 "But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom R75 residing F61 in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand F62 the thoughts R76 of your mind. F63
31 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of F64 extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. R7732 "The head R78 of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 "You continued F65 looking until a stone R79 was cut out without R80 hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed R81 them. 35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all F66 at the same time and became like R82 chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not R83 a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain R84 and filled the whole earth. 36 "This was the dream; now we will tell its R85 interpretation before the king. 37 "You, O king, are the king R86 of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, F67 the power, R87 the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts R88 of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 "After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 "Then there will be a fourth R89 kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 "In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common F68 clay. 42 "As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common F69 clay, they will combine with one another in F70 the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44 "In the days of those kings the God R90 of heaven will set R91 up a kingdom R92 which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left F71 for another people; it will crush R93 and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone R94 was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great R95 God has made known to the king what will R96 take place in F72 the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage R97 to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant R98F73 incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your R99 God is a God R100 of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer R101 of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." 48 Then the king promoted R102F74 Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province R103 of Babylon and chief prefect F75 over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed R104 Shadrach, R105 Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king's court. R106F76
FOOTNOTES: F1 Or gods F2 Or said to F3 Or eunuchs, and so throughout the ch F4 Lit seed of the F5 Lit standing F6 Lit palace F7 Or writing F8 Or reared F9 Lit stand before the king F10 Lit set upon his heart F11 Lit lovingkindness F12 Lit make my head guilty F13 Lit seen F14 Lit fat of flesh F15 Lit take away F16 Or writing F17 Lit said F18 Lit to bring them in F19 Lit brought in F20 Lit stood before the king F21 Lit of F22 Or soothsayer priests F23 Lit was until F24 Lit dreamed dreams F25 Lit was gone upon him F26 Lit said to call F27 Or soothsayer priests F28 Or master astrologers, and so throughout the ch F29 Lit dreamed F30 Lit was troubled F31 Lit know F32 The text is in Aramaic from here through 7:28 F33 Another reading is The word has gone from me F34 Lit made into limbs F35 Lit buying F36 V 5, note 1 F37 Or law F38 Lit word F39 Lit time F40 Lit before the F41 Lit of F42 Or soothsayer priest F43 Or rare F44 Lit before F45 Or law F46 Lit be killed F47 Or executioners F48 Or law F49 Or harsh F50 Or appoint a time for him F51 Or sets up F52 Lit knowers F53 Lit in before the king F54 Lit in before the king F55 Lit sons of the exile of F56 Or soothsayer priests F57 Lit end of the days F58 Lit of your head F59 Lit came up F60 Lit after this F61 Lit which is F62 Lit know F63 Lit heart F64 Lit its splendor was surpassing F65 Lit were F66 Lit like one F67 Or sovereignty F68 Lit clay of mud F69 Lit clay of mud F70 Or with F71 Or passed on to F72 Lit after this F73 Lit sweet odors F74 Lit made great F75 Lit of the prefects F76 Lit gate
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