Study Desk

And Yahweh said to me, "This gate will be shut. It shall not be opened, and no one will go through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered it, and it will be shut.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim the king of Judah into his hand and some of of the utensils of the temple of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the temple of his gods, and he brought the utensils to the treasury of his gods.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion before the commander of the court officials,

And as for these four young men, God gave to them knowledge and insight into all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had insight into all visions and dreams.

and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions, along with the remainder of the wise men of Babylon, would not be killed.

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

Daniel said: "Let his name, the name of God, be blessed throughout the ages, for the wisdom and the power are his.

To you, O God of my ancestors, I give thanks and I give praises, for the wisdom and the power you gave to me, and now you have made known to me what we have asked from you, for you have made known to us the matter of the king."

But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what it is that will be at the end of days. This is your dream and the visions of your head on your bed.

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

And in the day of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left for another nation, and it will bring an end to all these kingdoms, but it will stand forever.

Inasmuch as you saw that a stone from the mountain was chiseled out but not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, thereby the great God made known to the king what will be in the future, and the dream is certain and its explanation trustworthy."

The king answered Daniel and said, "Truly your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and he reveals mysteries, for you are able to reveal this mystery."

However there are Judean men whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—these men, O king, pay you no heed and were not serving your god, and the statue of gold that you set up they are not worshiping."

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you are not serving my god, and you are not worshiping the statue of gold that I have set up?

Now if you are ready so that when you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the lyre, the trigon, the harp and the drum and all kinds of music, you fall down and you worship the statue that I have made, that will be good. But if you do not worship it, immediately you will be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god who will rescue you from my hands?"

If it is so, our God, whom we serve, is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. And from your hand, O king, let him rescue us.

He answered, saying, "Look, I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and there is no damage to them, and the appearance of the fourth man resembles the son of a god."

Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire, and he called out, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here!"

Nebuchadnezzar responded, saying, "Blessed be their God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him, and the command of the king they disobeyed, and they gave their bodies so that they did not serve and did not worship any god except their God.