Study Desk

Since you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you have been able to reveal this secret.

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it on purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you don't serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

Now if you are ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, lyre, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if you don't worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?

If it is [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, you slaves of the Most High God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire.

Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his slaves that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort.

It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has wrought toward me.

But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him, [saying],

Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.

You, O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:

and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whoever he will.

but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drank wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand is your breath, and are all your ways, you have not glorified.

This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;

Then these [prominent] men said, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he knelt on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did previously.

Then these [prominent] men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.

Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's interdict: Have you not signed an interdict, that every man that shall make petition to any god or man within thirty days, save to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.