Study Desk

You, O king, are a king of kings; for the God of heaven has given you a mighty kingdom and honor.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up an everlasting kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to you what shall come to pass in the latter days. The dream is true, and its interpretation is sure.

The king answered Daniel and said, Truly, your God is the God of gods and the LORD of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.

There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded you; they do not serve your god, nor do they worship the golden image which you have set up.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king spoke and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my god nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

Now if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, the psaltery, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you do not worship, you shall at once be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is your god that shall deliver you out of my hands?

For there is our God whom we serve, he is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Then the king shall know that we will not serve your god nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. (And they rose up and walked bound in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the LORD.)

The king answered and said, Behold I see men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like that of the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king drew near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came out of the midst of the fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have rejected the kings word and offered their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Therefore I make this decree: Every people, nation, and language which speaks blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be plundered, because there is no other God that can deliver in this manner.

I thought it good to publish the signs and wonders that the High God has wrought toward me.

Until Daniel came before me, whose name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and before him I told the dream, saying,

This decree is by the command of the angel at the request of the Holy One to the intent that the living may know that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever he will, and appoints over it the lowest of men.

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

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty and honor and glory.

And he was driven from among men; and his heart became like that of the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him with grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair grew like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men and that he gives it to whom he pleases and he appoints over it the weakest among men.