Study Desk

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the door where the fire was burning, and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the fire.

So I now make a law that if any people of any nation or language say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, they will be torn apart and their houses will be laid waste. For there is no other god who is able to save in this way."

So I called for all the wise men of Babylon to come and tell me the meaning of my dream.

‘O Belteshazzar, head of the wonder-workers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no secret is hidden from you. So tell me what dream I had, and what it means.

This penalty is by the law of the angels who keep watch. This is what the holy ones have decided, so that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the nation of all people. He gives it to whomever He wants, and lets the least important of men rule over it."

So, O king, may my words be pleasing to you. Turn away from your sins by doing what is right and good. Turn away from your wrong-doing by being kind to the poor. Then it may be that things will keep going well for you.'

When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he had all the gold and silver cups brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Lord's house in Jerusalem. The king sent for them so that he and his important men and all his wives could drink from them.

So they brought the gold cups that had been taken from the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king and his important men and all his wives drank from them.

So Daniel was brought to the king. And the king said to him, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the people whom my father the king brought from Judah?

The wise men and wonder-workers were brought in to me so that they might read this writing and tell me what it means. But they could not tell me its meaning.

So the hand was sent from Him to write on your wall.

So Darius the Mede became the king when he was sixty-two years old.

And three leaders were to rule over them, and Daniel was one. The captains were to answer to them, so that the king might suffer no loss.

Then Daniel showed that he could do better work than the other leaders and captains because a special spirit was in him. So the king planned to give him power over the whole nation.

So these leaders and captains came as a group to the king and said, "King Darius, live forever!

O king, make this law now and write your name on it so that it may not be changed. It will be by the law of the Medes and Persians, and cannot be changed."

So King Darius made the law and wrote his name on it.

So they went to the king and spoke to him about his law, saying, "Did you not write your name on a law which says that anyone who asks something of any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be thrown to the lions?" The king answered, "This is true. It is by the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."

So the king had Daniel brought in and thrown into the place where lions were kept. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, Whom you are faithful to serve, save you."

And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the hole. The king marked it with his own special ring and with the rings of his important men, so that no one could save Daniel.