Study Desk

They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, "O king, may you live forever!

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."

Then Nebuchadnezzar said in rage and anger to bring in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; then they brought in these men before the king.

Then these men were bound with their garments, their trousers and their turbans and their other clothing, and they were thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.

But these men, the three of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and they were bound.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and he rose up in haste and he asked, saying to his advisers, "Did we not throw three men, bound, into the midst of the fire? They answered, saying to the king, "Certainly, O king!"

And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the advisors of the king were assembling, and they saw these men, that the fire had no power over their bodies, and the hair of their heads was not singed, and their garments were not harmed, and the smell of fire did not come from them.

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.

And a decree was sent out, ordering that all the wise men of Babylon were to be brought in before me so that they may make known to me the explanation of the dream.

Then the magicians, the conjurers, the astrologers and the diviners came in and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its explanation.

And in that they said to leave alone the stump of the tree's root, so your kingdom will be restored for you when you acknowledge that heaven is sovereign.

and you will be driven away from human society and your dwelling will be with the animals of the field and they will cause you to graze the grass like oxen, and seven times will pass over you, until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind and that he gives it to whom he wills.'

When he tasted the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his predecessor had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines may drink from them.

Then they brought in the vessels of gold that they took from the temple, the house of God that was in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Immediately human fingers appeared and they wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the palace of the king, and the king was watching the palm of the hand that was writing.

And now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me so that they could read this writing in order to make its explanation known to me, but they were not able to disclose the explanation of the matter.

Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple and placed a necklace of gold around his neck, and they made a proclamation concerning him that he would be the third ruler in authority in the kingdom.

It pleased Darius, and he set up one hundred and twenty satraps over the kingdom, that they were throughout the whole kingdom,

Then the other administrators and satraps began to seek to find a pretext against Daniel in connection with the kingdom, but they were not able to find any pretext and corruption because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him.