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and sayde vnto kynge Nabuchodonosor: O kynge, God saue thy lyfe for euer.

Sydrac, Misac and Abdenago answered the kynge, and sayde: O Nabuchodonosor, we ought not to cosente vnto ye in this matter, for why:

and spake vnto the strongest worthies that were in his hooste, for to bynde Sidrac, Misac and Abdenago, and to cast them in to the hote burnynge ouen.

for the kinges commaundement was so strate, and the ouen was exceadynge hote. As for the men that put in Sydrac, Misac and Abdenago, the flame off the fyre destroyed them.

He answered and sayde: lo, for all that, yet do I se foure men goinge lowse in the myddest off the fyre, and nothinge corrupte: and the fourth is like an angel to loke vpon.

O how greate are his tokes, & how mightie are his wonders? His kyngdome is an euerlastinge kyngdome, and his power lasteth for euer and euer.

O Balthasar, thou prynce of saythsayers: For so moch as I knowe, that thou hast the sprete of the holy goddes, and no secrete is hyd from the: tel me therfore, what ye visio of my dreame (yt I haue sene) maye signifie.

This erande of the watcher, is a comaundemet grounded and sought out in the councel off him, that is most holy: to lerne men for to vnderstonde, that the hyest hath power ouer the kyngdomes off men, ad geueth them, to whom it liketh him, and bryngeth the very outcastes off men ouer them.

This is the dreame, yt I kynge Nabuchodonosor haue sene. Therfore o Balthasar, tell thou me what it signifieth: for so moch as all the wyse men off my kyngdome are not able to shewe me, what it meaneth. But thou canst do it, for ye sprete of the holy Goddes is in the.

As for the tre that thou sawest which was so greate & mightie, whose heyth reached vnto the heauen, and his bredth in to all the worlde:

Wherfore (o kinge) be contet with my councel, that thou mayest lowse thy synnes with rightuousnesse, ad thyne offences with mercy to poore people: for soch thinges shall prolonge thy peace.

and sayde: This is the greate cite off Babilo, which I myself (with my power & strength) haue made a kynges courte, for the honoure off my magesty.

When this tyme was past, I Nabuchodonosor lift vp myne eyes vnto heauen, and myne vnderstondinge was restored vnto me agayne. Then gaue I thankes vnto the hyest. I magnified and praysed him that lyueth for euermore, whose power endureth allwaye, and his kyngdome from one generacion to another:

The dyd I Nabuchodonosor, loaue, magnifie and prayse the kynge of heauen: for all his workes are true, and his wayes right. As for those that go on proudly, he is able to bri bringe them downe.

So by reason off this matter, yt had happened to the kynge & his lordes, the quene went vp herself in to the bancket house, and spake vnto the kynge, sayenge: O kynge God saue thy life for euer: Let not yi thoughtes trouble the, and let not thy countenaunce be chaunged.

For why: there is a man in ye kyngdome, that hath the sprete off the holy goddes within him, as it was sene in thy fathers dayes. He hath vnderstondinge ad wysdome like the goddes. Yee the kynge Nabuchodonosor thy father made this man chefe of the soythsayers, charmers, Caldees and deuel coniurers:

because that soch an abundaunt sprete, knowlege & wisdome (to expoude dreames, to open secretes, and to declare harde dowtes) was founde in him: yee euen in Daniel, whom the kynge named Balthasar. Let this same Daniel be sente for, and he shall tell, what it meaneth.

Daniel answered, and sayde before ye kynge: As for thy rewardes, kepe them to thy self, or geue yi rych giftes to another: yet not thelesse, I wil rede the wrytynge vnto ye kinge, and shewe him the interpretacion

so yt all people, kynreddes & tunges stode in awe & feare of him, by reason off the hye estate, that he had lent him. For why: he slewe, whom he wolde: he smote, whom it pleased him. Agayne: whom he wolde, he set vp: and whom he list, he put downe.

And thou his sonne (o Balthasar) for all this, hast not submitted thine hert, though thou knewest all these thinges: