Daniel 2
2
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
1During Nebuchadnezzar’s second year as king, he had dreams that bothered him and kept him awake at night. 2So the king called for his fortune-tellers, magicians, wizards, and wise men, because he wanted them to tell him what he had dreamed. They came in and stood in front of the king.
3Then the king said to them, “I had a dream that bothers me, and I want to know what it means.”
4The wise men answered the king in the Aramaic language, “O king, live forever! Please tell us, your servants, your dream. Then we will tell you what it means.”
5King Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “I meant what I said. You must tell me the dream and what it means. If you don’t, I will have you torn apart, and I will turn your houses into piles of stones. 6But if you tell me my dream and its meaning, I will reward you with gifts and great honor. So tell me the dream and what it means.”
7Again the wise men said to the king, “Tell us, your servants, the dream, and we will tell you what it means.”
8King Nebuchadnezzar answered, “I know you are trying to get more time, because you know that I meant what I said. 9If you don’t tell me my dream, you will be punished. You have all agreed to tell me lies and wicked things, hoping things will change. Now, tell me the dream so that I will know you can tell me what it really means!”
10The wise men answered the king, saying, “No one on earth can do what the king asks! No great and powerful king has ever asked the fortune-tellers, magicians, or wise men to do this; 11the king is asking something that is too hard. Only the gods could tell the king this, but the gods do not live among people.”
12When the king heard their answer, he became very angry. He ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be killed. 13So King Nebuchadnezzar’s order to kill the wise men was announced, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
14Arioch, the commander of the king’s guards, was going to kill the wise men of Babylon. But Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and skill, 15saying, “Why did the king order such a terrible punishment?” Then Arioch explained everything to Daniel. 16So Daniel went to King Nebuchadnezzar and asked for an appointment so that he could tell the king what his dream meant.
17Then Daniel went to his house and explained the whole story to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 18Daniel asked his friends to pray that the God of heaven would show them mercy and help them understand this secret so he and his friends would not be killed with the other wise men of Babylon.
19During the night God explained the secret to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20Daniel said:
“Praise God forever and ever,
because he has wisdom and power.
21He changes the times and seasons of the year.
He takes away the power of kings
and gives their power to new kings.
He gives wisdom to those who are wise
and knowledge to those who understand.
22He makes known secrets that are deep and hidden;
he knows what is hidden in darkness,
and light is all around him.
23I thank you and praise you, God of my ancestors,
because you have given me wisdom and power.
You told me what we asked of you;
you told us about the king’s dream.”
The Meaning of the Dream
24Then Daniel went to Arioch, the man King Nebuchadnezzar had chosen to kill the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him, “Don’t put the wise men of Babylon to death. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means.”
25Very quickly Arioch took Daniel to the king and said, “I have found a man among the captives from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”
26The king asked Daniel, who was also called Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”
27Daniel answered, “No wise man, magician, or fortune-teller can explain to the king the secret he has asked about. 28But there is a God in heaven who explains secret things, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at a later time. This is your dream, the vision you saw while lying on your bed: 29O king, as you were lying there, you thought about things to come. God, who can tell people about secret things, showed you what is going to happen. 30God also told this secret to me, not because I have greater wisdom than any other living person, but so that you may know what it means. In that way you will understand what went through your mind.
31“O king, in your dream you saw a huge, shiny, and frightening statue in front of you. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and the upper part of its legs were made of bronze. 33The lower part of the legs were made of iron, while its feet were made partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34While you were looking at the statue, you saw a rock cut free, but no human being touched the rock. It hit the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold broke to pieces at the same time. They became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summertime; the wind blew them away, and there was nothing left. Then the rock that hit the statue became a very large mountain that filled the whole earth.
36“That was your dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. 37O king, you are the greatest king. God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. 38Wherever people, wild animals, and birds live, God made you ruler over them. King Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold on that statue.
39“Another kingdom will come after you, but it will not be as great as yours. Next a third kingdom, the bronze part, will rule over the earth. 40Then there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron. In the same way that iron crushes and smashes things to pieces, the fourth kingdom will smash and crush all the other kingdoms.
41“You saw that the statue’s feet and toes were partly baked clay and partly iron. That means the fourth kingdom will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of iron in it, just as you saw iron was mixed with clay. 42The toes of the statue were partly iron and partly clay. So the fourth kingdom will be partly strong like iron and partly breakable like clay. 43You saw the iron mixed with clay, but iron and clay do not hold together. In the same way the people of the fourth kingdom will be a mixture, but they will not be united as one people.
44“During the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up another kingdom that will never be destroyed or given to another group of people. This kingdom will crush all the other kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will continue forever.
45“King Nebuchadnezzar, you saw a rock cut from a mountain, but no human being touched it. The rock broke the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold to pieces. In this way the great God showed you what will happen. The dream is true, and you can trust this explanation.”
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown on the ground in front of Daniel. The king honored him and commanded that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47Then the king said to Daniel, “Truly I know your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord of all the kings. He tells people about things they cannot know. I know this is true, because you were able to tell these secret things to me.”
48Then the king gave Daniel many gifts plus an important position in his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar made him ruler over the whole area of Babylon and put him in charge of all the wise men of Babylon. 49Daniel asked the king to make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego leaders over the area of Babylon, so the king did as Daniel asked. Daniel himself became one of the people who stayed at the royal court.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Daniel 2
2
An impossible challenge
1In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, he had many dreams. The dreams made him anxious, but he kept sleeping. 2The king summoned the dream interpreters, enchanters, diviners, and Chaldeans to explain his dreams to him. They came and stood before the king.
3Then the king said to them: “I had a dream, and I’m anxious to know its meaning.”
4The Chaldeans answered the king in Aramaic:#2.4 The book switches into Aramaic at this point, returning to Hebrew in 8:1. “Long live the king! Tell your servants the dream, and we will explain its meaning.”
5The king answered the Chaldeans: “My decision is final: If you can’t tell me the dream and its meaning, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into trash dumps. 6But if you do explain the dream and its meaning, you’ll receive generous gifts and glorious honor from me. So explain to me the dream as well as its meaning.”
7They answered him again: “The king must tell his servants the dream. We will then explain the meaning.”
8The king replied: “Now I definitely know you are stalling for time, because you see that my decision is final 9and that if you can’t tell me the dream, your fate is certain. You’ve conspired to make false and lying speeches before me until the situation changes. Tell me the dream now! Then I’ll know you can explain its meaning to me.”
10The Chaldeans answered the king: “No one on earth can do what the king is asking! No king or ruler, no matter how great, has ever asked such a thing of any dream interpreter, enchanter, or Chaldean. 11What the king is asking is impossible! No one could declare the dream to the king but the gods, who don’t live among mere humans.”
12At this, the king exploded in a furious rage and ordered that all Babylon’s sages be wiped out. 13So the command went out: The sages were to be killed. Daniel and his friends too were hunted down; they were to be killed as well.
God reveals the mystery
14Then Daniel, with wisdom and sound judgment, responded to Arioch the king’s chief executioner, who had gone out to kill Babylon’s sages. 15He said to Arioch the king’s royal officer, “Why is the king’s command so unreasonable?” After Arioch explained the situation to Daniel, 16Daniel went and asked the king to give him some time so he could explain the dream’s meaning to him. 17Then Daniel went to his house and explained the situation to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah 18so that they would ask the God of heaven for help about this mystery, in hopes that Daniel and his friends wouldn’t die with the rest of Babylon’s sages. 19Then, in a vision by night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel! Daniel praised the God of heaven:
20God’s name be praised
from age to eternal age!
Wisdom and might are his!
21God is the one who changes times and eras,
who dethrones one king, only to establish another,
who grants wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those with insight.
22God is the one who uncovers what lies deeply hidden;
he knows what hides in darkness;
light lives with him!
23I acknowledge and praise you, my fathers’ God!
You’ve given me wisdom and might,
and now you’ve made known to me what we asked of you:
you’ve made known to us the king’s demand.
Daniel recounts the dream
24So Daniel went to Arioch, the man the king had appointed to wipe out Babylon’s sages. Daniel said to him, “Don’t wipe out the sages of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will explain the dream’s meaning to him.” 25Wasting no time, Arioch brought Daniel before the king, telling him, “I have found someone from the Judean exiles who will tell the dream’s meaning to the king.”
26In reply the king said to Daniel (whose name was Belteshazzar), “Can you really tell me the dream that I saw, as well as its meaning?”
27Daniel answered the king, “Sages, enchanters, dream interpreters, and diviners can’t explain to the king the mystery he seeks. 28But there is a God in heaven, a revealer of mysteries, who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the days to come! Now this was your dream—this was the vision in your head as you lay in your bed:
29“As you lay in bed, Your Majesty, your thoughts turned to what will happen in the future. The revealer of mysteries has revealed to you what will happen. 30Now this mystery was revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than any other living person but so that the dream’s meaning might be made known to the king, and so that you might know the thoughts of your own mind.
31“Your Majesty, you were looking, and there, rising before you, was a single, massive statue. This statue was huge, shining with dazzling light, and was awesome to see. 32The statue’s head was made of pure gold; its chest and arms were made from silver; its abdomen and hips were made of bronze. 33Its legs were of iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. 34You observed this until a stone was cut, but not by hands; and it smashed the statue’s feet of iron and clay and shattered them. 35Then all the parts shattered simultaneously—iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. They became like chaff, left on summer threshing floors. The wind lifted them away until no trace of them remained. But the stone that smashed the statue became a mighty mountain, and it filled the entire earth.
The dream’s meaning: four future rulers
36“This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its meaning: 37You, Your Majesty, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given kingship, power, might, and glory to you! 38God has delivered into your care human beings, wild creatures, and birds in the sky—wherever they live—and has made you ruler of all of them. You are the gold head. 39But in your place, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours, and then a third, bronze kingdom will rule over all the earth. 40Then will come a fourth kingdom, mighty like iron. Just as iron shatters and crushes everything; so like an iron that smashes, it will shatter and crush all these others. 41As for the feet and toes that you saw, which were a mixture of potter’s clay and iron, that signifies a divided kingdom; but it will possess some of the unyielding strength of iron. Even so, you saw the iron mixed with earthy clay 42so that the toes were made from a mixture of iron and clay. Part of the kingdom will be mighty, but part of it will be fragile. 43Just as you saw the iron mixed with earthy clay, they will join together by intermarrying, but they will not bond to each other, just as iron does not fuse with clay.
44“But in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will be indestructible. Its rule will never pass to another people. It will shatter other kingdoms. It will put an end to all of them. It will stand firm forever, 45just like you saw when the stone, which was cut from the mountain, but not by hands, shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. A great God has revealed to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain. Its meaning can be trusted.”
Nebuchadnezzar honors Daniel
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed low and honored Daniel. The king ordered that grain and incense offerings be made to Daniel. 47The king declared to Daniel, “No doubt about it: your God is God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries because you were able to reveal this mystery!” 48Then the king exalted Daniel and lavished gifts on him, making him ruler over all the province of Babylon and chief minister over all Babylon’s sages. 49At Daniel’s urging, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to administer the province of Babylon, but Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
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