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The King’s Forgotten Dream
1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar 1Lit dreamed dreamsAGen 40:5-8; 41:1, 8; Job 33:15-17; Dan 2:3; 4:5had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his BEsth 6:1; Dan 6:18sleep 2Lit was gone upon himleft him. 2 Then the king 1Lit said to callgave orders to call in the 2Or soothsayer priestsAGen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 47:12, 13; Dan 1:20; 2:10, 27; 4:6; 5:7magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the 3Or master astrologers, and so throughout the chChaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, “I 1Lit dreamedAGen 40:8; 41:15; Dan 4:5had a dream and my spirit 2Lit was troubledis anxious to 3Lit knowunderstand the dream.”
4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in 1The text is in Aramaic from here through 7:28AEzra 4:7; Is 36:11Aramaic: “BDan 3:9; 5:10O king, live forever! CDan 2:7Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “1Another reading is The word has gone from meThe command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be 2Lit made into limbsAEzra 6:11; Dan 2:12; 3:29torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 “But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me ADan 2:48; 5:7, 16, 29gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king ADan 2:4tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are 1Lit buyingbargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that 2V 5, note 1the command from me is firm, 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only AEsth 4:11; Dan 3:15one 1Or lawdecree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt 2Lit wordwords before me until the 3Lit timesituation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may BIs 41:23know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered 1Lit before thethe king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter 2Lit offor the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any 3Or soothsayer priestADan 2:2, 27magician, conjurer or Chaldean. 11 “Moreover, the thing which the king demands is 1Or raredifficult, and there is no one else who could declare it 2Lit beforeto the king except AGen 41:39; Dan 5:11gods, whose BEx 29:45; Is 57:15dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”
12 Because of this the king became APs 76:10; Dan 2:5; 3:13, 19indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the 1Or lawdecree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for ADan 1:19, 20Daniel and his friends to 2Lit be killedkill them.
14 Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to ADan 2:24Arioch, the captain of the king’s 1Or executionersbodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; 15 he said to Arioch, the king’s commander, “For what reason is the 1Or lawdecree from the king so 2Or harshurgent?” Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 16 So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would 1Or appoint a time for himgive him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.
17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, ADan 1:6Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, 18 so that they might AEsth 4:15, 16; Is 37:4; Jer 33:3; Ezek 36:37; Dan 2:23request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be BGen 18:28; Mal 3:18destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
The Secret Is Revealed to Daniel
19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night ANum 12:6; Job 33:15, 16; Dan 1:17; 7:2, 7, 13vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20 Daniel said,
“Let the name of God be APs 103:1, 2; 113:1, 2; 115:18; 145:1, 2, 21blessed forever and ever,
For B1 Chr 29:11, 12; Job 12:13, 16-22; Dan 2:21-23wisdom and power belong to Him.
21 “It is He who APs 31:15; Dan 2:9; 7:25changes the times and the epochs;
He BJob 12:18; Ps 75:6, 7; Dan 4:17, 32removes kings and 1Or sets upestablishes kings;
He gives C1 Kin 3:9, 10; 4:29; James 1:5wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to 2Lit knowersmen of understanding.
22 “It is He who AJob 12:22; Ps 25:14; Dan 2:19, 28reveals the profound and hidden things;
BJob 26:6; Ps 139:12; Is 45:7; Jer 23:24; Heb 4:13He knows what is in the darkness,
And the CPs 36:9; Dan 5:11, 14; James 1:17; 1 John 1:5light dwells with Him.
23 “To You, O AGen 31:42; Ex 3:15God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,
For You have given me BDan 1:17; 2:21wisdom and power;
Even now You have made known to me what we CPs 21:2, 4; Dan 2:18, 29, 30requested of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
24 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: “ADan 2:12, 13; Acts 27:24Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me 1Lit in before the kinginto the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”
25 Then Arioch hurriedly AGen 41:14brought Daniel 1Lit in before the kinginto the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the 2Lit sons of the exile ofBDan 1:6; 5:13; 6:13exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!” 26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was ADan 1:7; 4:8; 5:12Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither ADan 2:2, 10, 11; 5:7, 8wise men, conjurers, 1Or soothsayer priestsmagicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 28 “However, there is a AGen 40:8; 41:16; Dan 2:22, 45God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the 1Lit end of the daysBGen 49:1; Is 2:2; Dan 10:14; Mic 4:1latter days. This was your dream and the CDan 4:5visions 2Lit of your headin your mind while on your bed. 29 “As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts 1Lit came upturned to what would take place 2Lit after thisin the future; and ADan 2:23, 47He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. 30 “But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any AGen 41:16; Dan 1:17wisdom 1Lit which isresiding in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may 2Lit knowunderstand the BPs 139:2; Amos 4:13thoughts of your 3Lit heartmind.
The King’s Dream
31 “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and 1Lit its splendor was surpassingof extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was AHab 1:7awesome. 32 “The ADan 2:38head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 “You 1Lit werecontinued looking until a ADan 2:45stone was cut out BDan 8:25; Zech 4:6without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and CPs 2:9; Is 60:12crushed them. 35 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed 1Lit like oneall at the same time and became APs 1:4; Is 17:13; 41:15, 16; Hos 13:3like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that BPs 37:10, 36not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great CIs 2:2; Mic 4:1mountain and filled the whole earth.
The Interpretation—Babylon the First Kingdom
36 “This was the dream; now we will tell ADan 2:24its interpretation before the king. 37 “You, O king, are the AIs 47:5; Jer 27:6, 7; Ezek 26:7king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the 1Or sovereigntykingdom, the BPs 62:11power, the strength and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the APs 50:10, 11; Dan 4:21, 22beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.
Medo-Persia and Greece
39 “After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.
Rome
40 “Then there will be a ADan 7:23fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 “In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with 1Lit clay of mudcommon clay. 42 “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 “And in that you saw the iron mixed with 1Lit clay of mudcommon clay, they will combine with one another 2Or within the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
The Divine Kingdom
44 “In the days of those kings the ADan 2:28, 37God of heaven will BIs 9:6, 7set up a CPs 145:13; Ezek 37:25; Dan 4:3, 34; 6:26; 7:14, 27; Mic 4:7; Luke 1:32, 33kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be 1Or passed on toleft for another people; it will DPs 2:9; Is 60:12; Dan 2:34, 35crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a ADan 2:34stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the BDeut 10:17; 2 Sam 7:22; Ps 48:1; Jer 32:18, 19; Dan 2:29; Mal 1:11great God has made known to the king what CGen 41:28, 32will take place 1Lit after thisin the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
Daniel Promoted
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did ADan 3:5, 7; Acts 10:25; 14:13; Rev 19:10; 22:8homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and 1Lit sweet odorsBLev 26:31; Ezra 6:10fragrant incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely ADan 3:15; 4:25your God is a BDeut 10:17; Ps 136:2, 3; Dan 11:36God of gods and a Lord of kings and a CDan 2:22, 30; Amos 3:7revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king 1Lit made greatAGen 41:39-43; Dan 2:6; 5:16, 29promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole BDan 3:1, 12, 30province of Babylon and chief 2Lit of the prefectsprefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he ADan 3:12appointed BDan 1:7Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s 1Lit gateCEsth 2:19, 21; Amos 5:15court.
12:1 Lit dreamed dreams
A2:1 Gen 40:5-8; 41:1, 8; Job 33:15-17; Dan 2:3; 4:5
22:1 Lit was gone upon him
12:2 Lit said to call
22:2 Or soothsayer priests
A2:2 Gen 41:8; Ex 7:11; Is 47:12, 13; Dan 1:20; 2:10, 27; 4:6; 5:7
32:2 Or master astrologers, and so throughout the ch
12:3 Lit dreamed
22:3 Lit was troubled
32:3 Lit know
12:4 The text is in Aramaic from here through 7:28
12:5 Another reading is The word has gone from me
22:5 Lit made into limbs
A2:5 Ezra 6:11; Dan 2:12; 3:29
12:8 Lit buying
22:8 V 5, note 1
12:9 Or law
22:9 Lit word
32:9 Lit time
12:10 Lit before the
22:10 Lit of
32:10 Or soothsayer priest
12:11 Or rare
22:11 Lit before
A2:12 Ps 76:10; Dan 2:5; 3:13, 19
12:13 Or law
22:13 Lit be killed
12:14 Or executioners
12:15 Or law
22:15 Or harsh
12:16 Or appoint a time for him
A2:18 Esth 4:15, 16; Is 37:4; Jer 33:3; Ezek 36:37; Dan 2:23
A2:19 Num 12:6; Job 33:15, 16; Dan 1:17; 7:2, 7, 13
A2:20 Ps 103:1, 2; 113:1, 2; 115:18; 145:1, 2, 21
B2:20 1 Chr 29:11, 12; Job 12:13, 16-22; Dan 2:21-23
B2:21 Job 12:18; Ps 75:6, 7; Dan 4:17, 32
12:21 Or sets up
C2:21 1 Kin 3:9, 10; 4:29; James 1:5
22:21 Lit knowers
A2:22 Job 12:22; Ps 25:14; Dan 2:19, 28
B2:22 Job 26:6; Ps 139:12; Is 45:7; Jer 23:24; Heb 4:13
C2:22 Ps 36:9; Dan 5:11, 14; James 1:17; 1 John 1:5
C2:23 Ps 21:2, 4; Dan 2:18, 29, 30
A2:24 Dan 2:12, 13; Acts 27:24
12:24 Lit in before the king
12:25 Lit in before the king
22:25 Lit sons of the exile of
12:27 Or soothsayer priests
A2:28 Gen 40:8; 41:16; Dan 2:22, 45
12:28 Lit end of the days
B2:28 Gen 49:1; Is 2:2; Dan 10:14; Mic 4:1
22:28 Lit of your head
12:29 Lit came up
22:29 Lit after this
12:30 Lit which is
22:30 Lit know
32:30 Lit heart
12:31 Lit its splendor was surpassing
12:34 Lit were
12:35 Lit like one
A2:35 Ps 1:4; Is 17:13; 41:15, 16; Hos 13:3
A2:37 Is 47:5; Jer 27:6, 7; Ezek 26:7
12:37 Or sovereignty
A2:38 Ps 50:10, 11; Dan 4:21, 22
12:41 Lit clay of mud
12:43 Lit clay of mud
22:43 Or with
C2:44 Ps 145:13; Ezek 37:25; Dan 4:3, 34; 6:26; 7:14, 27; Mic 4:7; Luke 1:32, 33
12:44 Or passed on to
D2:44 Ps 2:9; Is 60:12; Dan 2:34, 35
B2:45 Deut 10:17; 2 Sam 7:22; Ps 48:1; Jer 32:18, 19; Dan 2:29; Mal 1:11
C2:45 Gen 41:28, 32
12:45 Lit after this
A2:46 Dan 3:5, 7; Acts 10:25; 14:13; Rev 19:10; 22:8
12:46 Lit sweet odors
B2:47 Deut 10:17; Ps 136:2, 3; Dan 11:36
12:48 Lit made great
A2:48 Gen 41:39-43; Dan 2:6; 5:16, 29
22:48 Lit of the prefects
12:49 Lit gate
C2:49 Esth 2:19, 21; Amos 5:15