And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.
And the king commanded to call the scribes, and the magicians, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to show the king his dreams; and they came and stood before the king.
And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.
And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever! tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The command is gone forth from me: If ye do not make known unto me the dream, and its interpretation, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
But if ye show the dream and its interpretation, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour; therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.
They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain time, because ye see the word is gone forth from me;
but if ye do not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you; for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me its interpretation.
The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter; therefore there is no king, however great and powerful, that hath asked such a thing of any scribe, or magician, or Chaldean.
For the thing that the king demandeth is extraordinary, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
For this cause the king was irritated and very wroth, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
And the decree went forth that the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to slay them.
Then Daniel answered with counsel and prudence to Arioch the chief of the king’s bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so rigorous from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
And Daniel went in, and requested of the king that he would give him time, that he might show the king the interpretation.
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions;
that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night-vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of the heavens.
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; For wisdom and might are his.
And it is he that changeth the times and seasons; He removeth kings and setteth up kings, He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.
It is he that revealeth the deep and secret things; He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
I thank thee, and I praise thee, O God of my fathers, Who hast given me wisdom and might, And hast made known unto me already what we desired of thee; For thou hast made known unto us the king’s matter.
Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus unto him: Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.
Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him: I have found a man of the captives of; Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
The king answered and said unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream that I have seen, and its interpretation?
Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said, The secret that the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers, show unto the king;
but there is a God in heaven, that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these:
as for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind, upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
As for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have, more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay.
Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands; and it smote the image upon its feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken in pieces together, and they became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee; then another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. There shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: But they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, —the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it sure.
Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
The king answered Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret.
Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon. And Daniel was in the gate of the king.