Daniel

2 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams,—and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep had gone from him.

2 So the king gave word to call for the sacred scribes and for the magicians and for the users of incantations and for the Chaldeans, that they might tell the king his dreams,—they came in therefore, and stood before the king.

3 And the king said to them, A dream have I dreamed,—and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.

4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic,—O king to the ages live! Tell the dream to thy servants and the interpretation we will declare.

5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word from me is unalterable: If ye shall not make known to me the dream and the interpretation thereof ye shall be cut in pieces and your houses into a dunghill shall be turned;

6 but if the dream and the interpretation thereof ye will declare gifts and a present and great dignity shall ye receive from before me,—therefore the dream and the interpretation thereof declare ye unto me.

7 They answered again and said,—Let the king tell the dream to his servants and the interpretation thereof we will declare.

8 The king answered and said, Of a certainty I know, that time ye would gain,—merely because ye see that unalterable from me is the word:

9 That if the dream ye shall not make known to me one and the same is the decree and a lying and wicked word have ye agreed to speak before me, that meanwhile the time may be changed,—therefore the dream tell ye me, so shall I know that the interpretation thereof ye can declare for me.

10 The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There is not a man upon the earth, who can declare the matter of the king,—although indeed there is no king, chief or ruler who a thing like this hath asked of any sacred scribe or magician or Chaldean;

11 and the thing which the king hath asked is difficult, and none other is there who can declare it before the king,—saving the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

12 For this cause the king was provoked and exceedingly indignant,—and gave word to destroy all the wise men of Babylon;

13 and the decree went forth, that the wise men should be slain,—and they sought Daniel and his companions that they might be slain.

14 Immediately Daniel made answer with prudence and discretion, to Arioch chief of the executioners of the king,—who had come forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:

15 he began to speak and said to Arioch the king’s captain,—For what cause is the decree raging forth from before the king? Then did Arioch make the matter known unto Daniel.

16 So Daniel entered in and desired of the king,—that an appointed time he would give him, and then the interpretation he would declare unto the king.

17 Then Daniel to his own house departed,—and to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his companions made the matter known;

18 that tender compassion they might seek from before the God of the heavens, concerning this secret,—that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed, with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

19 Then unto Daniel—in a vision of the night the secret was revealed,—whereupon Daniel blessed the God of the heavens:

20 Daniel responded and said, Let the name of God be blessed from age to age,—In that wisdom and might to him belong;

21 And he changeth times and seasons, Removeth kings and setteth up kings,—Giving wisdom to the wise, And knowledge to them who are skilled in understanding:

22 He revealeth the deep things and the hidden,—Knoweth what is in the darkness, And light with him doth dwell.

23 Unto thee O God of my fathers do I render thanks and praise, In that wisdom and might thou hast given unto me,—Yea already hast thou made known to me that which we desired of thee, For the matter of the king hast thou made known unto us.

24 Therefore Daniel entered in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon,—he went in and thus he said unto him, The wise men of Babylon do not thou destroy, bring me in before the king, and the interpretation—unto the king will I declare.

25 Thereupon Arioch—with haste brought in Daniel before the king,—and thus he said to him—I have found a man of the sons of the exile of Judah, who the interpretation—unto the king will make known.

26 The king answered and said unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,—Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation thereof?

27 Daniel answered before the king and said,—The secret which the king hath asked the wise men, the magicians, the sacred scribes, the astrologers are not able to declare unto the king;

28 but there is a God in the heavens who revealeth secrets, and hath made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall come to pass in the afterpart of the days: Thy dream and the visions of thy head upon thy bed are these:—

29 As for thee O king thy thoughts upon thy bed arose regarding what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth secrets made known to thee what shall come to pass.

30 But as for me—not for any wisdom that is in me more than any of the living is this secret revealed to me,—therefore it is in order that the interpretation—unto the king they should make known, and that the thoughts of thy heart thou shouldst get to know.

31 As for thee O king thou wast looking when lo! a great image, this image being mighty and the brightness thereof surpassing was standing before thee,—and the appearance thereof was terrible.

32 As for this image its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms were of silver,—its belly and its thighs of bronze;

33 its legs of iron,—and its feet part of them of iron, and part of them of clay.

34 Thou didst look until that a stone tare itself away, not by the aid of hands, and smote the image upon its feet, which were of iron and clay,—and they were broken in pieces.

35 Then were broken in pieces at once the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold, and became like chaff out of the summer threshing-floors and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them,—but the stone that smote the image became a mighty rock and filled all the land.

36 This is the dream, and the interpretation thereof we will tell before the king.

37 Thou O king art the king of kings,—for the God of the heavens hath given unto thee the kingship, the might, the power and the dignity;

38 and wheresoever the sons of men do dwell the wild beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art the head of gold.

39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee,—and another—a third kingdom, of bronze, which shall bear rule throughout all the earth.

40 And the fourth kingdom shall be hard as iron,—in like manner as iron breaketh in pieces and crusheth all things,—even as iron which bringeth to ruins all these shall it break in pieces and bring to ruins.

41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of them of potter’s clay and part of them of iron the kingdom shall be divided, and of the hardness of the iron shall there be in it,—forasmuch as thou sawest the iron combined with the miry clay;

42 and the toes of the feet part of them iron and part of clay,—some part of the kingdom shall be strong, but a part thereof shall be brittle;

43 and whereas thou sawest the iron combined with the miry clay they shall be combined with the seed of men, but shall not cleave firmly one to another,—lo! as iron is not to be combined with clay.

44 And in the days of those kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which to the ages shall not be destroyed, and the kingdom to another people shall not be left,—it shall break in pieces and make an end of all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand to the ages.

45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that out of the rock a stone tare itself away but not with hands and brake in pieces the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver and the gold the mighty God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. Exact then is the dream And trusty its interpretation.

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and unto Daniel paid adoration; and a present and sweet odours gave he word to pour out unto him.

47 The king answered Daniel and said—Of a truth your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a Revealer of secrets,—seeing thou wast able to reveal this secret.

48 Then the king exalted Daniel and many large presents gave he unto him, and set him to be ruler over all the province of Babylon,—and chief of the nobles, over all the wise men of Babylon.

49 And Daniel desired of the king and he appointed—over the business of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego—but Daniel himself was in the gate of the king.