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Daniel 2:1-49 — Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

Dan.2.1-49

¹In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. ²Then the king gave orders to summon the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” ⁴Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic : “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, "The decree from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be made a rubbish heap. ⁶But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore, declare to me the dream and its interpretation." ⁷They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁸The king answered and said, "I know for certain that you are buying time, because you see that the decree from me is firm. ⁹For if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one law for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation changes. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can declare its interpretation to me." ¹⁰The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can declare the king's matter, for no great and powerful king has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean. ¹¹The thing that the king is asking is difficult, and there is no one else who can declare it before the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." ¹²Because of this, the king became angry and very furious, and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³So the decree went out that the wise men were to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. ¹⁴Then Daniel responded with counsel and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵He answered and said to Arioch, the king's commander, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. ¹⁶So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, so that he might declare the interpretation to the king. ¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸so that they might seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. ²¹He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. ²²He reveals the deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. ²³To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter." ²⁴Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said this to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.” ²⁵Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel in before the king and said this to him: “I have found a man among the exiles of Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king.” ²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷Daniel answered before the king and said, "The mystery that the king is asking, no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers are able to declare to the king. ²⁸But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these: ²⁹As for you, O king, your thoughts upon your bed turned to what would happen after this, and he who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will happen. ³⁰But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me by any wisdom that I have more than any living man, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart. ³¹You, O king, were looking, and behold, a great statue. This statue, which was mighty and of surpassing brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was terrifying. ³²The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴You looked until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ³⁶This was the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king. ³⁷You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory, ³⁸and into whose hand he has given the children of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, wherever they dwell, making you ruler over them all—you are the head of gold. ³⁹And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, and then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰And there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron crushes and shatters everything; and like iron that smashes all these, it will crush and smash. ⁴¹And just as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but some of the firmness of iron will be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with miry clay. ⁴²And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³As you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, so they will mix with one another in human seed, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever, ⁴⁵just as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy." ⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present an offering and incense to him. ⁴⁷The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly, your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” ⁴⁸Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained at the king's gate.

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4/11/2026

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