Daniel 2

1In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, his spirit was troubled, and his sleep departed from him.

2The king called for the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to declare his dreams to him. They came and stood before the king.

3The king said to them, "I had a dream, and my spirit was disturbed to know the dream."

4The Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we, your servants, will declare the interpretation."

5The king answered the Chaldeans, "The decree has gone forth from me: if you do not reveal to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces, and your houses will become a dung heap."

6However, if you reveal the dream and its interpretation, you will receive gifts, reward, and great honor from me; therefore reveal the dream and its interpretation to me.

7They answered a second time and said, "Let the king declare the dream to his servants, and we will reveal its interpretation."

8The king replied, "I myself know for certain that you are gaining time, because you see that the matter has gone from me."

9If you do not make the dream known to me, one decree faces you, for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to declare before me until the time changes. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can show me its interpretation.

10The Chaldeans replied to the king and said, "No man on earth can reveal the royal matter, because no great king or ruler has ever demanded such a thing from any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean."

11The matter the king requires is rare, and no other exists who can reveal it before the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

12Because of this, the king grew angry and greatly furious, and ordered all the wise men of Babylon destroyed.

13The decree came out, and the wise men were being killed; they looked for Daniel and his companions to kill them.

14Then Daniel replied with counsel and discretion to Arioch, chief of the king's guard, who had gone forth to slay Babylon's wise men.

15He replied to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the decree so urgent from the king?" Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter.

16Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time to declare the interpretation to the king.

17Then Daniel went to his house and told Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, the matter.

18They sought mercy from the God of heaven about this secret, so that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of Babylon's wise men.

19Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

20Daniel answered and said, "May God's name be blessed from eternity to eternity, for wisdom and might are his."

21He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who understand.

22He uncovers depths and hidden things; he knows what lies in the darkness, and brightness and light dwell with him.

23To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, who have granted me wisdom and might, and now have revealed to me what we requested from you; for you have revealed to us the king's matter.

24Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had set to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation."

25Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king and said to him, "I have found a man from the sons of Judah's captivity who will make known the interpretation to the king."

26The king replied to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to reveal to me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation?"

27Daniel answered before the king and said, "No wise men, astrologers, magicians, or soothsayers can show the king the secret he demands."

28But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and has told King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the last days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these.

29As for you, king, your thoughts arose on your bed concerning what would happen after this, and the revealer of secrets has informed you what will take place.

30As for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because there is wisdom in me more than all the living, but rather for the sake of the matter that they might make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

31You, king, saw—and behold—a single great image; this same image was mighty, its brightness surpassingly excellent as it stood before you, its form fearsome.

32This image's head was fine gold, its breast and arms silver, its belly and thighs brass.

33Its legs were of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

34You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image upon its feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.

35Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold shattered together and became like chaff from summer threshing floors, which the wind swept away, leaving no place anywhere for them; but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled all the earth.

36This is the dream, and we will declare its interpretation before the king.

37You, king, are king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you the kingdom, power, strength, and glory.

38And wherever humans dwell, he has given into your hand the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and made you ruler over all of them—you are this head of gold.

39After you another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, and another, a third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

40The fourth kingdom will be mighty like iron, because iron shatters and beats down everything; and as iron that crushes all these, it will shatter and crush.

41As you saw the feet and toes, some potter's clay and some iron, the kingdom shall be divided, yet iron's strength shall remain in it, because you saw iron mixed with miry clay.

42The toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly broken.

43As you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with human seed but will not cleave one to another, even as iron does not mix with clay.

44In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will its realm pass to another people; it will shatter and devour all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

45Because you saw a stone cut from the mountain without hands that crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has revealed to the king what will take place afterward; the dream stands firm, and its interpretation is reliable.

46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and worshiped him, and commanded them to present a grain offering and fragrant incense to him.

47The king answered Daniel and declared, "Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, a revealer of secrets, because you could reveal this secret."

48Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him abundant splendid gifts, and empowered him to govern the entire province of Babylon and to serve as chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.

49Daniel petitioned the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the service of the province of Babylon, but Daniel was in the king's gate.