Open English Translation DAN Chapter 2

2 Back in the second year of King Nevukadnetstsar’s reign, the king had had some dreams that troubled him—leaving him unable to sleep. 2 He summoned the magicians, fortune-tellers, sorcerers, and astrologers to explain the dreams to him, so they came in and stood in front of the king. 3 “I’ve had a dream,” the king told them, “and my spirit is anxious to understand it.” 4 The astrologers spoke to the king in Aramaic, “Long live King Nevukadnetstsar. Tell us what you dreamt, and then we’ll give you the interpretation.”

5 “I’ve already made my decision,” the king replied. “If you all can’t tell me the dream and then give its interpretation, you’ll all be torn limb from limb and your houses made into a rubbish heap. 6 But if you all explain the dream and its interpretation, you’ll receive gifts from me, and a reward and great honour. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”

7 “Let the king tell his servants the dream,” they insisted, “and we’ll give the interpretation.”

8 “I know for certain that you’re all trying to gain time,” the king answered. “However, I’ve made up my mind 9 that if you all don’t tell me what my dream was, then your fate is already clear because you’ve obviously agreed together to keep feeding me with lies and made-up stories until I give in. So then, tell me what my dream was, and then I’ll be confident that you can give me its interpretation.”

10 “There’s no one in the whole world who could tell the king that,” the astrologers answered the king. “No great and powerful king has asked any magician or enchanter or astrologer to do that before! 11 What you’re requesting, your majesty, is difficult, and no human can tell you what you dreamt—only the gods.” 12 That angered the king, and he got so furious that he ordered for all the Babylonian wise men to be executed.

13 When the decree went out that all the wise men were to be rounded up to be executed, Daniel and his friends were included. 14 Aryok was the captain of the king’s guards who’d been sent to execute the Babylonian wise men, but Daniel spoke to him with wise and prudent caution.

15 He asked the king’s commander Aryok, “Why did the king come to that sudden decision?” Aryok explained what had happened, 16 so Daniel went to the king and requested some time so he would be able to give the interpretation to him.

17 Then Daniel went back to his house and told his companions Hananyah, Misha’el, and Azaryah 18 so they might beg for mercy from the God of the heavens concerning the mystery of the dream, so that all of them might not be executed along with the rest of the Babylonian wise men. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision during the night. Aftewrwards, Daniel blessed the God of the heavens 20 saying, “Let God’s name be blessed forever and ever, because all wisdom and power belong to him. 21 He moves the times and seasons forwards. He removes some kings and gives power to others. It’s him who gives wisdom to the wise and and knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals the deep and hidden things—he knows what is in the darkness, and the light lives with him. 23 Oh God of my ancestors, I thank you and praise you for the wisdom and power you have given to me. Now you’ve revealed to me what we asked you about because you’ve told us what the king is wanting to know.”

24 So Daniel went to Aryok, the man that the king had appointed to execute Babylon’s wise men, and told him, “Don’t hurt the wise men in Babylon. Take me in to the king and I’ll tell him the dream and its interpretation.”

25 Aryok quickly took Daniel in to the king and told him, “I’ve found a man among the exiles from Yehudah who will reveal the interpretation of your dream.”

26 “Are you able to tell me the dream that I saw, and its interpretation?” the king asked Daniel (also called Belteshatstsar).

27 “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers are able to do what the king has demanded,” replied Daniel. 28 “However, there is a God in the heavens who reveals mysteries, and he’s the one who’s shown you, King Nevukadnetstsar, what will happen in the days to come. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while you were in your bed: 29 Oh king, as you lay there your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future, and the one who reveals mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery was revealed to me, not because I’m wiser than anyone else, but so that the interpretation could be revealed to the king, and so that you can understand what you saw in your mind.

31 “What you were looking at, your majesty, was an incredible, huge statue. It was heavy and shone brightly as it stood there in front of you—a terrifying sight. 32 The statue’s head was made of pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, 33 its legs were made of iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and clay. 34 You continued looking until a stone was supernaturally cut out from a mountain, and it tumbled down and struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and it smashed them to pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like the small pieces of dry straw at harvest time in the summer. Then the wind carried them away so that no trace of them could be found, but the stone that struck the statue became a huge mountain that then filled the whole world.

36 “That was the dream, and now we’ll tell the king its meaning: 37 You, your majesty, are the king of kings who has been given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the splendour by the God of the heavens. 38 Wherever people live, he’s placed you in charge of them, and he’s even put you over the animals in the countryside and the birds in the skies, so you’re the statue’s gold head. 39 But another less prominent kingdom will follow yours, then another kingdom of bronze to rule over all the earth after that. 40 Then there’ll be a fourth kingdom that’s strong as iron—because iron crushes and shatters all things. Like an iron sledge-hammer that smashes things into pieces, it will smash all those others into broken pieces. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, a mixture of iron and potter’s clay, it will be a divided kingdom—some of the iron’s strength will be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 As the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so that kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so various peoples will make alliances with each other, but they won’t stick together just as iron doesn’t integrate with clay. 44 In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed or taken over by others. It will crush all those kingdoms and put an end to them, but it will stand forever. 45 Just as you saw that a stone was supernaturally cut out of the mountain, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the powerful God has revealed to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

46 Then King Nevukadnetstsar fell to his knees with his face to the ground to worship Daniel, and he commanded that a burnt offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “It’s true that your God is the god of gods and the master of masters, and the one who reveals mysteries, because you’ve been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honours and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief supervisor over all of Babylon’s wise men. 49 Daniel asked the king to appoint Shadrak (Hananyah), Meyshak (Misha’el), and Avednego (Azaryah) over the administration of the Babylonian province, but Daniel remained at the king’s court.