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Daniel 2

2 One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. The dream worried him very much. As a result, he could not get back to sleep. 2 So he told his servants to summon his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and other advisors. He wanted them to tell him what he had dreamed and what it meant. They came and stood in his presence. 3 He told them, “I have had a dream, and it has worried me. I want to know what I dreamed.”

4 The advisors replied to the king, speaking in Aramaic, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we hope you live for a long time! Tell us what you dreamed, and we will tell you what it means.”

5 But the king replied to them, “I am giving a strict command. If you do not tell me what I dreamed and what it means, I will order my soldiers to cut you into pieces. I will also order them to destroy your houses completely. 6 But if you do tell me what I dreamed and what it means, I will reward you. I will give you splendid gifts, and I will greatly honor you. So tell me what I dreamed and what it means!”

7 But again they replied, “Please tell us what you dreamed, and then we will tell you what it means.”

8 The king responded, “I recognize clearly that you know that I will certainly do what I have said, so you are trying to get more time. 9 But if you do not tell me what I dreamed, I will do to you exactly what I said. I believe that you have all agreed to tell me a false explanation of my dream so that I do not punish you. So I insist that you tell me what I dreamed. Then I will know that you can also tell me what it really means.”

10 The advisors replied to the king, “There is no one on the earth who can tell you what dream you had! That is why no king, even a great and mighty one, has ever asked any of his magicians or enchanters or other advisors to tell him what he dreamed. 11 What you are asking us to do is impossible. The only beings who could tell you what you dreamed are the gods, but they do not live among us people!”

12 When the king heard that, he became extremely angry. He commanded his soldiers to execute all the wise men in Babylon. 13 Because the king had commanded his soldiers to kill all the wise men, some soldiers went to find Daniel and his friends so that they could kill them.

14 Arioch, the commander of the king’s bodyguard, was leading the soldiers who came to kill Daniel and his friends. And Daniel spoke to him wisely and tactfully. 15 He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why did the king give such a harsh command?” Then Arioch explained to Daniel what had happened. 16 Daniel went to the king and asked him to give me some time so that he tell him his dream and what it meant.

17 Then he went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He asked them to pray to God in heaven and ask him to be merciful to them and show them what the king had dreamed and what it meant. Then the king’s soldiers would not kill them, even if they killed the other wise men in Babylon. 19 That night God revealed the dream and its meaning to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised God. 20 He said,

“People should praise God forever!

He is the one who is truly wise and powerful.

21 He controls the different things that happen at various times.

He stops some kings from reigning, and he makes other kings start reigning.

He is the one who enables people to be wise

and to understand difficult things.

22 He reveals things that are very mysterious.

Everything is light where he is,

but he also knows what happens where it is dark.

23 You are the God whom my ancestors worshiped.

I thank you and praise you

because you have made me wise and strong.

You have revealed to us what the king dreamed and what it meant.

So you have done just what we prayed you would do.”

24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, the man whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon. He said to him, “Please do not kill us wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means.”

25 So Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king. He told the king, “Here is one of the men whom our soldiers brought from Judah. He says that he can tell you what your dream means.”

26 The king spoke to Daniel. (He called him Belteshazzar.) He asked, “Can you really tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”

27 Daniel replied to him, “No wise man or enchanter or magician or fortuneteller could tell you what you want to know. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown you, King Nebuchadnezzar, what will happen in the future. This is what you saw in your dream as you were lying on your bed.

29 Your Majesty, while you were sleeping, you dreamed about what is going to happen in the future. God, who reveals secrets, has shown you what is going to happen. 30 I do not know your dream and its meaning because I am wiser than anyone else on earth. It is because God wants you to understand what your dream means. It explains what you were wondering about.

31 Your Majesty, in your dream you saw a giant statue standing in front of you. It was very impressive, and it was shining very brightly. It was frightening to look at it. 32 The head of the statue was pure gold. Its chest and arms were silver. Its belly and thighs were bronze. 33 Its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly clay. 34 As you watched, someone cut a rock from a mountain, but it was not a human who did that. The rock tumbled down and smashed the iron and clay feet of the statue. It broke them into tiny pieces. 35 Immediately the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold parts of the statue also broke into tiny pieces. Those pieces were as small as the chaff that people separate from grain after they harvest it. The wind blew away all those tiny pieces. Nothing remained. But the rock that had smashed the statue became a large mountain that covered the whole earth.

36 That was what you dreamed. Now I will tell you what it means. 37 You are a king who rules over many other kings. God, who rules in heaven, has enabled you to rule over them. He has given you great power and much honor. 38 He has made you the ruler of a great territory. It seems as if you have power over every place where people and animals and birds live. The golden head of the statue represents you.

39 But your kingdom will end, and afterward there will be another great kingdom, which the silver part of the statue represents. However, it will not be as great as yours. After that, there will be a third great kingdom, which the bronze part of the statue represents. Its king will rule over a very great territory. 40 After that, there will be a fourth great kingdom. The iron part of the statue represents that kingdom. It will be very strong, just as iron is so strong that it crushes and breaks whatever it strikes. The army of this kingdom will conquer the territory of the previous kingdoms as if it were an iron weapon smashing them. 41 You saw that the feet and toes of the statue were partly clay and partly iron. That meant that this kingdom will divide into two parts. You saw that there was iron as well as clay, and that meant that this kingdom will still be somewhat strong like iron. 42 However, you saw that there was clay as well as iron in the toes of the statue. That meant that some of this kingdom will be weak, like clay that breaks easily, even though some of it will be strong like iron. 43 You saw iron and clay together in the statue’s feet and toes. That meant that the rulers of the parts of this kingdom will try to join themselves together through marriage alliances. However, they will not succeed in uniting their realms. After all, iron does not mix with clay.

44 While those kings are ruling, God, who rules everything from heaven, will establish a kingdom that will never end. No one will ever defeat its king and take over his kingdom. He will completely destroy all those kingdoms, but his kingdom will last forever. 45 You saw a rock that someone, but not a human, cut from a mountain. That rock crushed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold parts of the statue. It represents this last king. Your Majesty, the great God has shown you what will happen in the future. Since I have told you what you actually dreamed, you can trust that I have also told you what it truly means.”

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed down in front of Daniel to honor him. He commanded his officials to give Daniel a grain offering and to burn incense to honor him. 47 The king told Daniel, “Your God has enabled you to tell me the meaning of my dream. So he truly is greater than any of the gods that other nations worship. He is more powerful than any earthly king. He reveals secrets that no one else could know.”

48 Then the king made Daniel a powerful royal official. He gave him many lavish gifts. He appointed him to rule the entire province of Babylon. He also made him the leader of the officials who governed the wise men of Babylon. 49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to important positions in the province of Babylon. Daniel himself worked in the king’s palace.

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