2:1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar ①had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep ②left him.
▷ ①Lit dreamed dreams ②Lit was gone upon him
2:2 Then the king ①gave orders to call in the soothsayer priests, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the ②Chaldeans, to ③tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
▷ ①Lit said to call ②Probably master astrologers, diviners, etc., and so throughout the ch ③Lit explain to
2:3 The king said to them, “I ①had a dream, and my spirit ②is anxious to ③understand the dream.”
▷ ①Lit dreamed ②Lit was troubled ③Lit know
2:4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in ①Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”
▷ ①The text is in Aramaic from here through 7:28
2:5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command ①from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be ②torn limb from limb and your houses will be turned into a rubbish heap.
▷ ①Another reading is is issued by me ②Lit turned into limbs
2:6 But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.”
2:7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”
2:8 The king replied, “I know for certain that you are trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command ①from me is firm,
▷ ①See note 1 v 5
2:9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one ①decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt ②words before me until the ③situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, so that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation.”
▷ ①Or verdict ②Lit word ③Lit time
2:10 The Chaldeans answered ①the king and said, “There is no person on earth who could declare the matter ②to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean.
▷ ①Lit before the ②Lit of
2:11 Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it ①to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”
▷ ①Lit before
2:12 Because of this, the king became angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon.
2:13 So the ①decree was issued that the wise men be killed; and they looked for Daniel and his friends, to ②kill them.
▷ ①Or law ②Lit be killed
2:14 Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of the king’s ①bodyguard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon;
▷ ①Or executioners
2:15 he said to Arioch, the king’s officer, “For what reason is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch informed Daniel of the matter.
2:16 So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him a grace period, so that he might declare the interpretation to the king.
2:17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter,
2:18 so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his friends would not be killed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
2:19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;
2:20 Daniel said,
“May the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
2:21 It is He who changes the times and the periods;
He removes kings and appoints kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men,
And knowledge to ①people of understanding.
▷ ①Lit knowers of
2:22 It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.
2:23 To You, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,
For You have given me wisdom and power;
Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
2:24 Thereupon, Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to kill the wise men of Babylon; he went and said this to him: “Do not kill the wise men of Babylon! Take me ①into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”
▷ ①Lit in before the king
2:25 Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel ①into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the ②exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”
▷ ①Lit in before the king ②Lit sons of the exile of
2:26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?”
2:27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the secret about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, sorcerers, soothsayer priests, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.
2:28 However, there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the ①latter days. This was your dream and the visions ②in your mind while on your bed.
▷ ①Lit end of the days ②Lit of your head
2:29 As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts ①turned to what would take place ②in the future; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will take place.
▷ ①Lit came up ②Lit after this
2:30 But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me ①for any wisdom ②residing in me more than in any other living person, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your ③mind.
▷ ①Or through ②Lit which is ③Lit heart
2:31 “You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and ①of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was ②awesome.
▷ ①Lit its radiance was extraordinary ②Or dreadful
2:32 The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,
2:33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
2:34 You ①continued watching until a stone was broken off without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.
▷ ①Lit were
2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces ①all at the same time, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.
▷ ①Lit as one
2:36 “This was the dream; and now we will tell its interpretation before the king.
2:37 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ①kingdom, the power, the strength, and the honor;
▷ ①Or sovereignty
2:38 and wherever the sons of mankind live, or the animals of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has handed them over to you and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
2:39 And after you another kingdom will arise inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.
2:40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; just as iron smashes and crushes everything, so, like iron that crushes, it will smash and crush all these things.
2:41 And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have within it some of the toughness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with ①common clay.
▷ ①Lit wet clay
2:42 And just as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be fragile.
2:43 In that you saw the iron mixed with ①common clay, they will combine with one another ②in ③their descendants; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not combine with pottery.
▷ ①Lit wet clay ②Or with ③Lit the seed of men
2:44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ①left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
▷ ①Or passed on to
2:45 Just as you saw that a stone was broken off from the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place ①in the future; so the dream is certain and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
▷ ①Lit after this
2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid humble respect to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and incense.
2:47 The king responded to Daniel and said, “Your God truly is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.”
2:48 Then the king ①promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon, and chief ②prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
▷ ①Lit made Daniel great ②Lit of the prefects
2:49 And Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ①court.
▷ ①Lit gate