The Koine Bible

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, it happened that visions and dreams came upon the king, and he was disturbed by his dream, and his sleep departed from him.

The king ordered the enchanters, the magicians, and the sorcerers of the Chaldeans to be brought in, to declare to the king his dreams; and when they had come, they stood before the king.

The king said to them, I have seen a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

The Chaldeans spoke to the king in Syriac: O king, live forever; tell your servants the dream, and we shall declare its interpretation to you.

But the king said to the Chaldeans, “If you do not truly report the dream to me and declare its interpretation to me, you shall be made an example, and your possessions shall be taken into the royal treasury.

But if you make the dream clear to me and declare its interpretation, you shall receive all kinds of gifts and shall be honored by me; reveal the dream to me and give the judgment.

But answering a second time, they said, “O king, tell the dream, and your servants will give judgment concerning these things.”

The king said to them, “Truly I know that you are buying time, since you have seen that the matter has departed from me; therefore, just as I commanded, so it shall be.”

If you do not make the dream known to me in truth and declare its interpretation, you will fall under sentence of death, for you have agreed to make lying words against me until the time changes. Now then, if you tell me the word that I saw in the night, I shall know that you will also declare its judgment.

The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one upon the earth who will be able to tell the king what he has seen, as you ask, and no king and no ruler has ever asked such a thing of any wise man, magician, or Chaldean.

The word that you seek, O king, is difficult and extraordinary, and there is no one who will declare these things to the king, except an angel whose dwelling is not with all flesh; therefore it is not possible for it to come to pass as you suppose.

The king, becoming grim and deeply distressed, ordered all the wise men of Babylonia to be brought out.

It was decreed to kill them all, and Daniel and all those with him were sought in order to perish together.

Daniel spoke with counsel and prudence to Arioch, the chief cook of the king, whom he had ordered to bring out the wise men of Babylon.

He inquired of him, saying, “Concerning what has such a harsh decree been issued by the king?” Then Arioch made the order known to Daniel.

But Daniel went in quickly to the king and requested that time be granted to him by the king, so that he might declare everything to the king.

Daniel, having gone to his house, showed everything to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions.

He ordered a fast and prayer and that a plea be sought from the Lord Most High concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and those with him might not be handed over to destruction together with the wise men of Babylon.

To Daniel in a vision during that very night the king’s mystery was clearly revealed; then Daniel blessed the Lord, the Most High.

Crying out, he said: Blessed be the name of the great Lord forever, for wisdom and greatness are his.

He changes times and seasons, removing kings and appointing them, giving wisdom to the wise and understanding to those who possess knowledge.

The deep things and the dark things, and he knows the things in the darkness and the things in the light, and deliverance is with him.

Lord of my fathers, I acknowledge and praise you, for you have given me wisdom and understanding, and now you have made known to me what I asked to make known to the king concerning these things.

But Daniel said to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to kill all the wise men of Babylon: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will declare every matter to the king.

Arioch hastened to bring Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a wise man from the captivity of the sons of Judea who will make everything known to the king.”

And the king said to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar in Chaldean, “Are you able to declare to me the vision that I saw and its interpretation?”

But Daniel said before the king, “The mystery that the king has seen is not the disclosure of the wise men, magicians, enchanters, and Chaldeans.”

There is a God in heaven revealing mysteries, who has made known to King Nabuchodonosor what must happen in the latter days. O king, live forever! The dream and the vision of your head upon your bed are this:

O king, reclining on your bed, you saw all that must come to pass in the latter days, and the one who reveals mysteries made known to you what must come to pass.

But not because of wisdom that is in me beyond all people was this mystery revealed, but for it to be made known to the king it was signified to me what you considered in your heart with understanding.

You, O king, saw, and behold, one image; and that image was exceedingly great, and its appearance was surpassing; it stood before you, and the appearance of the image was fearsome.

Its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze.

and its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay

until a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and struck the image upon its iron and clay feet and crushed them.

The iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold became fragments together, and became like chaff finer still on the threshing floor, and the wind scattered them, so that nothing at all was left of them; and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and struck the whole earth.

But we shall tell the king the vision and its interpretation.

O king, king of kings, and to you the Lord of heaven has given the rule and the kingdom and the strength and the honor and the glory.

Over all the inhabited earth, over humans and wild beasts and birds of heaven and fish of the sea, he has given them into your hands to rule over all; you are the golden head.

After you, a kingdom lesser than you shall arise, and a third kingdom, another of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

And the fourth kingdom shall be strong, like iron that subdues all things and cuts down every tree, and the whole earth shall be shaken.

As you saw its feet, part indeed of potter’s clay and part of iron, another kingdom will be divided in it, just as you saw the iron mixed together with the clay pottery.

The toes of the feet will be partly of iron, and partly of clay; part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be crushed.

As you saw the iron mixed together with the earthen clay, they will be mingled in the offspring of men, but they will not be of one mind nor favorably disposed toward one another, just as iron cannot be mixed together with clay.

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish another kingdom, which shall be forever, and it shall not be destroyed; and this kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall strike and annihilate all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain without hands and crushed the earthenware, the iron, the bronze, the silver, and the gold. The great God has made known to the king what will happen in the last days; and the vision is exact, and its interpretation is trustworthy.

Nebuchadnezzar the king, having fallen upon his face on the ground, bowed down to Daniel and commanded that sacrifices and libations be made to him.

The king exclaimed and said to Daniel, “Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, who reveals hidden mysteries, because you were able to make this mystery known.”

King Nebuchadnezzar exalted Daniel and gave him great and many gifts, and appointed him over the affairs of Babylon and designated him ruler and leader of all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel asked the king that Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel be appointed over the affairs of Babylon; and Daniel was in the royal court.