King James Version › Daniel › 2

Daniel

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12

1 And in the sec­ond year of the reign of Neb­uchad­nez­zar Neb­uchad­nez­zar dreamed dreams, where­with his spir­it was trou­bled, and his sleep brake from him. 2 Then the king com­mand­ed to call the ma­gi­cians, and the as­trologers, and the sor­cer­ers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood be­fore the king. 3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spir­it was trou­bled to know the dream. 4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syr­i­ack, O king, live for ev­er: tell thy ser­vants the dream, and we will shew the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 5 The king an­swered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your hous­es shall be made a dunghill. 6 But if ye shew the dream, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of, ye shall re­ceive of me gifts and re­wards and great hon­our: there­fore shew me the dream, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of. 7 They an­swered again and said, Let the king tell his ser­vants the dream, and we will shew the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of it. 8 The king an­swered and said, I know of cer­tain­ty that ye would gain the time, be­cause ye see the thing is gone from me. 9 But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one de­cree for you: for ye have pre­pared ly­ing and cor­rupt words to speak be­fore me, till the time be changed: there­fore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of. 10 The Chaldeans an­swered be­fore the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's mat­ter: there­fore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any ma­gi­cian, or as­trologer, or Chaldean. 11 And it is a rare thing that the king re­quireth, and there is none oth­er that can shew it be­fore the king, ex­cept the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. 12 For this cause the king was an­gry and very fu­ri­ous, and com­mand­ed to de­stroy all the wise men of Baby­lon. 13 And the de­cree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fel­lows to be slain. 14 Then Daniel an­swered with coun­sel and wis­dom to Ar­i­och the cap­tain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Baby­lon: 15 He an­swered and said to Ar­i­och the king's cap­tain, Why is the de­cree so hasty from the king? Then Ar­i­och made the thing known to Daniel. 16 Then Daniel went in, and de­sired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hana­ni­ah, Mishael, and Azari­ah, his com­pan­ions: 18 That they would de­sire mer­cies of the God of heav­en con­cern­ing this se­cret; that Daniel and his fel­lows should not per­ish with the rest of the wise men of Baby­lon. 19 Then was the se­cret re­vealed unto Daniel in a night vi­sion. Then Daniel blessed the God of heav­en. 20 Daniel an­swered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ev­er: for wis­dom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the sea­sons: he re­moveth kings, and set­teth up kings: he giveth wis­dom unto the wise, and knowl­edge to them that know un­der­stand­ing: 22 He re­vealeth the deep and se­cret things: he knoweth what is in the dark­ness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fa­thers, who hast giv­en me wis­dom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we de­sired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's mat­ter. 24 There­fore Daniel went in unto Ar­i­och, whom the king had or­dained to de­stroy the wise men of Baby­lon: he went and said thus unto him; De­stroy not the wise men of Baby­lon: bring me in be­fore the king, and I will shew unto the king the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 25 Then Ar­i­och brought in Daniel be­fore the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the cap­tives of Ju­dah, that will make known unto the king the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 26 The king an­swered and said to Daniel, whose name was Bel­te­s­haz­zar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of? 27 Daniel an­swered in the pres­ence of the king, and said, The se­cret which the king hath de­mand­ed can­not the wise men, the as­trologers, the ma­gi­cians, the sooth­say­ers, shew unto the king; 28 But there is a God in heav­en that re­vealeth se­crets, and maketh known to the king Neb­uchad­nez­zar what shall be in the lat­ter days. Thy dream, and the vi­sions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; 29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came in­to thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass here­after: and he that re­vealeth se­crets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. 30 But as for me, this se­cret is not re­vealed to me for any wis­dom that I have more than any liv­ing, but for their sakes that shall make known the in­ter­pre­ta­tion to the king, and that thou might­est know the thoughts of thy heart. 31 Thou, O king, sawest, and be­hold a great im­age. This great im­age, whose bright­ness was ex­cel­lent, stood be­fore thee; and the form there­of was ter­ri­ble. 32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of sil­ver, his bel­ly and his thighs of brass, 33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out with­out hands, which smote the im­age upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the sil­ver, and the gold, bro­ken to pieces to­geth­er, and be­came like the chaff of the sum­mer thresh­ingfloors; and the wind car­ried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the im­age be­came a great moun­tain, and filled the whole earth. 36 This is the dream; and we will tell the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of be­fore the king. 37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heav­en hath giv­en thee a king­dom, pow­er, and strength, and glo­ry. 38 And where­so­ev­er the chil­dren of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heav­en hath he giv­en into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39 And af­ter thee shall arise an­oth­er king­dom in­fe­ri­or to thee, and an­oth­er third king­dom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth king­dom shall be strong as iron: foras­much as iron breaketh in pieces and sub­dueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And where­as thou sawest the feet and toes, part of pot­ters' clay, and part of iron, the king­dom shall be di­vid­ed; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, foras­much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the king­dom shall be part­ly strong, and part­ly bro­ken. 43 And where­as thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall min­gle them­selves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to an­oth­er, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heav­en set up a king­dom, which shall nev­er be de­stroyed: and the king­dom shall not be left to oth­er peo­ple, but it shall break in pieces and con­sume all these king­doms, and it shall stand for ev­er. 45 Foras­much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the moun­tain with­out hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the sil­ver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass here­after: and the dream is cer­tain, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of sure. 46 Then the king Neb­uchad­nez­zar fell upon his face, and wor­shipped Daniel, and com­mand­ed that they should of­fer an obla­tion and sweet odours unto him. 47 The king an­swered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a re­veal­er of se­crets, see­ing thou couldest re­veal this se­cret. 48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Baby­lon, and chief of the gov­er­nors over all the wise men of Baby­lon. 49 Then Daniel re­quest­ed of the king, and he set Shadrach, Me­shach, and Abed­nego, over the af­fairs of the province of Baby­lon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.