Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 172
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IMMERSE
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CHRONICLES
1:13–2:10
for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. “At the end of
the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are
eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.”
The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier
and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food
assigned by the king. So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables
instead of the food and wine provided for the others.
God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding
every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special
ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.
When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief
of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. The king
talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hana
niah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. Whenever
the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced
judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
Daniel remained in the royal service until the first year of the reign of
King Cyrus.
One night during the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such
disturbing dreams that he couldn’t sleep. He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him
what he had dreamed. As they stood before the king, he said, “I have had
a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must know what it means.”
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “Long live the king!
Tell us the dream, and we will tell you what it means.”
But the king said to the astrologers, “I am serious about this. If you
don’t tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn limb
from limb, and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble! But if you
tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give you many
wonderful gifts and honors. Just tell me the dream and what it means!”
They said again, “Please, Your Majesty. Tell us the dream, and we will
tell you what it means.”
The king replied, “I know what you are doing! You’re stalling for time
because you know I am serious when I say, ‘If you don’t tell me the dream,
you are doomed.’ So you have conspired to tell me lies, hoping I will
change my mind. But tell me the dream, and then I’ll know that you can
tell me what it means.”
The astrologers replied to the king, “No one on earth can tell the king
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