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DANIEL 2
page 773
the other youths your age, I am afraid the king
will have me beheaded.”
11 Daniel spoke with the attendant who had
been appointed by the chief of staff to look
after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
12 “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. 13 “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.” 14 The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.
15 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. 16 So after
that, the attendant fed them only vegetables
instead of the food and wine provided for the
others.
17 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.
18 When the training period ordered by the
king was completed, the chief of staff brought
all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal
service. 20 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.
21 Daniel remained in the royal service until
the first year of the reign of King Cyrus.*
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
One night during the second year of his
reign,* Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing dreams that he couldn’t sleep. 2 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, 3 he said, “I have had a dream that deeply
troubles me, and I must know what it means.”
4 Then the astrologers answered the king in
Aramaic,* “Long live the king! Tell us the dream,
and we will tell you what it means.”
5 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! 6 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!”
2
1:21 Cyrus began his reign (over Babylon) in 539 b.c. 2:1 The
second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 603 b.c. 2:2 Or
Chaldeans; also in 2:4, 5, 10. 2:4 The original text from this
point through chapter 7 is in Aramaic.
7 They said again, “Please, Your Majesty. Tell us
the dream, and we will tell you what it means.”
8 The king replied, “I know what you are
doing! You’re stalling for time because you
know I am serious when I say, 9 ‘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.”
10 The astrologers replied to the king, “No
one on earth can tell the king his dream! And
no king, however great and powerful, has ever
asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter,
or astrologer! 11 The king’s demand is impossible. No one except the gods can tell you your
dream, and they do not live here among people.”
12 The king was furious when he heard this,
and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed. 13 And because of the king’s
decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel
and his friends.
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s
guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the
situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He
asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a
harsh decree?” So Arioch told him all that had
happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king
and requested more time to tell the king what
the dream meant.
17 Then Daniel went home and told his friends
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. 18 He urged them to ask the God of heaven
to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with
the other wise men of Babylon. 19 That night the
secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then
Daniel praised the God of heaven. 20 He said,
21
22
23
“Praise the name of God forever and ever,
for he has all wisdom and power.
He controls the course of world events;
he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the scholars.
He reveals deep and mysterious things
and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
though he is surrounded by light.
I thank and praise you, God of my
ancestors,
for you have given me wisdom and
strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
and revealed to us what the king
demanded.”
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24 Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, whom the
king had ordered to execute the wise men of
Babylon. Daniel said to him, “Don’t kill the wise
men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him the
meaning of his dream.”