War with Aram

20 Now ^(A)Ben-hadad, king of Aram, gathered all his army, ^(B)and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and ^(C)besieged Samaria, and fought against it. ² Then he sent messengers to the city to Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ³ ‘Your silver and your gold are mine; your most beautiful wives and children are also mine.’” ⁴ And the king of Israel replied, “As ^[a]you say, my lord, O king; I am yours, as well as all that I have.” ⁵ Then the messengers returned and said, “Ben-hadad says ^[b]this: ‘I did indeed send word to you, saying, “You shall give me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children”; ⁶ but about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants; and they will take in their hands everything that is pleasing to your eyes, and take it all away.’”

⁷ Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please be aware and ^(D)see that this man is looking for trouble; for he sent me his demand for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I did not refuse him.” ⁸ Then all the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen nor consent.” ⁹ So he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘Everything that you sent as a demand to your servant at the first, I will do; but this thing I cannot do.’” Then the messengers departed, and brought him word again. ¹⁰ Ben-hadad sent word to him and said, “May ^(E)the gods do so to me and more so, ^[c]if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who ^[d]follow me.” ¹¹ Then the king of Israel replied, “Tell him, ‘^(F)He who straps on his weapons had better not boast like one who takes them off.’” ¹² And when Ben-hadad heard this message, while ^(G)he was drinking ^[e]with the kings in the ^[f]temporary shelters, he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they took their positions against the city.

Ahab Victorious

¹³ Now behold, a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, ^(H)I am going to hand them over to you today, and ^(I)you shall know that I am the Lord.’” ¹⁴ But Ahab said, “By whom?” So he said, “The Lord says this: ‘By the young men of the leaders of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who will begin the battle?” And he said, “You will.” ¹⁵ So he mustered the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and there were 232; and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel: seven thousand.

¹⁶ They went out at noon, while ^(J)Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the ^[g]temporary shelters ^[h]with the thirty-two kings who were helping him. ¹⁷ The young men of the leaders of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men have come out from Samaria.” ^18 (K)Then he said, “If they have come out ^[i]for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive as well.”

¹⁹ So these men went out from the city, the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ²⁰ And they ^[j]killed, each one, his man; and the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen. ²¹ The king of Israel also went out and struck the horses and chariots, and ^[k]killed the Arameans in a great slaughter.

²² Then ^(L)the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, show yourself courageous and be aware and see what you have to do; for ^(M)at ^[l]the turn of the year the king of Aram will march against you.”

²³ Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “^(N)Their gods are gods of the mountains; for that reason they were stronger than we. But let us fight them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they. ²⁴ Carry out this ^[m]plan: remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their place, ²⁵ and ^[n]muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.

Another Aramean War

²⁶ So ^(O)at ^[o]the turn of the year Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to ^(P)Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷ And the sons of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went to meet them; and the sons of Israel camped opposite them like two little flocks of goats, ^(Q)while the Arameans filled the country. ²⁸ Then ^(R)a man of God approached and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Since the Arameans have said, “^(S)The Lord is a god of mountains, but He is not a god of valleys,” therefore ^(T)I will hand over to you all this great multitude, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” ²⁹ So they camped, one opposite the other, for seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel ^[p]killed of the Arameans a hundred thousand foot soldiers in a single day. ³⁰ But the rest fled to ^(U)Aphek into the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. And Ben-hadad fled and came into the city, going from one ^(V)inner room to another.

³¹ But ^(W)his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let’s ^(X)put sackcloth ^[q]around our waists and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will let ^[r]you live.” ³² So ^(Y)they put sackcloth ^[s]around their waists and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “^(Z)Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let ^[t]me live.’” And Ahab said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ³³ Now the men took this as a good omen, and quickly ^[u]accepting it from him, they said, “Your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he had him mount the chariot. ³⁴ And Ben-hadad said to him, “^(AA)The cities which my father took from your father I will restore, and you can make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” Ahab said, “And I will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

³⁵ Now a man from ^(AB)the sons of the prophets said to ^[v]another ^(AC)by the word of the Lord, “Please strike me.” But the man refused to strike him. ³⁶ Then he said to him, “Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you leave me, ^(AD)a lion will ^[w]kill you.” And as soon as he left him a lion found him and ^[x]killed him. ³⁷ Then he found another man and said, “Please strike me.” And the man struck him, ^[y]injuring him. ³⁸ So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and ^(AE)disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if for any reason he goes missing, ^(AF)then your life shall be forfeited in place of his life, or else you shall pay a ^[z]talent of silver.’ ⁴⁰ Now while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself determined it.” ⁴¹ Then he quickly took the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets. ⁴² And the prophet said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Since you have let go from your hand the man I had designated for destruction, ^(AG)your ^[aa]life shall be forfeited in place of his ^[ab]life, and your people in place of his people.’” ⁴³ So ^(AH)the king of Israel went to his house sullen and furious, and came to Samaria.

Encouragement of Timothy’s Visit

3 Therefore, ^(A)when we could no longer endure it, we thought it best to be left behind, alone at ^(B)Athens, ² and we sent ^(C)Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the benefit of your faith, ³ so that no one would be ^[a]disturbed by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that ^(D)we have been destined for this. ⁴ For even when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; ^[b](E)and so it happened, ^[c]as you know. ⁵ For this reason, ^(F)when I could no longer endure it, I also ^(G)sent to ^[d]find out about your faith, for fear that ^(H)the tempter might have tempted you, and ^(I)our labor would be for nothing.

⁶ But now that ^(J)Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of ^(K)your faith and love, and that you always ^(L)think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, ⁷ for this reason, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; ⁸ for now we really live, if you ^(M)stand firm in the Lord. ⁹ For ^(N)what thanks can we give to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice because of you before our God, ¹⁰ as we ^(O)keep praying most earnestly night and day that we may ^(P)see your faces, and may ^(Q)complete what is lacking in your faith?

^11 (R)Now may ^(S)our God and Father ^(T)Himself, and our Lord Jesus, ^(U)direct our way to you; ¹² and may the Lord cause you to increase and ^(V)overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; ¹³ so that He may ^(W)establish your hearts ^(X)blameless in holiness before ^(Y)our God and Father at the ^[e](Z)coming of our Lord Jesus ^(AA)with all His ^[f]saints.

The King’s Dream

2 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar ^[a](A)had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his ^(B)sleep ^[b]left him. ² Then the king ^[c]gave orders to call in the ^(C)soothsayer priests, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the ^[d]Chaldeans, to ^[e]tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³ The king said to them, “I ^[f](D)had a dream, and my spirit ^[g]is anxious to ^[h]understand the dream.”

⁴ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in ^[i](E)Aramaic: “^(F)O king, live forever! ^(G)Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵ The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command ^[j]from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be ^[k](H)torn limb from limb and your houses will be turned into a rubbish heap. ⁶ But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me ^(I)gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king ^(J)tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁸ The king replied, “I know for certain that you are trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command ^[l]from me is firm, ⁹ that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only ^(K)one ^[m]decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt ^[n]words before me until the ^[o]situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, so that I may ^(L)know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” ¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered ^[p]the king and said, “There is no person on earth who could declare the matter ^[q]to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any ^(M)soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean. ¹¹ Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it ^[r]to the king except ^(N)gods, whose ^(O)dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

¹² Because of this, the king became ^(P)angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the ^[s]decree was issued that the wise men be killed; and they looked for ^(Q)Daniel and his friends, to ^[t]kill them.

¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to ^(R)Arioch, the captain of the king’s ^[u]bodyguard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; 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. 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.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, ^(S)Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, ¹⁸ so that they might ^(T)request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his friends would not be ^(U)killed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

The Secret Is Revealed to Daniel

¹⁹ Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night ^(V)vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; ²⁰ Daniel said,

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: “^(AH)Do not kill the wise men of Babylon! Take me ^[w]into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”

²⁵ Then Arioch hurriedly ^(AI)brought Daniel ^[x]into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the ^[y](AJ)exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!” ²⁶ The king said to Daniel, whose name was ^(AK)Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” ²⁷ Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the secret about which the king has inquired, neither ^(AL)wise men, sorcerers, soothsayer priests, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. ²⁸ However, there is a ^(AM)God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the ^[z](AN)latter days. This was your dream and the ^(AO)visions ^[aa]in your mind while on your bed. ²⁹ As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts ^[ab]turned to what would take place ^[ac]in the future; and ^(AP)He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will take place. ³⁰ But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me ^[ad]for any ^(AQ)wisdom ^[ae]residing 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 ^(AR)thoughts of your ^[af]mind.

The King’s Dream

³¹ “You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and ^[ag]of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was ^[ah](AS)awesome. ³² The ^(AT)head of that statue was made of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You ^[ai]continued watching until a ^(AU)stone was broken off ^(AV)without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and ^(AW)crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces ^[aj]all at the same time, and they were ^(AX)like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that ^(AY)not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great ^(AZ)mountain and filled the entire earth.

The Interpretation—Babylon the First Kingdom

³⁶ “This was the dream; and now we will tell ^(BA)its interpretation before the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are the ^(BB)king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ^[ak]kingdom, the ^(BC)power, the strength, and the honor; ³⁸ and wherever the sons of mankind live, or the ^(BD)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.

Medo-Persia and Greece

³⁹ And after you another kingdom will arise inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

Rome

⁴⁰ Then there will be a ^(BE)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. 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 ^[al]common clay. 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. ⁴³ In that you saw the iron mixed with ^[am]common clay, they will combine with one another ^[an]in ^[ao]their descendants; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not combine with pottery.

The Divine Kingdom

⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the ^(BF)God of heaven will ^(BG)set up a ^(BH)kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ^[ap]left for another people; it will ^(BI)crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ Just as you saw that a ^(BJ)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 ^(BK)great God has made known to the king what ^(BL)will take place ^[aq]in the future; so the dream is certain and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel Promoted

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid ^(BM)humble respect to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and ^(BN)incense. ⁴⁷ The king responded to Daniel and said, “^(BO)Your God truly is a ^(BP)God of gods and a Lord of kings and a ^(BQ)revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.” ⁴⁸ Then the king ^[ar](BR)promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the entire ^(BS)province of Babylon, and chief ^[as]prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ And Daniel made a request of the king, and he ^(BT)appointed ^(BU)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ^[at](BV)court.

Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Help.