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.

The King’s Golden Image

3 Nebuchadnezzar the king made a ^(BW)statue of gold, the height of which was ^[au]sixty cubits, and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the ^(BX)province of Babylon. ² Nebuchadnezzar the king also sent word to assemble the ^(BY)satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the chief treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the administrators of the provinces to come to the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ³ Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the chief treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the administrators of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴ Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you ^[av]the command is given, you ^(BZ)peoples, nations, and populations of all ^[aw]languages, ⁵ that at the moment you ^(CA)hear the sound of the horn, flute, ^[ax]lyre, ^[ay]trigon, ^[az]psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. ⁶ But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be ^(CB)thrown into the middle of a ^(CC)furnace of blazing fire.” ⁷ Therefore as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, ^[ba]lyre, trigon, psaltery, ^[bb]bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, all the peoples, nations, and populations of all ^[bc]languages fell down and worshiped the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Worship of the Image Refused

⁸ For this reason at that time certain ^(CD)Chaldeans came forward and ^[bd](CE)brought charges against the Jews. ⁹ They began to speak and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: “^(CF)O king, live forever! ¹⁰ You, O king, have ^(CG)made a decree that every person who hears the sound of the horn, flute, ^[be]lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, is to ^(CH)fall down and worship the golden statue. ¹¹ But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into the middle of a furnace of blazing fire. ¹² There are certain Jews whom you have ^(CI)appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods, nor do they worship the golden statue which you have set up.”

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar in ^(CJ)rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar began speaking and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you do not serve ^(CK)my gods, nor worship the golden statue that I have set up? ¹⁵ Now if you are ready, ^(CL)at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, ^[bf]lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will ^[bg]immediately be ^(CM)thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and ^(CN)what god is there who can rescue you from my hands?”

^16 (CO)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not in need of an answer to give you concerning this matter. ¹⁷ If it be so, our ^(CP)God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; ^[bh]and ^(CQ)He will rescue us from your hand, O king. ^18 (CR)But even if He does not, ^(CS)let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

Daniel’s Friends Protected

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with ^(CT)wrath, and his facial expression was changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He answered ^[bi]by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he ordered certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in order to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. ²¹ Then these men were tied up in their ^(CU)trousers, their ^[bj]coats, their caps, and their other clothes, and were thrown into the middle of the furnace of blazing fire. ²² For this reason, because the king’s ^[bk]command was ^(CV)harsh and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. ²³ But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ^(CW)fell into the middle of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.

²⁴ Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up quickly; he said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the middle of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Absolutely, O king.” ²⁵ He responded, “Look! I see four men untied and ^(CX)walking about in the middle of the fire ^[bl]unharmed, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the ^(CY)gods!” ²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the ^(CZ)Most High God, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego ^(DA)came out of the middle of the fire. ²⁷ The ^(DB)satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the ^(DC)fire had no ^[bm]effect on ^[bn]the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their heads singed, nor were their ^[bo](DD)trousers ^[bp]damaged, nor had even the smell of fire touched them.

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the ^(DE)God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has ^(DF)sent His angel and rescued His servants who put their ^(DG)trust in Him, ^[bq]violating the king’s command, and surrendered their bodies ^(DH)rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. ²⁹ Therefore I ^(DI)make a decree that any people, nation, or population of any language that speaks anything offensive against the God of ^(DJ)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their ^(DK)houses made a rubbish heap, because there is ^(DL)no other god who is able to save in this way.” ³⁰ Then the king ^(DM)made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego prosperous in the province of Babylon.

Message at the Temple Gate

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “^(A)Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” ³ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(B)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. ^4 (C)Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘^[a]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ⁵ For ^(D)if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(E)practice justice between a person and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the ^[b](F)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed ^(G)innocent blood in this place, nor ^(H)follow other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you ^(I)live in this place, in the ^(J)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸ “Behold, you are trusting in ^(K)deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, ^[c](L)offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow ^(M)other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then ^(N)come and stand before Me in ^(O)this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ Has ^(P)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(Q)den of robbers in your sight? Behold, ^(R)I Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.

¹² “But go now to My place which was in ^(S)Shiloh, where I ^(T)made My name dwell at the beginning, and ^(U)see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^(V)speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I ^(W)called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the ^(X)house which is called by My name, ^(Y)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^(Z)did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will ^(AA)hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the ^[d]descendants of ^(AB)Ephraim.

¹⁶ “As for you, ^(AC)do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The ^[e]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(AD)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^(AE)provoke Me to anger. ^19 (AF)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^[f]own ^(AG)shame?” ²⁰ Therefore this is what the Lord ^[g]God says: “Behold, My ^(AH)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^(AI)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(AJ)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(AK)eat flesh. ²² For I did not ^(AL)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is ^[h]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(AM)Obey My voice, and ^(AN)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[i]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(AO)go well for you.’ ²⁴ Yet they ^(AP)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[j](AQ)went backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(AR)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶ Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(AS)stiffened their neck; they ^(AT)did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “So you shall ^(AU)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^(AV)not answer you. ²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^(AW)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^[k](AX)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

³⁰ For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have ^(BB)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹ They have ^(BC)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to ^(BD)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I ^(BE)did not command, and it did not come into My ^[m]mind.

³² “^(BF)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will ^(BG)bury in Topheth ^[n]because there is no other place. ³³ The ^(BH)dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will ^(BI)eliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the ^(BJ)land will become a site of ruins.

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(BK)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ² They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(BL)heavenly ^[o]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(BM)nor buried; ^(BN)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³ And ^(BO)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(BP)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.