Nebuchadnezzar's Dream

2 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; ^(A)his spirit was troubled, and ^(B)his sleep left him.

⁵ I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and ^(A)the visions of my head alarmed me.

The King Honors Mordecai

6 On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring ^(A)the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

³ And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and ^(A)my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

⁵ And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, ^(A)“Why are your faces downcast today?” ⁸ They said to him, ^(B)“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ^(C)“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams

41 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ² and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³ And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴ And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵ And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶ And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and ^(A)blighted by the east wind. ⁷ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸ So in the morning ^(B)his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the ^(C)magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. ¹⁰ When Pharaoh was ^(D)angry with his servants ^(E)and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ^11 (F)we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. ¹² A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, ^(G)he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³ And ^(H)as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

^14 (I)Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they ^(J)quickly brought him ^(K)out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. ^(L)I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, ^(M)“It is not in me; ^(N)God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”^{[a] 17} Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, ^(O)in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸ Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹ Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹ but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²² I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³ Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴ and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And ^(P)I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; ^(Q)God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷ The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also ^(R)seven years of famine. ²⁸ It is as I told Pharaoh; ^(S)God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ There will come ^(T)seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰ but after them there will arise ^(U)seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. ^(V)The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³² And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the ^(W)thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³ Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land^[b] of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵ And ^(X)let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶ That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 In the third year of ^(A)the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of ^(B)the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to ^(C)the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, ^(D)and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. ³ Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ^(E)his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family^[a] and of ^(F)the nobility, ⁴ youths without ^(G)blemish, of good appearance and ^(H)skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to ^(I)teach them the literature and language of the ^(J)Chaldeans. ⁵ The king assigned them a daily portion of ^(K)the food that the king ate, and of ^(L)the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for ^(M)three years, and at the end of that time they were to ^(N)stand before the king.

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 ^(A)The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),