Daniel Interprets the Handwriting

¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of ^(A)the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah.

¹³ Then they answered and said before the king, ^(A)“Daniel, who is one ^(B)of the exiles ^(C)from Judah, ^(D)pays no attention to you, O king, or ^(E)the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition ^(F)three times a day.”

¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom ^(A)in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.^[a] In the days of your father, ^(B)light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—^(C)made him chief of the magicians, ^(D)enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,

²⁵ Then ^(A)Arioch brought in Daniel before the king ^(B)in haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^(C)among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.”

¹⁶ Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men,^[a] heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter;

Passover Celebrated

^19 (A)On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. ^20 (B)For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. ^(C)So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.

¹⁶ And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the ^(A)dedication of this house of God with joy.

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

4 Now when ^(A)the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,

^3 (A)So his brothers^[a] said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.