Daniel 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 1 The dreams of Nebuchadnezzar. 13 The king commandeth all the wise men of Babylon to be slain, because they could not interpret his dream. 16 Daniel requireth time to solute the question. 24 Daniel is brought unto the king, and showeth him his dream, and the interpretation thereof. 44 Of the everlasting kingdom of Christ.
1 And in the [a]second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed [b]dreams wherewith his spirit was [c]troubled, and his [d]sleep was upon him.
2 Then the king commanded to call the enchanters, and the astrologians, and the sorcerers, and the [e]Chaldeans for to show the king his dreams: so they came and stood before the King.
3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in the [f]Aramite’s language, O king, live forever: show thy servants thy dream, and we shall show the interpretation.
5 And the King answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me. If ye will not make me understand the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye [g]shall be drawn in pieces, and your houses shall be made a jakes.
6 But if ye declare the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards, and great honor: therefore show me the dream and the interpretation of it.
7 They answered again, and said, Let the king show [h]his servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation thereof.
8 Then the king answered, and said, I know certainly that ye [i]would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9 But if ye will not declare me the dream, there is but one judgment for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words, to speak before me till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, that I may know, if ye can declare me the interpretation thereof.
10 Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is no man upon earth that can declare the king’s matter: yea, there is neither King nor Prince nor lord that asked such things at an enchanter, or astrologian, or Chaldean.
11 For it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can declare it before the king, except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.
12 For this cause the king was angry and in great fury, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babel.
13 ¶ And when sentence was given, the wise men were slain: and they [j]sought Daniel and his fellows to be put to death.
14 Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the king’s [k]chief steward, which was gone forth to put to death the wise men of Babel.
15 Yea, he answered and said unto Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the sentence so hasty from the king? Then Arioch declared the thing to Daniel.
16 So Daniel went and desired the king that he would give him leisure, and that he would show the king the interpretation thereof.
17 ¶ Then Daniel went to his house, and showed the matter to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah his companions,
18 That they should beseech the God of heaven for grace in this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babel.
19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a vision by night: therefore Daniel praised the God of heaven.
20 And Daniel answered and said, (A)The Name of God be praised forever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his.
21 And he changeth the times and seasons: he taketh away kings: he setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and understanding to those that understand.
22 He discovereth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in darkness, and the [l]light dwelleth with him.
23 I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my [m]fathers, that thou hast given me wisdom and [n]strength, and hast showed me now the thing that we desired of thee: for thou hast declared unto us the king’s matter.
24 ¶ Therefore Daniel went unto Arioch, whom the King had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babel: he went and said thus unto him, Destroy not [o]the wise men of Babel, but bring me before the king, and I will declare unto the king the interpretation.
25 Then Arioch brought Daniel before the king in all haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the children of Judah that were brought captives, that will declare unto the king the interpretation.
26 Then answered the king, and said unto Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to show me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded, can neither the wise, the astrologians, the enchanters, nor the soothsayers declare unto the king.
28 But there is a God in [p]heaven that revealeth secrets, and showeth the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the things which thou hast seen in thine head upon thy bed, is this:
29 O king, when thou wast in thy bed, thoughts came into thy mind, what should come to pass hereafter, and he that revealeth secrets, telleth thee what shall come.
30 As [q]for me, this secret is not showed me for any wisdom that I have more than any other living, but only to show the king the interpretation, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thine heart.
31 O king, thou sawest, and behold, there was a great image: this great image whose glory was so excellent, stood before thee, and the form therefore was terrible.
32 This image’s head was of fine [r]gold, his breast, and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, and his feet were part of iron, and part of clay.
34 Thou beheldest it till a stone was cut without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken all together, and became like the chaff of the summer flowers, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36 This is the dream, and we will declare before the king the interpretation thereof.
37 ¶ O king, thou art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And in all places where the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all: thou art [s]this head of gold.
39 And after thee shall rise another kingdom, [t]inferior to thee, of silver, and another [u]third kingdom shall be of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: for as iron breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things, and as iron bruiseth all these things, so shall it break in [v]pieces, and bruise all.
41 Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shall be [w]divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, as thou sawest the iron mixed with the clay, and earth.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so shall the kingdom be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with clay and earth, they shall mingle themselves with [x]the seed of men: but they shall not join one with another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which [y]shall never be destroyed: and this kingdom shall not be given to another people, but it shall break, and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45 Whereas thou sawest, that the [z]stone was cut of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold: so the great God hath showed the king, what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is sure.
46 ¶ Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and [aa]bowed himself unto Daniel, and commanded that they should offer meat offerings, and sweet odors unto him.
47 Also the King answered unto Daniel, and said, I know of a truth that your [ab]God is a God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and the revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest open this secret.
48 So the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many and great [ac]gifts. He made him governor over the whole province of Babel, and chief of the rulers, and above all the wise men of Babel.
49 Then Daniel [ad]made request to the King, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the charge of the province of Babel: but Daniel sat in the [ae]gate of the king.
Footnotes
- Daniel 2:1 The father and the son were both called by this name, so that this is meant of the son, when he reigned alone: for he reigned also after a sort with his father.
- Daniel 2:1 Not that he had many dreams, but because many matters were contained in this dream.
- Daniel 2:1 Because it was so rare and strange a dream: that he had not had the like.
- Daniel 2:1 He was so heavy with sleep, that he began to sleep again. Some read, and his sleep was broken from him.
- Daniel 2:2 For all these Astrologers and sorcerers called themselves by this name of honor, as though all the wisdom and knowledge of the country depended upon them, and that all other countries were void of the same.
- Daniel 2:4 That is, in the Syrian tongue which differed not much from the Chaldeans, save it seemed to be more eloquent, and therefore the learned used to speak it, as the Jewish writers do to this day.
- Daniel 2:5 This is a just reward of their arrogance (which vaunted of themselves that they had the knowledge of all things) that they should be proved fools, and that to their perpetual shame and confusion.
- Daniel 2:7 Herein appeared their ignorance, that notwithstanding their brags, yet were they not able to tell the dream, except he entered them into the matter, and therefore they would pretend knowledge where was but mere ignorance, and so as deluders of the people, they were worthy to die.
- Daniel 2:8 Hebrew, redeem the time.
- Daniel 2:13 Which declareth that God would not have his servant joined in the company of these sorcerers and Astrologers, whose arts were wicked, and therefore justly ought to die, though the king did it upon a rage and no zeal.
- Daniel 2:14 Or, the captain of the guards.
- Daniel 2:22 He showeth that man hath neither wisdom nor knowledge, but very dark blindness and ignorance of himself: for it cometh only of God, that man understandeth anything.
- Daniel 2:23 To whom thou madest thy promise, and who lived in thy fear: whereby he excludeth all other gods.
- Daniel 2:23 Meaning, power to interpret it.
- Daniel 2:24 Whereby appeareth that many were slain, as verse 13, and the rest at Daniel’s offer were preserved on condition: not that Daniel favored their wicked profession, but that he had respect to equity, because the King proceeded according to his wicked affection, and not considering if their science were lawful or no.
- Daniel 2:28 He affirmeth that man by reason and art is not able to attain to the cause of God’s secrets, but the understanding only thereof must come of God: whereby he smiteth the king with a certain fear and reverence of God, that he might be the more apt to receive the high mysteries, that should be revealed.
- Daniel 2:30 Because he had said that God only must reveal the signification of this dream, the King might have asked, why Daniel did enterprise to interpret it, and therefore he showeth that he was but God’s minister and had no gifts, but such as God had given him to set forth his glory.
- Daniel 2:32 By gold, silver, brass and iron, are meant the Chaldean, Persian, Macedonian and Roman kingdoms, which should successively rule all the world till Christ (which is here called the stone) come himself, and destroy the last: and this was to assure the Jews, that their affliction should not end with the empire of the Chaldeans, but that they should patiently abide the coming of Messiah, which should be at the end of this fourth monarchy.
- Daniel 2:38 Daniel leaveth out the kingdom of the Assyrians, which was before the Babylonian, both because it was not a Monarchy and general empire, and also because he would declare the things that were to come, to the coming of Christ, for the comfort of the elect among these wonderful alterations, and he calleth the Babylonian kingdom the golden head, because in respect of the other three, it was the best, and yet it was of itself wicked and cruel.
- Daniel 2:39 Meaning, the Persians which were not inferior in dignity, power, and riches, but were worse touching ambition, cruelty, and all kind of vice, showing that the world should grow worse and worse, till it was restored by Christ.
- Daniel 2:39 That is, of the Macedonians shall be of brass, not alluding to the hardness thereof, but to the vileness in respect of silver.
- Daniel 2:40 That is, the Roman empire shall subdue all these other aforenamed, which after Alexander were divided into the Macedonians, Grecians, Syrians and Egyptians.
- Daniel 2:41 They shall have civil wars, and continual discords among themselves.
- Daniel 2:43 They shall by marriages and affinities think to make themselves strong: yet shall they never be joined in hearts.
- Daniel 2:44 His purpose is to show, that all the kingdoms of the world are transitory, and that the kingdom of Christ shall only remain forever.
- Daniel 2:45 Meaning Christ, who was sent of God, and not set up by man, whose kingdom at the beginning should be small and without beauty to man’s judgment, but should at length grow and fill the whole earth, which he calleth a great mountain, as verse 35. And this kingdom which is not only referred to the person of Christ, but also to the whole body of his Church, and to every member thereof, shall be eternal: for the Spirit that is in them is life eternal, Rom. 8:10.
- Daniel 2:46 Though this humbling of the king seemed to deserve commendation, yet because he joined God’s honor with the Prophet’s, it is to be reproved, and Daniel herein erred, if he suffered it: but it is credible that Daniel admonished him of his fault, and did not suffer it.
- Daniel 2:47 This confession was but a sudden motion, as it was also in Pharaoh, Exod. 9:28, but his heart was not touched, as appeared soon afterward.
- Daniel 2:48 Not that the Prophet was desirous of gifts or honor, but because by this means he might relieve his poor brethren, which were grievously oppressed in this their captivity, and also he received them, lest he should offend this cruel king, which willingly gave them.
- Daniel 2:49 He did not this for their private profit: but that the whole Church, which was then there in affliction, might have some release and ease by this benefit.
- Daniel 2:49 Meaning, that either he was a judge, or that he had the whole authority, so than none could be admitted to the king’s presence, but by him.
但以理书 2
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
尼布甲尼撒的梦
2 尼布甲尼撒在执政第二年做了梦，心里烦乱，无法入睡， 2 便派人召来术士、巫师、行法术的和占星家[a]，为他解梦。他们都来到王面前。 3 王对他们说：“我做了一个梦，心里烦乱，想知道梦的意思。” 4 占星家用亚兰话对王说：“愿王万岁！请将梦告诉仆人，仆人好解释梦的意思。” 5 王对占星家说：“我的旨意已定，你们若不能将梦和梦的意思告诉我，必被碎尸万段，你们的家必沦为废墟。 6 你们若能将梦和梦的意思告诉我，我必给你们礼物、赏赐和极大的尊荣。所以你们要将梦和梦的意思告诉我。” 7 他们再次对王说：“请王将梦告诉仆人，仆人好解释梦的意思。” 8 王说：“我敢肯定，你们是在拖延时间，因为你们知道我的旨意已定， 9 你们若不将梦告诉我，我必惩治你们。你们串通起来在我面前胡言乱语，期待情况会改变。现在将梦告诉我，我就相信你们能解梦。” 10 占星家说：“王所要求的，世上无人能做到，因为再伟大、再有权势的君王也没问过术士、巫师或占星家这样的事。 11 王问的事太难，除了不在人间居住的神明外，无人能为王解答。” 12 王大怒，下令处死巴比伦所有的智者。 13 于是，处死智者的谕旨发出，但以理和他的同伴都在被杀之列。
14 王的护卫长亚略奉命要处死巴比伦的智者，但以理机智、谨慎地应对。 15 他问王的护卫长亚略：“王的命令为何这样紧急？”亚略就把情况告诉他。 16 但以理便进宫求王宽限，以便为王解梦。 17 然后，他回到居所将这事告诉同伴哈拿尼雅、米沙利和亚撒利雅， 18 要同伴祈求天上的上帝施怜悯，显明这奥秘，以免他们和其他巴比伦的智者一起被杀。 19 这奥秘在夜间的异象中向但以理显明，他便颂赞天上的上帝， 20 说：
“上帝的名永永远远当受称颂，
因为智慧和能力都属于祂。
21 祂改变时令和季节，废王立王，
赐智慧给智者，赐知识给哲士。
22 祂显明深奥隐秘之事，
洞悉暗中的隐情，
有光与祂同住。
23 我祖先的上帝啊，我感谢你，赞美你，
因你赐我智慧和能力，
应允我们的祈求，
使我们明白王的梦。”
但以理解梦
24 于是，但以理去见王指派处死巴比伦智者的亚略，对他说：“不要处死巴比伦的智者，请带我去见王，我要为王解梦。” 25 亚略急忙带但以理去见王，对王说：“我在被掳的犹大人中找到一个能为王解梦的。” 26 王就问又名伯提沙撒的但以理：“你能将我做的梦和梦的意思告诉我吗？” 27 但以理回答说：“没有智者、术士、巫师或占星家可以解答王所问的奥秘， 28-30 但天上的上帝能揭开奥秘，祂已把将来要发生的事告诉了王。王啊，你在床上梦见了将来的事，揭开奥秘的上帝已把将来的事指示给你。上帝将王做的梦启示给我，并非因为我的智慧胜过其他人，而是要让王知道梦的意思和王的心事。以下是王在床上做的梦和脑中出现的异象。
31 “王啊，你梦见一个高大宏伟、极其明亮的塑像站在你面前，相貌可怕， 32 有纯金的头、银的胸和臂、铜的肚腹和大腿、 33 铁的小腿和半铁半泥的脚。 34 在你观看的时候，有一块非人手凿出的石头打在塑像半铁半泥的脚上，砸碎了脚。 35 铁、泥、铜、银、金随即粉碎，犹如夏天麦场上的糠秕，被风吹得无影无踪。但打碎这像的石头变成一座大山，充满整个大地。
36 “这就是梦的内容。现在我们要为王解梦。 37 王啊，你是万王之王，天上的上帝已将国度、权柄、能力和尊荣赐给你， 38 也将居住在各地的世人、走兽和飞禽都交在你手中，让你管理。你就是那金头。 39 在你之后，必有另一国兴起，不及你的国强大。之后是将要统治天下的第三个国，是铜的。 40 接着是坚如铁的第四国，能击垮、打碎列国，正如铁能击垮、打碎一切。 41 你看见半铁半陶泥的脚和脚趾，表示那将是一个分裂的国。正如你看见铁和泥混杂在一起，它必有铁一般的力量。 42 半铁半泥的脚趾表示那国必半强半弱。 43 你看见铁和泥混杂在一起，这表示那国的民族彼此混杂通婚，却不能团结，正如铁和泥无法混合。 44 在以上列王统治的时候，天上的上帝必设立一国——永不灭亡、外族无法夺其政权。这国将击垮、消灭列国，并且永远长存。 45 你看见那块非人手从山中凿出的石头打碎铁、铜、泥、银和金。伟大的上帝已把将来的事告诉了王。这梦是真实的，解释是可靠的。”
46 尼布甲尼撒王俯伏在地，向但以理下拜，并下令给他献供物和香。 47 王对但以理说：“你们的上帝真是万神之神、万王之主、奥秘的启示者，因为你能揭开这个奥秘。” 48 王赐但以理高官及许多贵重的礼物，派他治理巴比伦全省，管理巴比伦所有的智者。 49 王又应允但以理的请求，派沙得拉、米煞和亚伯尼歌负责巴比伦省的事务。但以理仍在朝中供职。
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