2 ^1-3 One night in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a terrifying nightmare and awoke trembling with fear. And to make matters worse, he couldn’t remember his dream! He immediately called in all his magicians, incantationists, sorcerers, and astrologers, and demanded that they tell him what his dream had been.

“I’ve had a terrible nightmare,” he said as they stood before him, “and I can’t remember what it was. Tell me, for I fear some tragedy awaits me.”

⁴ Then the astrologers (speaking in Aramaic) said to the king, “Sir, tell us the dream and then we can tell you what it means.”

⁵ But the king replied, “I tell you the dream is gone—I can’t remember it. And if you won’t tell me what it was and what it means, I’ll have you torn limb from limb and your houses made into heaps of rubble! ⁶ But I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors if you tell me what the dream was and what it means. So, begin!”

⁷ They said again, “How can we tell you what the dream means unless you tell us what it was?”

^8-9 The king retorted, “I can see your trick! You’re trying to stall for time until the calamity befalls me that the dream foretells. But if you don’t tell me the dream, you certainly can’t expect me to believe your interpretation!”

¹⁰ The astrologers replied to the king, “There isn’t a man alive who can tell others what they have dreamed! And there isn’t a king in all the world who would ask such a thing! ¹¹ This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they are not here to help.”

¹² Upon hearing this, the king was furious and sent out orders to execute all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ And Daniel and his companions were rounded up with the others to be killed.

¹⁴ But when Arioch, the chief executioner, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with great wisdom by asking, ¹⁵ “Why is the king so angry? What is the matter?”

Then Arioch told him all that had happened.

¹⁶ So Daniel went in to see the king. “Give me a little time,” he said, “and I will tell you the dream and what it means.”

¹⁷ Then he went home and told Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions. ¹⁸ They asked the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not die with the others. ¹⁹ And that night in a vision God told Daniel what the king had dreamed.

Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, ²⁰ saying, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and all power. ²¹ World events are under his control. He removes kings and sets others on their thrones. He gives wise men their wisdom and scholars their intelligence. ²² He reveals profound mysteries beyond man’s understanding. He knows all hidden things, for he is light, and darkness is no obstacle to him. ²³ I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers, for you have given me wisdom and glowing health, and now even this vision of the king’s dream and the understanding of what it means.”

²⁴ Then Daniel went in to see Arioch, who had been ordered to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said, “Don’t kill them. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what he wants to know.”

²⁵ Then Arioch hurried Daniel in to the king and said, “I’ve found one of the Jewish captives who will tell you your dream!”

²⁶ The king said to Daniel, “Is this true? Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?”

²⁷ Daniel replied, “No wise man, astrologer, magician, or wizard can tell the king such things, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has told you in your dream what will happen in the future. This was your dream:

²⁹ “You dreamed of coming events. He who reveals secrets was speaking to you. ³⁰ (But remember, it’s not because I am wiser than any living person that I know this secret of your dream, for God showed it to me for your benefit.)

³¹ “O king, you saw a huge and powerful statue of a man, shining brilliantly, frightening and terrible. ³² The head of the statue was made of purest gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet part iron and part clay. ³⁴ But as you watched, a Rock was cut from the mountainside^[a] by supernatural means. It came hurtling toward the statue and crushed the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. ³⁵ Then the whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold; its pieces were crushed as small as chaff, and the wind blew them all away. But the Rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.

³⁶ “That was the dream; now for its meaning:

³⁷ “Your Majesty, you are a king over many kings, for the God of heaven has given you your kingdom, power, strength, and glory. ³⁸ You rule the farthest provinces, and even animals and birds are under your control, as God decreed. You are that head of gold.

³⁹ “But after your kingdom has come to an end, another world power^[b] will arise to take your place. This empire will be inferior to yours. And after that kingdom has fallen, yet a third great power—represented by the bronze belly of the statue—will rise to rule the world. ⁴⁰ Following it, the fourth kingdom^[c] will be strong as iron—smashing, bruising, and conquering. ^41-42 The feet and toes you saw—part iron and part clay—show that later on, this kingdom will be divided. Some parts of it will be as strong as iron, and some as weak as clay. ⁴³ This mixture of iron with clay also shows that these kingdoms will try to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through intermarriage of their rulers; but this will not succeed, for iron and clay don’t mix.

⁴⁴ “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed; no one will ever conquer it. It will shatter all these kingdoms into nothingness, but it shall stand forever, indestructible. ⁴⁵ That is the meaning of the Rock cut from the mountain without human hands—the Rock that crushed to powder all the iron and brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

“Thus the great God has shown what will happen in the future, and this interpretation of your dream is as sure and certain as my description of it.”

⁴⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar fell to the ground before Daniel and worshiped him and commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burn sweet incense before him.

⁴⁷ “Truly, O Daniel,” the king said, “your God is the God of gods, Ruler of kings, the Revealer of mysteries, because he has told you this secret.”

⁴⁸ Then the king made Daniel very great; he gave him many valuable gifts and appointed him to be ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men.

⁴⁹ Then, at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as Daniel’s assistants, to be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon; Daniel served as chief magistrate in the king’s court.

3 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet high and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon; ² then he sent messages to all the princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, and rulers of all the provinces of his empire, to come to the dedication of his statue. ³ When they had all arrived and were standing before the monument, ⁴ a herald shouted out, “O people of all nations and languages, this is the king’s command:

⁵ “When the band^[d] strikes up, you are to fall flat on the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue; ⁶ anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a flaming furnace.”

⁷ So when the band began to play, everyone—whatever his nation, language, or religion^[e]—fell to the ground and worshiped the statue.

⁸ But some officials went to the king and accused some of the Jews of refusing to worship!

⁹ “Your Majesty,” they said to him, ¹⁰ “you made a law that everyone must fall down and worship the gold statue when the band begins to play, ¹¹ and that anyone who refuses will be thrown into a flaming furnace. ¹² But there are some Jews out there—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you have put in charge of Babylonian affairs—who have defied you, refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you set up.”

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a terrible rage, ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in before him.

¹⁴ “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” he demanded, “that you are refusing to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I set up? ¹⁵ I’ll give you one more chance. When the music plays, if you fall down and worship the statue, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown into a flaming furnace within the hour. And what god can deliver you out of my hands then?”

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not worried about what will happen to us. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand, Your Majesty. ¹⁸ But if he doesn’t, please understand, sir, that even then we will never under any circumstance serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have erected.”

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and his face became dark with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He commanded that the furnace be heated up seven times hotter than usual, ²⁰ and called for some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and throw them into the fire. ²¹ So they bound them tight with ropes and threw them into the furnace, fully clothed. ²² And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers as they threw them in! ²³ So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down bound into the roaring flames.

²⁴ But suddenly, as he was watching, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors, “Didn’t we throw three men into the furnace?”

“Yes,” they said, “we did indeed, Your Majesty.”

²⁵ “Well, look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire, and they aren’t even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a god!”^[f]

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the open door of the flaming furnace and yelled: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God! Come out! Come here!” So they stepped out of the fire.

²⁷ Then the princes, governors, captains, and counselors crowded around them and saw that the fire hadn’t touched them—not a hair of their heads was singed; their coats were unscorched, and they didn’t even smell of smoke!

²⁸ Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, for he sent his angel to deliver his trusting servants when they defied the king’s commandment and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own. ²⁹ Therefore, I make this decree, that any person of any nation, language, or religion^[g] who speaks a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and his house knocked into a heap of rubble. For no other God can do what this one does.”

³⁰ Then the king gave promotions to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so that they prospered greatly there in the province of Babylon.

1 From: Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

To: The church at Thessalonica—to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: May blessing and peace of heart be your rich gifts from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

² We always thank God for you and pray for you constantly. ³ We never forget your loving deeds as we talk to our God and Father about you, and your strong faith and steady looking forward to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ We know that God has chosen you, dear brothers, much beloved of God. ⁵ For when we brought you the Good News, it was not just meaningless chatter to you; no, you listened with great interest. What we told you produced a powerful effect upon you, for the Holy Spirit gave you great and full assurance that what we said was true. And you know how our very lives were further proof to you of the truth of our message. ⁶ So you became our followers and the Lord’s; for you received our message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the trials and sorrows it brought you.

⁷ Then you yourselves became an example to all the other Christians in Greece. ⁸ And now the Word of the Lord has spread out from you to others everywhere, far beyond your boundaries, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your remarkable faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, ⁹ for they keep telling us about the wonderful welcome you gave us, and how you turned away from your idols to God so that now the living and true God only is your Master. ¹⁰ And they speak of how you are looking forward to the return of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God brought back to life—and he is our only Savior from God’s terrible anger against sin.

2 You yourselves know, dear brothers, how worthwhile that visit was. ² You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet God gave us the courage to boldly repeat the same message to you, even though we were surrounded by enemies. ³ So you can see that we were not preaching with any false motives or evil purposes in mind; we were perfectly straightforward and sincere.

⁴ For we speak as messengers from God, trusted by him to tell the truth; we change his message not one bit to suit the taste of those who hear it; for we serve God alone, who examines our hearts’ deepest thoughts. ⁵ Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you very well know, and God knows we were not just pretending to be your friends so that you would give us money! ⁶ As for praise, we have never asked for it from you or anyone else, although as apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to some honor from you. ⁷ But we were as gentle among you as a mother feeding and caring for her own children. ⁸ We loved you dearly—so dearly that we gave you not only God’s message, but our own lives too.

⁹ Don’t you remember, dear brothers, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled and sweated to earn enough to live on so that our expenses would not be a burden to anyone there, as we preached God’s Good News among you. ¹⁰ You yourselves are our witnesses—as is God—that we have been pure and honest and faultless toward every one of you. ¹¹ We talked to you as a father to his own children—don’t you remember?—pleading with you, encouraging you and even demanding ¹² that your daily lives should not embarrass God but bring joy to him who invited you into his Kingdom to share his glory.

¹³ And we will never stop thanking God for this: that when we preached to you, you didn’t think of the words we spoke as being just our own, but you accepted what we said as the very Word of God—which, of course, it was—and it changed your lives when you believed it.

¹⁴ And then, dear brothers, you suffered what the churches in Judea did, persecution from your own countrymen, just as they suffered from their own people, the Jews. ¹⁵ After they had killed their own prophets, they even executed the Lord Jesus; and now they have brutally persecuted us and driven us out. They are against both God and man, ¹⁶ trying to keep us from preaching to the Gentiles for fear some might be saved; and so their sins continue to grow. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

¹⁷ Dear brothers, after we left you and had been away from you but a very little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried hard to come back to see you once more. ¹⁸ We wanted very much to come, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan stopped us. ¹⁹ For what is it we live for, that gives us hope and joy and is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes back again. ²⁰ For you are our trophy and joy.