Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2 Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; ^(A)and his spirit was so troubled that ^(B)his sleep left him. ^2 (C)Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. ³ And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to ^[a]know the dream.”

⁴ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, ^(D)“O^[b] king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

⁵ The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My ^[c]decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be ^(E)cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. ^6 (F)However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.”

⁷ They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.”

⁸ The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: ⁹ if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the ^[d]time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can ^[e]give me its interpretation.”

¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. ¹¹ It is a ^[f]difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king ^(G)except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

¹² For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought ^(H)Daniel and his companions, to kill them.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

¹⁴ Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; ¹⁵ he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so ^[g]urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel.

¹⁶ So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. ¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ^18 (I)that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹ Then the secret was revealed to Daniel ^(J)in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

²⁰ Daniel answered and said:

Daniel Explains the Dream

²⁴ Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.”

²⁵ Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the ^[i]captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.”

²⁶ The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?”

²⁷ Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. ^28 (T)But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^(U)what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: ²⁹ As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; ^(V)and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. ^30 (W)But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, ^(X)and that you may ^[j]know the thoughts of your heart.

³¹ “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. ^32 (Y)This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and ^[k]thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of ^[l]clay. ³⁴ You watched while a stone was cut out ^(Z)without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ^35 (AA)Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became ^(AB)like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that ^(AC)no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image ^(AD)became a great mountain ^(AE)and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. ^37 (AF)You, O king, are a king of kings. ^(AG)For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; ^38 (AH)and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—^(AI)you are this head of gold. ³⁹ But after you shall arise ^(AJ)another kingdom ^(AK)inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And ^(AL)the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. ⁴¹ Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, ^(AM)so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly ^[m]fragile. ⁴³ As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴ And in the days of these kings ^(AN)the God of heaven will set up a kingdom ^(AO)which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; ^(AP)it shall ^[n]break in pieces and ^[o]consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ^45 (AQ)Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

Daniel and His Friends Promoted

^46 (AR)Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering ^(AS)and incense to him. ⁴⁷ The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly ^(AT)your God is the God of ^(AU)gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” ^48 (AV)Then the king promoted Daniel ^(AW)and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and ^(AX)chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Also Daniel petitioned the king, ^(AY)and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel ^(AZ)sat in ^[p]the gate of the king.

Judah Overrun by Enemies

24 In ^(A)his days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(B)Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ^2 (C)And the Lord sent against him raiding ^[a]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(D)according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. ³ Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^(E)because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, ^4 (F)and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.

The Obedient Rechabites

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² “Go to the house of the ^(A)Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of ^(B)the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”

³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, ⁴ and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(C)the keeper of the ^[a]door. ⁵ Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine.”

⁶ But they said, “We will drink no wine, for ^(D)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink ^(E)no wine, you nor your sons, forever. ⁷ You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, ^(F)that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.’ ⁸ Thus we have ^(G)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. ¹⁰ But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us ^(H)go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”

¹² Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not ^(I)receive instruction to ^[b]obey My words?” says the Lord. ¹⁴ “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. ^(J)But although I have spoken to you, ^(K)rising early and speaking, you did not ^[c]obey Me. ¹⁵ I have also sent to you all My ^(L)servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ^(M)‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will ^(N)dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. ¹⁶ Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their ^(O)father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” ’

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; ^(P)because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.’ ”

¹⁸ And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to ^(Q)stand before Me forever.” ’ ”

⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then ^[a]Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And ^(A)the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for ^(B)the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin^(C)

^8 (D)Jehoiachin^[a] was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

Pride Precedes Captivity

^10 (A)At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city ^[a]was besieged. ¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. ^12 (B)Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, ^(C)in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

The Captivity of Jerusalem

^13 (D)And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he ^(E)cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, ^(F)as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ Also ^(G)he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^(H)ten thousand captives, and ^(I)all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except ^(J)the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ And ^(K)he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ^16 (L)All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope^(A)

37 Now King ^(B)Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.