Old/New Testament

Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and surrounded it with his army. This happened during the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. ² The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the things from the Temple of God. He carried them to Babylonia and put them in the temple of his gods.

³ Then King Nebuchadnezzar gave an order to Ashpenaz, his chief officer. He told Ashpenaz to bring some of the men from Judah into his house. He wanted them to be from important families. And he wanted those who were from the family of the king of Judah. ⁴ King Nebuchadnezzar wanted only healthy, young, Israelite men. These men were not to have anything wrong with their bodies. They were to be handsome and well educated. They were to be able to learn and understand things. He wanted those who were able to serve in his palace. Ashpenaz was to teach them the language and writings of the Babylonians. ⁵ The king gave the young men a certain amount of food and wine every day. That was the same kind of food that the king ate. They were to be trained for three years. Then the young men would become servants of the king of Babylon. ⁶ Among those young men were some from the people of Judah. These were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

⁷ Then Ashpenaz, the chief officer, gave them Babylonian names. Daniel’s new name was Belteshazzar. Hananiah’s was Shadrach. Mishael’s was Meshach. And Azariah’s new name was Abednego.

⁸ Daniel decided not to eat the king’s food and wine because that would make him unclean. So he asked Ashpenaz for permission not to make himself unclean in this way.

⁹ God made Ashpenaz want to be kind and merciful to Daniel. ¹⁰ But Ashpenaz said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my master, the king. He ordered me to give you this food and drink. If you don’t eat this food, you will begin to look worse than other young men your age. The king will see this. And he will cut off my head because of you.”

¹¹ Ashpenaz had ordered a guard to watch Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ¹² Daniel said to the guard, “Please give us this test for ten days: Don’t give us anything but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then after ten days compare us with the other young men who eat the king’s food. See for yourself who looks healthier. Then you judge for yourself how you want to treat us, your servants.”

¹⁴ So the guard agreed to test them for ten days. ¹⁵ After ten days they looked very healthy. They looked better than all of the young men who ate the king’s food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away the king’s special food and wine. He gave Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah vegetables instead.

¹⁷ God gave these four men wisdom and the ability to learn. They learned many kinds of things people had written and studied. Daniel could also understand all kinds of visions and dreams.

¹⁸ The end of the three years came. And Ashpenaz brought all of the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king talked to them. He found that none of the young men were as good as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So those four young men became the king’s servants. ²⁰ Every time the king asked them about something important, they showed much wisdom and understanding. He found they were ten times better than all the fortune-tellers and magicians in his kingdom. ²¹ So Daniel continued to be the king’s servant until the first year Cyrus was king.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2 During Nebuchadnezzar’s second year as king, he had some dreams. Those dreams bothered him, and he could not sleep. ² So the king called for his fortune-tellers, magicians, wizards and wise men. The king wanted those men to tell him what he had dreamed. So they came in and stood in front of the king.

³ Then the king said to them, “I had a dream that bothers me. I want to know what the dream means.”

⁴ Then the wise men answered the king in the Aramaic language. They said, “Our king, live forever! We are your servants. Please tell us your dream. Then we will tell you what it means.”

⁵ Then King Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “No! You must tell me the dream. And then you must tell me what it means. If you don’t do these things, I will have you torn apart. And I will turn your houses into piles of stones. ⁶ But if you tell me my dream and its meaning, I will reward you. I will give you gifts and great honor. So tell me the dream, and tell me what it means.”

⁷ Again the wise men said to the king, “Please, tell us the dream. And we will tell you what it means.”

⁸ King Nebuchadnezzar answered, “Now I know that you are trying to get more time. You know that I meant what I said. ⁹ If you don’t tell me my dream, you will be punished. You have all agreed to tell me lies and wicked things. You are hoping things will change. Now, tell me the dream. Then I will know you can tell me what it really means!”

¹⁰ The wise men answered the king. They said, “No one on earth can do what the king asks! Not even a great and powerful king has ever asked the fortune-tellers, magicians or wise men to do this. ¹¹ The king is asking something that is too hard. Only the gods could tell the king this. But the gods do not live among people.”

¹² When the king heard that, he became very angry. He gave an order for all the wise men of Babylon to be killed. ¹³ So King Nebuchadnezzar’s order was announced. All the wise men were to be put to death. Men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to kill them.

¹⁴ Arioch was the commander of the king’s guards. He was going to put to death the wise men of Babylon. But Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and skill. ¹⁵ Daniel asked, “Why did the king order such a terrible punishment?” Then Arioch explained everything to Daniel. ¹⁶ When Daniel heard the story, he went to King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel asked him to give him some more time. Then he would tell the king what he had dreamed and what it meant.

¹⁷ So Daniel went to his house. He explained the whole story to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ¹⁸ Daniel asked his friends to pray to the God of heaven. Daniel asked them to pray that God would show them mercy and help them understand this secret. Then Daniel and his friends would not be put to death with the other wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹ During the night God explained the secret to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. ²⁰ Daniel said:

The Meaning of the Dream

²⁴ Then Daniel went to Arioch. King Nebuchadnezzar had chosen Arioch to put to death the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to Arioch, “Don’t put the wise men of Babylon to death. Take me to the king. I will tell him what his dream means.”

²⁵ So very quickly Arioch took Daniel to the king. Arioch said to the king, “I have found a man among the captives from Judah. He can tell the king what his dream means.”

²⁶ The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) a question. He asked, “Are you able to tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”

²⁷ Daniel answered, “No person can explain to the king the secret he has asked about. No wise man, magician or fortune-teller can do this. ²⁸ But there is a God in heaven who explains secret things. God has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at a later time. This is your dream. This is the vision you saw while lying on your bed: ²⁹ My king, as you were lying there, you thought about things to come. God, who can tell people about secret things, showed you what is going to happen. ³⁰ God also told this secret to me. It is not because I have greater wisdom than other men. It is so that you, my king, may know what it means. In that way you will understand what went through your mind.

³¹ “My king, in your dream you saw a large statue in front of you. It was huge, shiny and frightening. ³² The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its middle and the upper part of its legs were made of bronze. ³³ The lower part of the legs were made of iron. Its feet were made partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴ While you were looking at the statue, you saw a rock cut free. But no human being touched the rock. It hit the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver and gold broke to pieces at the same time. They became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summertime. The wind blew them away, and there was nothing left. Then the rock that hit the statue became a very large mountain. It filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “That was your dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. ³⁷ My king, you are the greatest king. God of heaven has given you a kingdom. He has given you power, strength and glory. ³⁸ God has given you power over people, wild animals and birds. Wherever they live, God has made you ruler over them all. King Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold on that statue.

³⁹ “Another kingdom will come after you. But that kingdom will not be as great as yours. Next a third kingdom will rule over the earth. That is the bronze part. ⁴⁰ Then there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron. Iron crushes and smashes things to pieces. In the same way the fourth kingdom will smash and crush all the other kingdoms.

⁴¹ “You saw that the statue’s feet and toes were partly baked clay and partly iron. That means the fourth kingdom will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of iron in it. As you saw, iron was mixed with clay. ⁴² The toes of the statue were partly iron and partly clay. So the fourth kingdom will be partly strong like iron and partly breakable like clay. ⁴³ You saw the iron mixed with clay. But iron and clay don’t mix completely together. In the same way the people of the fourth kingdom will be a mixture. Those people will not be united as one people.

⁴⁴ “During the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up another kingdom. It will never be destroyed. And it will not be given to another group of people. This kingdom will crush all the other kingdoms. It will bring them to an end. But that kingdom itself will continue forever.

⁴⁵ “King Nebuchadnezzar, you saw a rock cut from a mountain. But no human being touched it. The rock broke the iron, bronze, clay, silver and gold to pieces. In this way the great God showed you what will happen. The dream is true, and you can trust this explanation.”

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown on the ground in front of Daniel. The king honored him. He ordered that an offering and incense be presented to Daniel. ⁴⁷ Then the king said to Daniel, “Truly I know your God is the greatest of all gods. And he is the Lord of all the kings. He tells people about things they cannot know. I know this is true. You were able to tell these secret things to me.”

⁴⁸ Then the king gave Daniel an important position in his kingdom. And he gave many gifts to Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar made him ruler over the whole area of Babylon. And he put Daniel in charge of all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Daniel asked the king to make Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego important leaders over the area of Babylon. And the king did as Daniel asked. Daniel himself became one of the important people who stayed at the royal court.

Warning Against False Teachers

4 My dear friends, many false prophets are in the world now. So do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God. ² This is how you can know God’s Spirit: One spirit says, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ who came to earth and became a man.” That Spirit is from God. ³ Another spirit refuses to say this about Jesus. That spirit is not from God but is the spirit of the Enemy of Christ. You have heard that the Enemy of Christ is coming. And now he is already in the world.

⁴ My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. ⁵ And they belong to the world. What they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ But we are from God, and those who know God listen to us. But those who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.

Love Comes from God

⁷ Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. The person who loves has become God’s child and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him. ¹⁰ True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. God sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.

¹¹ That is how much God loved us, dear friends! So we also must love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us. If we love each other, God’s love has reached its goal. It is made perfect in us.

¹³ We know that we live in God and God lives in us. We know this because God gave us his Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. That is what we teach. ¹⁵ If someone says, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” then God lives in him. And he lives in God. ¹⁶ And so we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. ¹⁷ If God’s love is made perfect in us, then we can be without fear on the day God judges us. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is punishment that makes a person fear. So love is not made perfect in the person who has fear.

¹⁹ We love because God first loved us. ²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. He can see his brother, but he hates him. So he cannot love God, whom he has never seen. ²¹ And God gave us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.