Daniel 2:1-25

New American Standard Bible

The King’s Dream

2 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar ^[a](A)had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his ^(B)sleep ^[b]left him. ² Then the king ^[c]gave orders to call in the ^(C)soothsayer priests, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the ^[d]Chaldeans, to ^[e]tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³ The king said to them, “I ^[f](D)had a dream, and my spirit ^[g]is anxious to ^[h]understand the dream.”

⁴ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in ^[i](E)Aramaic: “^(F)O king, live forever! ^(G)Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵ The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command ^[j]from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be ^[k](H)torn limb from limb and your houses will be turned into a rubbish heap. ⁶ But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me ^(I)gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” ⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king ^(J)tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁸ The king replied, “I know for certain that you are trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command ^[l]from me is firm, ⁹ that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only ^(K)one ^[m]decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt ^[n]words before me until the ^[o]situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, so that I may ^(L)know that you can declare to me its interpretation.” ¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered ^[p]the king and said, “There is no person on earth who could declare the matter ^[q]to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any ^(M)soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean. ¹¹ Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it ^[r]to the king except ^(N)gods, whose ^(O)dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”

¹² Because of this, the king became ^(P)angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the ^[s]decree was issued that the wise men be killed; and they looked for ^(Q)Daniel and his friends, to ^[t]kill them.

¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to ^(R)Arioch, the captain of the king’s ^[u]bodyguard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; ¹⁵ he said to Arioch, the king’s officer, “For what reason is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch informed Daniel of the matter. ¹⁶ So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him a grace period, so that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, ^(S)Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, ¹⁸ so that they might ^(T)request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his friends would not be ^(U)killed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

The Secret Is Revealed to Daniel

¹⁹ Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night ^(V)vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; ²⁰ Daniel said,

²⁴ Thereupon, Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to kill the wise men of Babylon; he went and said this to him: “^(AH)Do not kill the wise men of Babylon! Take me ^[w]into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”

²⁵ Then Arioch hurriedly ^(AI)brought Daniel ^[x]into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the ^[y](AJ)exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”