Old/New Testament

Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god. And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

³ The king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of his officials that he should bring some of the sons of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, ⁴ youths in whom was no blemish, who were handsome and skillful in every branch of wisdom and gifted with understanding and discerning knowledge, and such as had ability in them to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the language of the Chaldeans. ⁵ The king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s food and of the wine which he drank. They were to be educated for three years, that at the end of it they might serve before the king.

⁶ Now among them were of the sons of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ⁷ to whom the commander of the officials gave names. And he gave to Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the master of the officials that he might not defile himself. ⁹ Now God had brought Daniel into favor and compassion with the master of the officials. ¹⁰ The master of the officials said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse-looking than the youths who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.”

¹¹ Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the master of the officials had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then let our countenances be looked upon before you, and the countenance of the youths who eat of the portion of the king’s food. And as you see, deal with your servants.” ¹⁴ So he consented to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵ At the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter than all the youths who ate the portion of the king’s food. ¹⁶ Thus the guard continued to take away the portion of their food and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

¹⁷ As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in every branch of learning and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all kinds of visions and dreams.

¹⁸ Now at the end of the days that the king had set for them to be brought in, the master of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king spoke with them, and, among them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they served before the king. ²⁰ In all matters of wisdom and understanding which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.

²¹ Daniel continued even to the first year of King Cyrus.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2 And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. ² Then the king gave the command to call the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. ³ The king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.”

⁴ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic,^[a] “O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will tell the interpretation.”

⁵ The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: If you will not make known to me the dream with its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces and your houses shall be made a dunghill. ⁶ But if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and 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 tell the interpretation.”

⁸ The king answered and said, “I know of certainty that you are bargaining for time, because you see that the command from me is firm: ⁹ If you will not make known to me the dream, there is but one decree for you. For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the circumstance is changed. Therefore tell me the dream so that I know that you can tell me its interpretation.”

¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, “There is not a man on the earth who can tell the king’s matter, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician or astrologer or Chaldean. ¹¹ Also, it is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no one else who can tell it before the king, except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

¹² For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ Therefore the decree went out that the wise men should be slain. And they sought for Daniel and his companions to be slain.

¹⁴ Then Daniel answered with discretion and wisdom to 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 urgent?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. ¹⁶ Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time in order that he could tell the king the interpretation.

¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸ so that they might ask for compassion 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.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

¹⁹ Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰ Daniel answered and said:

Daniel Interprets the Dream

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

²⁵ Then in haste Arioch brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah who can 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 tell the king. ²⁸ But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these:

²⁹ “As for you, O king, your thoughts came into your mind upon your bed about what would come to pass hereafter, and He who reveals secrets makes known to you what shall come to pass. ³⁰ But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living man, but for the purpose of making known the interpretation to the king, and that you might understand the thoughts of your heart.

³¹ “You, O king, were watching, and there was a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you. And its form was awesome. ³² This image’s head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You watched until a stone was cut out without hands which struck the image upon its feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ “This was the dream. Now we will tell its interpretation before the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are the king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. ³⁸ Wherever the sons of men dwell, or the animals of the field, or the fowl of the heavens, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

³⁹ “After you, another kingdom inferior to you shall arise, and a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, it shall crush and shatter all these. ⁴¹ As you saw the feet and toes, partly of potters’ clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. But there shall be in it some of the strength of the iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. ⁴² As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. ⁴³ Whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron does not mix with clay.

⁴⁴ “In the days of these kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ⁴⁵ 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 shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

The Promotion of Daniel

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and did homage to Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and sweet incense to him. ⁴⁷ The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”

⁴⁸ Then the king advanced Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat at the court of the king.

Test the Spirits

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world, and therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this way the love of God was revealed to us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. ¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³ We know that we live in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way God’s love is perfected in us, so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ We have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.