Dan 2:4-49 | ESV | STEP | Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic , O king , live forever ! Tell your servants the dream , and we will show the interpretation .

4 Then ^athe Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, ^{▼▼The text from this point to the end of chapter 7 is in Aramaic} ^c“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to ^dthe Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be ^etorn limb from limb, ^fand your ^ghouses shall be laid in ruins. 6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, ^hyou shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. ⁱTherefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to ^jgain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9 if you do not make the dream known to me, ^kthere is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till ^lthe times change. ^mTherefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10 ⁿThe Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or ^oChaldean. 11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except ^pthe gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

12 Because of this the king was angry and ^qvery furious, and ^rcommanded that all ^sthe wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought ^tDaniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to ^uArioch, the ^vcaptain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 He declared ^{▼▼Aramaic answered and said; also verse 26} to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king ^xso urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to ^yHananiah, ^zMishael, and ^aaAzariah, his companions, 18 ^aband told them to seek mercy from the ^acGod of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not ^adbe destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in ^aea vision of the night. Then Daniel ^afblessed the ^agGod of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said:

^ah“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
^aito whom belong wisdom and might.
21 ^ajHe changes times and seasons;
^akhe removes kings and sets up kings;
^alhe gives wisdom to the wise
^amand knowledge to those who have understanding;
22 ^anhe reveals deep and hidden things;
^aohe knows what is in the darkness,
^apand the light dwells with him.
23 To you, O ^aqGod of my fathers,
^arI give thanks and praise,
for ^asyou have given me wisdom and might,
and have now made known to me what ^atwe asked of you,
for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
24 Therefore Daniel went in to ^auArioch, 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; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”

25 Then ^avArioch brought in Daniel before the king ^awin haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^axamong the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king declared to Daniel, ^aywhose name was Belteshazzar, ^az“Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, ^baenchanters, ^bbmagicians, or ^bcastrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 but ^bdthere is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^bewhat will be in the latter days. Your dream and ^bfthe visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, ^bgand he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. 30 But ^bhas for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that ^biyou may know the thoughts of your mind.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 ^bjThe head of this image was of fine gold, ^bkits chest and arms of silver, its middle and ^blthighs of bronze, 33 ^bmits legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out ^bnby no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and ^bobroke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became ^bplike the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that ^bqnot a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became ^bra great mountain ^bsand filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, ^btthe king of kings, to whom ^buthe God of heaven ^bvhas given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, ^bwthe beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are ^bxthe head of gold. 39 ^byAnother kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom ^bzof bronze, ^cawhich shall rule over all the earth. 40 And ^cbthere shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron ^ccbreaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall ^cdbreak and crush all these. 41 And as you saw ^cethe feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the ^cffirmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, ^{▼▼Aramaic by the seed of men} but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings ^chthe God of heaven will set up ^cia kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. ^cjIt shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and ^ckit shall stand forever, 45 just as ^clyou saw that ^cma stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that ^cnit broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A ^cogreat God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

Daniel Is Promoted

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar ^cpfell upon his face and ^cqpaid homage to Daniel, and commanded that ^cran offering and ^csincense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your ^ctGod is God of gods and ^cuLord of kings, and ^cva revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great ^cwgifts, and made him ruler over the whole ^cxprovince of Babylon and ^cychief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he ^czappointed ^daShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of ^dbthe province of Babylon. But Daniel ^dcremained at the king’s court.