Daniel 2:1-49, Daniel 7:1-28 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Daniel 2:1-49

Nebuchadnezzar’s Troubling Dream

Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar ¹^ahad dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his ^bsleep ²left him. 2 Then the king said to call in the ¹^amagicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the ²Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 Then the king said to them, “I ¹^ahad a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”
4 Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in ¹^aAramaic: “^bO king, live forever! ^cSay the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be ¹^atorn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me ^agifts and a reward and great glory; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king ^asay the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you are buying time, inasmuch as you have seen that the word from me is firm, 9 that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only ^aone law for you. Indeed, you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt ¹words before me until the time is changed; therefore say the dream to me, that I may ^bknow that you can declare to me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered ¹the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who is able to declare the matter ²for the king, inasmuch as no great king or powerful ruler has ever asked about a matter like this of any ³^amagician, conjurer, or Chaldean. 11 Moreover, the matter which the king asks is ¹difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it ²to the king except ^agods, whose ^bdwelling place is not with flesh.”
12 Because of this the king became ^aindignant and very furious and said for them to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the law went forth that the wise men were to be killed; and they sought out ^aDaniel and his friends to ¹kill them.
14 Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to ^aArioch, the captain of the king’s ¹bodyguard, who had gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon; 15 he answered and said to Arioch, a powerful ¹official for the king, “For what reason is the law from the king so ²urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 So Daniel went in and sought from the king that he would ¹give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king.

God Reveals Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to his friends, to ^aHananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 18 so that they might ^aseek compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be ^bdestroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night ^avision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20 Daniel answered and said,

“Let the name of God be ^ablessed forever and ever,

For ^bwisdom and might belong to Him.

And He ^achanges the times and the seasons;

He ^bremoves kings and ¹establishes kings;

He gives ^cwisdom to wise men

And knowledge to ²men of understanding.

He ^areveals the deep and hidden things;

^bHe knows what is in the darkness,

And the ^clight dwells with Him.

To You, O ^aGod of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,

For You have given me ^bwisdom and might;

Even now You have made known to me what we ^csought from You,

For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”

24 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: “^aDo not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”
25 Then Arioch hurriedly ^abrought Daniel before the king and said thus to him: “I have found a man among the ¹^bexiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!” 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was ^aBelteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king is asking, neither ^awise men, conjurers, ¹magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 28 However, there is a ^aGod in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the ¹^blast days. This was your dream and the ^cvisions of your head while on your bed. 29 As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts ¹turned to what would happen ²in the future; and ^aHe who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will happen. 30 But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me by any ^awisdom which is in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may know the ^bthoughts of your heart.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

31 “You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great ¹image; that image, which was large and ²of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was ³^aawesome. 32 The ^ahead of that image was made 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 ¹continued looking until a ^astone was cut out ^bwithout hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and ^ccrushed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed ¹all at the same time and became ^alike chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that ^bnot a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great ^cmountain and filled the whole earth.
36 “This was the dream; now we will say ^aits interpretation before the king. 37 You, O king, are the ^aking of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ¹kingdom, the ^bpower, the strength, and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men inhabit, or the ^abeasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has made you rule with power over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 But after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule with power over all the earth. 40 Then there will be a ^afourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 Now in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron; it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with ¹common clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 And in that you saw the iron mixed with ¹common clay; they will combine with one another ²in the seed of men; but they will not cling to one another, even as iron does not combine with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the ^aGod of heaven will ^bcause a ^ckingdom to rise up which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ¹left for another people; it will ^dcrush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that a ^astone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the ^bgreat God has made known to the king what ^cwill happen ¹in the future; so the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel and Friends Promoted

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did ^ahomage to Daniel and said for them to present to him an offering and ¹^bfragrant incense. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly ^ayour God is a ^bGod of gods and a Lord of kings and a ^crevealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king ¹^apromoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him rule with power over the whole ^bprovince of Babylon and chief ²prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 And Daniel sought of the king, and he ^aappointed ^bShadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ¹^ccourt.

Daniel 7:1-28

The Vision of the Four Beasts

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a ^adream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he ^bwrote the dream down and said the ¹following summary of the matter. 2 Daniel answered and said, “I was ^alooking in my vision by night, and behold, the ^bfour winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great ^abeasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was ^alike a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; and a heart of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ 6 After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, ^alike a leopard, which had on its ¹back four wings of a bird; the beast also had ^bfour heads, and ²dominion was given to it. 7 After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a ^afourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ^bten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, ^aanother horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, ¹this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and ^ba mouth speaking great boasts.

The Ancient of Days

“I kept looking

Until ^athrones were set up,

And the Ancient of Days was seated;

His ^bclothing was like white snow

And the ^chair of His head like pure wool.

His ^dthrone was ¹ablaze with fire,

Its ^ewheels were a burning fire.

A river of ^afire was flowing

And coming out from before Him;

^bThousands upon thousands were attending Him,

And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;

The ^ccourt sat,

And ^dthe books were opened.

11 Then I kept looking because of the sound of the great boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given to the ^aburning ¹fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their ¹dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was given to them for an appointed season of time.

The Son of Man

“I kept looking in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven

One like a ^aSon of Man was coming,

And He came up to the Ancient of Days

And came near before Him.

And to Him was given ¹^adominion,

Glory, and ^ba kingdom,

^cThat all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue

Might serve Him.

^dHis ¹dominion is an everlasting ¹dominion

Which will not be taken away;

^eAnd His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

The Vision Interpreted

15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed ¹within me, and the ^avisions of my head kept ^balarming me. 16 I came near to one of those who were ^astanding by and began seeking out from him the ¹exact meaning of all this. So he ^bsaid it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 But the ¹^asaints of the Highest One will ^breceive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, ²for all ages to come.’
19 “Then I desired to know the ¹exact meaning of the ^afourth beast, which was different from all ²the others, extraordinarily fearsome, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking great boasts and ¹which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 I kept looking, and that horn was ^awaging war with the saints and overcoming them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and ^ajudgment was given in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the season arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the ^aten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will make low three kings. 25 He will ^aspeak words against the ^bMost High and ^cwear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make ^dchanges in seasons and in law; and ¹they will be given into his hand for a ²^etime, ²times, and half a ²time. 26 But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be ^ataken away, ¹annihilated and destroyed ²forever. 27 Then the ¹^areign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an ^beverlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will ^cserve and obey Him.’
28 “¹At this point the matter of this revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were ^agreatly alarming me, and the ²splendor of my face changed, but I ^bkept the matter in my heart.”