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Daniel 2

¹Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he had dreams. He was seriously concerned, and couldn't sleep. ²Then the king gave an order summoning the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the astrologers, to tell the king his dreams. So they entered and stood before the king. ³And the king said to them, "I have had a dream, and I'm deeply concerned to understand the dream. ⁴The atrologers spoke to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live for ever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will make the interpretation clear." ⁵The king answered the astrologers, "Here's my decision on this: If you don't tell me both the dream and how to interpret it, you will be cut to pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble. ⁶But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive gifts, rewards, and great honor from me. So tell me the dream and its interpretation!" ⁷They answered again, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will make the interpretation clear." ⁸The king answered and said, "I know for sure that you trying to get some time, since you see that I've given the word {for their deaths}. ⁹So if you don't tell me the dream, there's but one law for you. You have prepared lies and corrupt words to speak before me, until the situation changes. So tell me the dream, and I will know that you can make the interpretation clear. ¹⁰The astrologers answered the king, "There is not one man on earth who can do what the king wants. Indeed there is no king, ruler, or officer who has asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer. ¹¹It is an unlikely thing the king is asking, and there is no other that can show the king what he wants, except the gods, who don't live with fleshly beings." ¹²Because of this the king was furiously angry, and he commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be exterminated. ¹³So the decree went out, and the wise men were to be killed; and they looked for Daniel and his companions so they could kill them. ¹⁴Then Daniel answered Arioch, captain of the king's guard, prudently and with consideration. He was the one who had been sent to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵He said, "Why is the king's decree so urgent?" So Arioch told Daniel about the situation. ¹⁶And Daniel went in, and requested set a period of time, and he would make the interpretation clear to the king. ¹⁷Then Daniel went home, and told Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸so that they would request mercy from the God of heaven about this secret thing so that Daniel and his companions would not die with the other Babylonian wise men. ¹⁹Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰Daniel answered, "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his. ²¹He changes times and seasons; he removes kings, and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to the intelligent. ²²he reveals deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light makes its home with him. ²³I thank you, and praise you, God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and power, and has let me knonw what I asked of you. You have revealed the king's secret to us. ²⁴So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to exterminate the Babylonian wise men, and said to him, "Don't destroy the Babylonian wise men. Take me to the king, and I will make the interpretation {of his dream} clear. ²⁵Then Arioch quickly took Daniel to the king, and said to him, "I have found a man from those taken captive from Judah. He will give the king the interpretation." ²⁶The king answered Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar, "Can you tell me what I dreamed, and also interpret it? ²⁷Daniel answered the king, "The wise men, enchangers, magicians, and fortune tellers cannot tell the king what he has demanded. ²⁸but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has let Nebuchadnezzar know what is going to happen in days to come {the last days}. Your dream, visions when you were asleep in bed, is this: ²⁹O King, while you were in bed, thoughts came to you about what will happen in the future. The one who reveals secrets has let you know what will happen. ³⁰But this secret was not revealed to me because I am wiser than anyone living, but so that you will know the interpretation, and understand the your inner thoughts. ³¹You, O King, looked and there was a great image. The imag was strong and very bright, and it stood in front of you, and its appeaarance was awesome. ³²Now the image had a head of fine gold, its breast and arms were made of silver, its torso and thighs were of brass, ³³its legs were iron, and its feet were partly iron and partly clay. ³⁴You watched until there was a stone cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the image on its feet that were of iron mixed with clay, and it shattered them. ³⁵Then the iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold broke into pieces all at once, and became like chaff from summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so that they could not be found any more. But the stone that struck the image because a large mountain, and filled the whole land. ³⁶This is the dream. We will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷You, O king, are king of kings. The God of heaven has given sovereignty, power strength, and glory. ³⁸Wherever people live, he has put the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens under your authority, and he has made you rule allof them. You are the head made of gold. ³⁹And after you another kingdom, inferior to you, will arise, and then another third kingdom of brass, that will bear rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron--iron breaks and subdues all things, andnn just as iron crushes all these things, so it will break in pieces and crush. ⁴¹And as you saw the feet and toes that were partly of iron and partly of clay, it will be a divided kingdom, but there will be parts of it with the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with wet clay. ⁴²And in the same way as the toes of the feet were partly iron, and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken. ⁴³And also as you saw the iron mixed with wet clay, they will mix themselves with all types of people, but they won't truly be joined to each other, in the same way that iron cannot be joined to clay. ⁴⁴And during the reign of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Its sovereignty will not be passed on to any other people, but it will shatter and consume all of those kingdoms, and it will stand forever. ⁴⁵And in the way that you saw a stone was cut out of the mountain, but not by human hands, and that it broke the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has let the king know what will come to pass in the future. The dream is definite, and its interpretation is accurate."

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel, and ordered that a sacrifice and incense should be offered to him. ⁴⁷The king answered Daniel, "Truly your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and one who reveals secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret." ⁴⁸Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be the chief of all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹And Daniel made a request of the king, and he placed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in authority over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel stayed in the king's gate.

Average revision: 3 (Draft # 1 by individual translator)