Daniel 2 (King James Version)

Daniel 2

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Great Image (2:1-49)

Nebuchadnezzar Disturbed by a Dream

¹And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

²Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the ^aChaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

³And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

⁴Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

[Syriack is the main language of Babylonian, which is the dialect of Middle Aramaic. You can hear a passage of "The Lord's Prayer" by clicking .]

⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be ¹cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

⁶But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and ²rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.

⁷They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.

⁸The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would ³gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.

⁹But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.

¹⁰The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.

¹¹And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.

Execution of Wise Men Commanded and Countermanded

¹²For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

¹³And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

¹⁴Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to ^bArioch the ⁴captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:

¹⁵He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.

¹⁶Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.

Daniel Receives Knowledge and Expresses Gratitude

¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

[Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are descendants of Judah. The same Judah from Genesis 38.]

¹⁸That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; ⁵that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁹Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

²⁰Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:

²¹And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

²²He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

²³I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

Daniel Communicates the Dream to the King

²⁴Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation.

²⁵Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the ⁶captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.

²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?

²⁷Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;

²⁸But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and ⁷maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

[Daniel was just witnessing to an Emperor. That's all. ;)]

²⁹As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.

³⁰But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

³¹Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

³²This image's head was of fine ^c.1gold, his breast and his arms of ^c.2silver, his belly and his ⁸thighs of ^c.3brass,

³³His legs of ^c.4iron, his feet part of ^c.5iron and part of clay.

³⁴Thou sawest till that a ^c.6stone was cut out ⁹without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

³⁵Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

³⁶This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

³⁷Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

³⁸And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. ^c.1Thou art this head of gold.

³⁹And after thee shall arise ^c.2another kingdom inferior to thee, and another ^c.3third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

⁴⁰And the ^c.4fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

⁴¹And whereas thou sawest the ^c.5feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

⁴²And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly ¹⁰broken.

⁴³And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

⁴⁴And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a ^c.6kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

⁴⁵Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain ⁹without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass ¹¹hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Nebuchadnezzar Acknowledges God's Greatness

⁴⁶Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an ^doblation and sweet odours unto him.

⁴⁷The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.

⁴⁸Then the king made Daniel a great man, 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.

⁴⁹Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

[Why at the gate? Perhaps to be far from the luxurious of the worldliness that is offered within the king's gate?]

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1 Or, made pieces 2 Kings 10:27 2 Or, fee Daniel 5:17 3 Or, buy Ephesians 5:16 4Or, chief of the executioners, or, slaughtermen, or, chief marshal Genesis 37:36 5 Or, that they should not destroy Daniel, etc. 6 Or, children of the captivity of Judah 7 Or, hath made known 8Or, sides 9Or, which was not in hands ch. 8:25; Matthew 16:18; 2 Corinthians 5:1 10Or, brittle 11Or, after this
a Chaldeans = The original people of Babylonian
b Arioch - ar'-i-ok: ('aryokh)	Lion-like, venerable.
c.1 - c.6 Signifies the empires and countries from Babylon to the future c.1 Gold - Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon (636B.C.)
c.2 Silver - Medo-Persia (329B.C.)
c.3 Bronze - Greece (331B.C.)
c.4 Iron - Rome (63B.C.)
c.5 Iron & Clay - 10 European Nations
c.6 Stone - Kingdom of Heaven
d Oblation = Offering

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2:18. Obedient May Speak Freely.--Those who live in close fellowship with Christ will be promoted by Him to positions of trust. The servant who does the best he can for his master, is admitted to familiar intercourse with one whose commands he loves to obey. In the faithful discharge of duty we may become one with Christ; for those who are obeying God's commands may speak to Him freely. The one who talks most familiarly with his divine Leader has the most exalted conception of His greatness, and is the most obedient to His commands (MS 82, 1900).
The history of Daniel, if all was written, would open chapters before you that would show you the temptations he had to meet, of ridicule, envy, and hatred; but he learned to master the difficulties. He did not trust in his own strength; he laid his whole soul and all his difficulties open to his heavenly Father, and he believed God heard him, and he was comforted and blessed. He rose superior to ridicule; and so will every one who is an overcomer. Daniel acquired a serene and cheerful state of mind, because he believed God was his friend and helper. The taxing duties he had to perform were made light because he brought the light and love of God into his work. "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth" to such as walk in them (The Youth's Instructor Aug. 25, 1886).

2:37-42. A Dual Representation.--The image revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, while representing the deterioration of the kingdoms of the earth in power and glory, also fitly represents the deterioration of religion and morality among the people of these kingdoms. As nations forget God, in like proportion they become weak morally.

Babylon passed away because in her prosperity she forgot God, and ascribed the glory of her prosperity to human achievement.

The Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by the wrath of heaven because in this kingdom God's law was trampled under foot. The fear of the Lord found no place in the hearts of the people. The prevailing influences in Medo-Persia were wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption.

The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt. They deteriorated because they cast off their allegiance to God. As they forgot Him, they sank lower and still lower in the scale of moral value (The Youth's Instructor Sept. 22, 1903).

2:43. Iron and Clay--Mingled Churchcraft and Statecraft.--We have come to a time when God's sacred work is represented by the feet of the image in which the iron was mixed with the miry clay. God has a people, a chosen people, whose discernment must be sanctified, who must not become unholy by laying upon the foundation wood, hay, and stubble. Every soul who is loyal to the commandments of God will see that the distinguishing feature of our faith is the seventh-day Sabbath. If the government would honor the Sabbath as God has commanded, it would stand in the strength of God and in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. But statesmen will uphold the spurious sabbath, and will mingle their religious faith with the observance of this child of the papacy, placing it above the Sabbath which the Lord has sanctified and blessed, setting it apart for man to keep holy, as a sign between Him and His people to a thousand generations. The mingling of churchcraft and statecraft is represented by the iron and

the clay. This union is weakening all the power of the churches. This investing the church with the power of the state will bring evil results. Men have almost passed the point of God's forbearance. They have invested their strength in politics, and have united with the papacy. But the time will come when God will punish those who have made void His law, and their evil work will recoil upon themselves (Ellen G. White Manuscript 63, 1899).

2:46. A Divine Revelation.--Nebuchadnezzar felt that he could accept this interpretation as a divine revelation; for to Daniel had been revealed every detail of the dream. The solemn truths conveyed by the interpretation of this vision of the night made a deep impression on the sovereign's mind, and in humility and awe he "fell upon his face, and worshipped." . . .

Nebuchadnezzar saw clearly the difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the most learned men of his kingdom (The Youth's Instructor Sept. 8, 1903).

2:47. A Reflector of Light.--Through the Hebrew captives the Lord was made known to the heathen in Babylon. This idolatrous nation was given a knowledge of the kingdom the Lord was to establish, and through His power maintain against all the power and craft of Satan. Daniel and his fellow-companions, Ezra and Nehemiah, and many others were witnesses for God in their captivity. The Lord scattered them among the kingdoms of the earth that their light might shine brightly amid the black darkness of heathenism and idolatry. To Daniel God revealed the light of His purposes, which had been hidden for many generations. He chose that Daniel should see in vision the light of His truth, and reflect this light on the proud kingdom of Babylon. On the despot king was permitted to flash light from the throne of God. Nebuchadnezzar was shown that the God of heaven was ruler over all the monarchs and kings of earth. His name was to go forth as the God over all gods. God desired Nebuchadnezzar to understand that the rulers of earthly kingdoms had a ruler in the heavens. God's faithfulness in rescuing the three captives from the flames and vindicating their course of action showed His wonderful power.

Great light shone forth from Daniel and his companions. Glorious things were spoken of Zion, the city of the Lord. Thus the Lord designs that spiritual light shall shine from His faithful watchmen in these last days. If the saints in the Old Testament bore such a decided testimony of loyalty, how should God's people today, having the accumulated light of centuries, shine forth, when the prophecies of the Old Testament shed their veiled glory into the future (Ellen G. White's Letter 32, 1899)!