And the king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to stand before the king.

Then the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”

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 torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.

But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great glory; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.”

They answered a second time and said, “Let the king say the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.”

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who is able to declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or powerful ruler has ever asked about a matter like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean.

he answered and said to Arioch, a powerful official for the king, “For what reason is the law from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;

Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king and said thus to him: “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the last days. This was your dream and the visions of your head while on your bed.

“You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great image; that image, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.

You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from 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.

Then there will be a fourth 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.

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 common clay.

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will cause a kingdom to rise up which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself stand forever.

Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen in the future; so the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

The king answered Daniel and said, “Truly your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”

You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image.

But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.

Now if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, then you shall fall down and worship the image that I have made. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can save you out of my hands?”

He answered and said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”

Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or tongue that says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”

I saw a dream, and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my head kept alarming me.

So I gave a decree to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.