1 In the second year of the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep went from him.
2 Then the king gave orders that the wonder-workers, and the users of secret arts, and those who made use of evil powers, and the Chaldaeans, were to be sent for to make clear to the king his dreams. So they came and took their places before the king.
3 And the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled by the desire to have the dream made clear to me.
4 Then the Chaldaeans said to the king in the Aramaean language, O King, have life for ever: give your servants an account of your dream, and we will make clear to you the sense of it.
5 The king made answer and said to the Chaldaeans, This is my decision: if you do not make clear to me the dream and the sense of it, you will be cut in bits and your houses made waste.
6 But if you make clear the dream and the sense of it, you will have from me offerings and rewards and great honour: so make clear to me the dream and the sense of it.
7 A second time they said in answer, Let the king give his servants an account of his dream, and we will make clear the sense.
8 The king made answer and said, I am certain that you are attempting to get more time, because you see that my decision is fixed;
9 That if you do not make my dream clear to me there is only one fate for you: for you have made ready false and evil words to say before me till the times are changed: so give me an account of the dream, and I will be certain that you are able to make the sense of it clear.
10 Then the Chaldaeans said to the king in answer, There is not a man on earth able to make clear the king's business; for no king, however great his power, has ever made such a request to any wonder-worker or user of secret arts or Chaldaean.
11 The king's request is a very hard one, and there is no other who is able to make it clear to the king, but the gods, whose living-place is not with flesh.
12 Because of this the king was angry and full of wrath, and gave orders for the destruction of all the wise men of Babylon.
13 So the order went out that the wise men were to be put to death; and they were looking for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
14 Then Daniel gave an answer with wisdom and good sense to Arioch, the captain of the king's armed men, who had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon;
15 He made answer and said to Arioch, O captain of the king, why is the king's order so cruel? Then Arioch gave Daniel an account of the business.
16 And Daniel went in and made a request to the king to give him time and he would make clear the sense of his dream to the king.
17 And Daniel went to his house and gave his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah the news:
18 So that they might make a request for the mercy of the God of heaven in the question of this secret; so that Daniel and his friends might not come to destruction with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19 Then the secret was made clear to Daniel in a vision of the night. And Daniel gave blessing to the God of heaven.
20 And Daniel said in answer, May the name of God be praised for ever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his:
21 By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake:
22 He is the unveiler of deep and secret things: he has knowledge of what is in the dark, and the light has its living-place with him.
23 I give you praise and worship, O God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and strength, and have now made clear to me what we were requesting from you: for you have given us knowledge of the king's business.
24 For this reason Daniel went to Arioch, to whom the king had given orders for the destruction of the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, Do not put to death the wise men of Babylon: take me in before the king and I will make clear to him the sense of the dream.
25 Then Arioch quickly took Daniel in before the king, and said to him, Here is a man from among the prisoners of Judah, who will make clear to the king the sense of the dream.
26 The king made answer and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make clear to me the dream which I saw and its sense?
27 Then Daniel said in answer to the king, No wise men, or users of secret arts, or wonder-workers, or readers of signs, are able to make clear to the king the secret he is searching for;
28 But there is a God in heaven, the unveiler of secrets, and he has given to King Nebuchadnezzar knowledge of what will take place in the last days. Your dreams and the visions of your head on your bed are these:
29 As for you, O King, the thoughts which came to you on your bed were of what will come about after this: and the unveiler of secrets has made clear to you what is to come.
30 As for me, this secret is not made clear to me because of any wisdom which I have more than any living man, but in order that the sense of the dream may be made clear to the king, and that you may have knowledge of the thoughts of your heart.
31 You, O King, were looking, and a great image was there. This image, which was very great, and whose glory was very bright, was placed before you: its form sent fear into the heart.
32 As for this image, its head was made of the best gold, its breast and its arms were of silver, its middle and its sides were of brass,
33 Its legs of iron, its feet were in part of iron and in part of potter's earth.
34 While you were looking at it, a stone was cut out, but not by hands, and it gave the image a blow on its feet, which were of iron and earth, and they were broken in bits.
35 Then the iron and the earth, the brass and the silver and the gold, were smashed together, and became like the dust on the floors where grain is crushed in summer; and the wind took them away so that no sign of them was to be seen: and the stone which gave the image a blow became a great mountain, covering all the earth.
36 This is the dream; and we will make clear to the king the sense of it.
37 You, O King, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory,
38 Wherever the children of men are living; into whose hands he has given the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven, and has made you ruler over them all, you are the head of gold.
39 And after you another kingdom, lower than you, will come to power; and a third kingdom, of brass, ruling over all the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom will be strong as iron: because, as all things are broken and overcome by iron, so it will have the power of crushing and smashing down all the earth.
41 And as you saw the feet and toes, part of potter's work and part of iron, there will be a division in the kingdom; but there will be some of the strength of iron in it, because you saw the iron mixed with the potter's earth.
42 And as the toes of the feet were in part of iron and in part of earth, so part of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will readily be broken.
43 And as you saw the iron mixed with earth, they will give their daughters to one another as wives: but they will not be united one with another, even as iron is not mixed with earth.
44 And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will put up a kingdom which will never come to destruction, and its power will never be given into the hands of another people, and all these kingdoms will be broken and overcome by it, but it will keep its place for ever.
45 Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that by it the iron and the brass and the earth and the silver and the gold were broken to bits, a great God has given the king knowledge of what is to take place in the future: the dream is fixed, and its sense is certain.
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar, falling down on his face, gave worship to Daniel, and gave orders for an offering and spices to be given to him;
47 And the king made answer to Daniel and said, Truly, your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and an unveiler of secrets, for you have been able to make this secret clear.
48 Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him offerings in great number, and made him ruler over all the land of Babylon, and chief over all the wise men of Babylon.
49 And at Daniel's request, the king gave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego authority over the business of the land of Babylon: but Daniel was kept near the king's person.
1 Toisena hallitusvuotenaan Nebukadnessar näki unia, ja hänen mielensä tuli niistä niin levottomaksi, ettei hän voinut nukkua.
2 Silloin kuningas käski kutsua enteidenselittäjät, loitsupapit, noidat ja kaldealaiset viisaat selittämään nämä unet, ja he tulivat ja asettuivat kuninkaan eteen.
12 Tämän kuultuaan kuningas suuttui ja vihastui kovin ja käski surmata kaikki Babylonian viisaat.
13 Kun käsky viisaiden surmaamisesta oli annettu, joutuivat myös Daniel ja hänen toverinsa kuolemanvaaraan.
14 Silloin Daniel puhutteli viisaasti ja taitavasti Arjokia, kuninkaan henkivartijoiden päällikköä, joka oli saanut tehtäväkseen surmata Babylonian viisaat,
16 Silloin Daniel meni palatsiin ja pyysi kuningasta antamaan aikaa, jotta hän voisi selittää unen.
17 Sitten Daniel meni kotiinsa ja kertoi asian tovereilleen Hananjalle, Misaelille ja Asarjalle
18 ja kehotti heitä pyytämään, että taivaan Jumala olisi armollinen ja ilmaisisi tuon salaisuuden, niin etteivät he tuhoutuisi yhdessä toisten Babylonian viisaiden kanssa.
19 Yöllisessä näyssä salaisuus ilmoitettiin Danielille. Hän kiitti taivaan Jumalaa
20 ja sanoi: -- Olkoon Jumalan nimi kiitetty ajasta aikaan, sillä yksin hänen on viisaus ja voima.
21 Hän antaa muuttua aikojen ja hetkien, hän suistaa kuninkaat vallasta ja nostaa kuninkaat valtaan, antaa viisaille viisauden ja ymmärtäväisille tiedon.
22 Hän paljastaa syvimmät salat, tietää sen, minkä pimeys peittää, hänen luonaan asuu valo.
23 Sinua, isieni Jumala, minä kiitän ja ylistän, sillä sinä olet antanut minulle viisautta ja voimaa ja nyt olet ilmoittanut minulle sen, mitä sinulta pyysimme, olet ilmoittanut meille, mitä vastata kuninkaalle.
28 mutta taivaassa on Jumala, joka paljastaa salaisuudet, ja nyt hän kertoo kuningas Nebukadnessarille, mitä tulevina aikoina on tapahtuva. Sinun unesi ja näyt, jotka vuoteellasi näit, ovat nämä:
30 Ei tätä salaisuutta ole paljastettu minulle siksi, että olisin viisaampi kuin muut ihmiset, vaan siksi, että kuningas saisi tietää tämän salaisuuden, ja siksi, että ymmärtäisit, mitä mielessäsi liikkuu.
32 Se patsas oli tällainen: pää puhdasta kultaa, rinta ja käsivarret hopeaa, vatsa ja reidet pronssia,
33 sääret rautaa, jalat osaksi rautaa, osaksi savea.
34 Sitä katsellessasi lähti käden koskematta vierimään kivi. Se osui patsaan jalkoihin, jotka olivat rautaa ja savea, ja murskasi ne.
35 Niin murtuivat yhtä lailla rauta, savi, pronssi, hopea ja kulta, ja niistä tuli kuin ruumenia kesäisellä puimatantereella, ja tuuli kantoi ne pois, eikä niitä löytynyt mistään. Ja kivestä, joka oli osunut patsaaseen, tuli suuri vuori, ja se täytti koko maailman.
36 Tämä oli uni, ja nyt kerromme kuninkaalle sen selityksen.
38 Hän on myös antanut kaikkialla valtaasi ihmiset, maan eläimet ja taivaan linnut ja tehnyt sinut niiden herraksi. Sinä olet kultainen pää.
39 Mutta sinun jälkeesi nousee toinen valtakunta, vähäisempi kuin sinun, ja sitten kolmas valtakunta, pronssinen, joka on hallitseva koko maailmaa.
40 Vielä on tuleva neljäs valtakunta, luja kuin rauta, ja niin kuin rauta murskaa ja särkee kaiken ja niin kuin rauta rikkoo, niin se on murskaava ja rikkova kaikki muut.
42 Se, että varpaat olivat osaksi rautaa ja osaksi savea, tarkoittaa, että valtakunta on oleva osittain luja ja osittain hauras.
43 Ja että näit rautaa ruukkusaven seassa, se tarkoittaa, että valtakunnat liittyvät toisiinsa aviositein mutta eivät yhdisty, niin kuin ei rautakaan yhdisty saveen.
46 Silloin kuningas Nebukadnessar heittäytyi kasvoilleen maahan, kumarsi Danielia ja käski toimittaa hänelle ruoka- ja suitsutusuhrin.
48 Sitten kuningas nosti Danielin korkeaan arvoon, antoi hänelle runsaasti kalliita lahjoja ja teki hänestä Babylonin maakunnan käskynhaltijan ja koko Babylonian viisaiden ylivalvojan.
49 Danielin pyynnöstä kuningas määräsi Sadrakin, Mesakin ja Abed-Negon hoitamaan Babylonin maakunnan hallintoa, mutta Daniel itse pysyi kuninkaan hovissa.