1And in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was troubled, so that he could not sleep. 2So the king summoned the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to appear before him and explain the meaning of his dreams to him. 3And Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I must know what it means.” 4Then the Chaldeans answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever; tell us your dream, and we will interpret it for you. 5The king replied, “The thing is gone from me. But I am determined that if you will not disclose the dream to me, with its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made piles of rubble. 6But if you do tell me my dream, and its interpretation, you shall receive gifts, rewards and great honor from me; so tell me my dream, and its interpretation.” 7They answered, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it. 8The king replied, “I know that you are stalling for time; you see that the thing is gone from me, but I meant it when I said, 9‘If you do not tell me my dream, there is but one decree for you; for you have conspired to deceive me, speaking devious words until the time that I have changed my mind. Now, tell me the dream, then I shall know that you can interpret it for me.’” 10The Chaldeans answered, and said, “There is not a man on earth that can tell the king's matter; that is why there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that would ask such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. 11It is a rare thing, indeed, that the king demands, and there is no one that can reveal it to the king, except perhaps the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.” 12This enraged the king; and he ordered that they kill all the wise men of Babylon.

13And the decree went out that all the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his three companions to kill them, as well. 14When Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who was sent out to slay the wise men of Babylon, came, Daniel responded to him with wisdom and counsel. 15He asked Arioch, the king's captain, “Why did the king issue such a hasty decree?” Then Arioch explained the situation to Daniel. 16And so Daniel went in, and asked the king to give him time, so that he would give the king the interpretation of the dream.

17Then Daniel went to his house, and told his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; 18And urged them to plead for mercies from the God of heaven regarding this secret, that Daniel and his fellows would not perish with the other wise men of Babylon. 19Then in a night vision, the secret was revealed to Daniel. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, 20And said, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and power are His; 21He changes the times and the seasons; He sets up and deposes kings; He gives wisdom to the wise, and understanding to the discerning; 22He reveals the deep and hidden secrets; He knows what is in the darkness; and light dwells with Him. 23I thank and praise You, O God of my fathers, Who has given me wisdom and might, and have made known to us now what we desired; for You have now revealed to us the king's matter.”

24Then Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute all the wise men of Babylon; and said to him, “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me in before the king, and I will reveal the interpretation to the king.” 25Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king, and told him, “I have found a man among the captives of Judah that will reveal the interpretation of your dream to you, O king.” 26The king responded and said to Daniel, whom he named Belteshazzar, “Are you able to reveal to me the dream which I have seen, and interpret it?” 27Daniel answered the king, “The secret which the king has demanded of the wise men, astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers, they cannot reveal to the king; 28But there is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets, and He is making known to king Nebuchadnezzar what shall occur in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions you saw upon your bed, are these: 29As for you, O king, your thoughts in bed turned to future events; and He Who reveals secrets is revealing to you what they shall be. 30But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me due to any wisdom that I have more than any living man; but so that you, O king, might understand the interpretation of the vision and the thoughts of your heart.

31“You, O king, saw, and standing before you was a great image – a huge shining statue of a man. This dazzling image was awesome to behold. 32The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its mid-section and thighs of bronze, 33Its legs were of iron, the composition of its feet was partly iron and partly clay. 34And as you watched, a stone was cut, without hands, out of a mountain and it struck and broke the iron and clay feet of the statue into pieces. 35Then were all the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold portions completely broken into pieces, and became like the chaff on a threshing room floor; which the wind blew away, leaving not a trace of them to be found; and the stone that struck the image then became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

36“This is the dream, and now we (Daniel and his 3 friends, who prayed for the revelation) will interpret it for the king: 37You, O king, are a king of kings; for the God of heaven has given you a dominion, power, strength, and glory. 38He has placed all of mankind, the animals of the field and the birds of the air, in your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. 39And after you shall arise another (silver) kingdom, inferior to yours; and then a third kingdom of bronze will rule over all the earth. 40And, finally, a fourth kingdom of iron shall arise and be strong as iron, that smashes previous empires, breaking them in pieces, subduing all, just as iron breaks all other things. 41And as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of potters' clay, and partly of iron, that kingdom shall be divided; but shall have within it the strength of the iron, that you saw mixed with miry clay. 42And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron, and partly of clay, so this kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly brittle and fragile. 43And just as you saw iron mixed with miry clay, so shall the people be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixed with clay does. 44And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; nor will this kingdom be left to another people, but it shall crush to pieces and annihilate all these other kingdoms, and this kingdom of God shall stand forever. 45This is the significance of the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and then broke in pieces those empires iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God has made known to you, O king, what shall take place in the future. The dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is equally sure.”

46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors unto him. 47The king replied to Daniel, “It is surely true that your God is a God of gods, and a LORD of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret.” 48Then the king promoted Daniel to a lofty position, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon, as well as chief of the governors and above all the wise men of Babylon. 49Then, at Daniel’s request, he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego administrators over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel remained at the royal court.