KJ3 Literal Translation
Daniel 2
Nebuchadnezzar, forgetting his dream, demands an explanation of it from the wise men. They, could not reveal the dream, and are all judged to die. The dream is revealed to Daniel. The interpretation. Daniel's advancement.
1And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar was dreaming dreams, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep was finished from upon him.
2And the king said to call to the magicians, and to the conjurers, and to the sorcerers and to the Chaldeans, to declare to the king his dreams. And they came and stood before the king.
3And the king said to them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was disturbed to know the dream.
4And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will reveal the meaning.
5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word is gone from me. If you will not make known the dream and its meaning to me, you will be made into mere members and your houses shall be made an outhouse.
6But if you make known the dream, you shall receive gifts and a present and great honor from before me. Therefore, reveal the dream and its meaning to me.
7They again answered and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will reveal its meaning.
8The king answered and said, For I know surely that you buy time, that on account of all, you see the thing is certainly gone from me.
9But if you will not reveal the dream to me it is your edict; for you have agreed upon lying and corrupting words to speak before me until the time has changed. Therefore, tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can reveal the meaning to me.
10The Chaldeans replied before the king and said, There is not a man on the earth who can reveal the king's matter, because not any king, lord, or ruler has asked such a thing from any magician, or conjurer, or Chaldean.
11And the thing that the king asks is rare. And there is no other who may reveal it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
12Accordingly all this was exceedingly enraging and angering to the king. And he commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13And the decree went out that the wise men should be killed. And they sought Daniel and his companions, to be killed.
14Then Daniel answered with counsel and insight to Arioch the king's chief of the executioners, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
15He answered and said to Arioch, the king's ruling officer, Why is the decree so hasty from before the king? And Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
16And Daniel went in and asked of the king that he would give him time, and he would show the king the meaning.
17Then Daniel went to his house and declared the thing to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
18that they might pray for the mercies of God in Heaven about this secret, that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night, and Daniel blessed the God of Heaven.
20Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever, even until ever, for wisdom and might are His.
21And He changes the times and the seasons; He causes kings to pass away, and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise men, and knowledge to those who know understanding.
22He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells in Him.
23I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and has made me know what we ask of You. For You have made known to us the king's matter.
24All on account of this Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had chosen to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said this to him, Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will interpret the meaning to the king.
25Then Arioch hurried to bring in Daniel before the king and thus he spoke to him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah who will make the meaning known to the king.
26The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its meaning?
27Daniel answered before the king and said, The secret which the king has asked the wise men, the conjurers, the magicians, or those determining, not are able to interpret to the king.
28But there is a God in Heaven who reveals secrets, and makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
29As for you, O king, your thoughts came up on you on your bed, what should happen after this. And He who reveals secrets makes known to you 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 man, but so that the meaning might be made known to the king, and that you might know the thoughts of your heart.
31You, O king, were seeing. And, behold, a certain great image! This great image stood before you with a brilliant brightness, and its form was terrible.
32The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of bronze,
33its legs were of iron, its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.
34You continued seeing until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and shattered them.
35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were together shattered, and they became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors. And the wind bore them away so that not any place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
36This is the dream, and we will tell the meaning of it before the king.
37You O king are the king of kings. For the God of Heaven has given you the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the honor.
38And wherever the sons of men, the animals of the field, and the fowl of the heavens dwell, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39And in your place shall arise another kingdom lower than yours, and another third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule in all the earth.
40And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron. Inasmuch as iron crushes and smashes all things, and as the iron that shatters all these, it will crush and shatter.
41And as to that you saw, the feet and the toes were partly of potters' clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided. But there shall be in it the strength of iron, because you saw the iron mixed with clay of the potter.
42And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
43And as you saw the iron mixed with the clay of the clay, they shall be mixed with the seed of men. But they shall not cleave to one another, even as iron does not meld with clay.
44And in the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to another people. It shall crush and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold in pieces. The great God has made known to the king what shall occur after this, and the dream is true, and the meaning of it is trustworthy.
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel. And he commanded an offering, even to offer incense to him.
47The king answered Daniel and said, Of truth your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and One revealing secrets, since you were able to reveal this secret.
48Then the king made Daniel great and gave many great gifts to him. And he made him ruler over all the province of Babylon, and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon.
49And Daniel asked of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to be over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
Read Daniel 2 in the interactive reader with the Hebrew and Greek side by side, audio narration, and the TWOT dictionary.
Open in the reader