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.