Daniel 2
Nebuchadnezzar asks seers to tell him his own dream
In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he had dreams that disturbed his spirit so much that he couldn’t sleep. He called in the supernatural fortune tellers, necromancers, witches, and Chaldeans to uncover his dreams. As they stood before the king, he told them,
“I had a dream and my spirit is compelled to find out what it means.”
The Chaldeans responded in Aramaic,
“Long love the king! Tell your servants the dream and we will tell you its interpretation.”
But the king said,
“I stand by my original request: if you don’t tell me both my dream and its interpretation, you’ll be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made into a pile of rubble. But if you can tell me my dream and its interpretation, I’ll give you a reward and great honor. So tell me my dream and its interpretation.”
Seers couldn’t fulfill his request
They replied again saying,
“Let the king recount his dream to his servants, and then we will tell you it’s interpretation.”
The king responded,
“Now I know for sure that you’re just buying yourselves time since you know I’m serious. There will only be one mandate for you if you can’t tell me my dream. You all agreed beforehand to lie to my face until the situation changes. Tell me what my dream was to prove that you can tell me its interpretation.”
The Chaldeans answered,
“There isn’t anyone on earth who can do that for the king. No king or ruler has ever asked anything like this from a magician, necromancers, or Chaldean. The king’s request is a difficult one. No one could fulfill it except a god, and gods don’t live with mortal flesh.”
Nebuchadnezzar orders to kill all seers
That made the king furious, so he ordered for all of Babylon’s wise men to be executed. So the decree went forth, and they started looking for Daniel and his friends to execute them.
God shows Daniel the dream
Daniel responded tactfully and with counsel. When the king’s chief executioner, Arioch, went to kill Babylon’s wise men, Daniel asked him,
“Why is the king’s decree so harsh?”
After Arioch informed him about what had happened, Daniel went in and asked for the king to give him time to learn the dream’s interpretation. Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about what had happened so they could request compassion from the God of heaven and avoid being executed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men.
Daniel praises God
Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision at night. Daniel praised the God of heaven and said,
“May God be praised for all eternity,
Because wisdom and strength belong to him,
He’s the one who changes the ages and eons.
He overthrows kings and appoints kings,
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the understanding,
He’s the one who reveals profound mysteries,
He knows what’s in the darkness,
He originates the light and unleashed it,
God of my forefathers, I praise and thank you,
Because you’ve given me wisdom and strength.
Even now you’ve informed me about what I requested.
You’ve informed us about the king’s experience.”
Daniel visits Nebuchadnezzar
After that, Daniel went to Arioch, the king executioner, and said:
“Don’t kill Babylon’s wise men! Take me to the king and I’ll tell him his dream’s interpretation.”
So Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said,
“I’ve found someone from Judah’s captives who can tell the king the interpretation!”
The king asked Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar)
“Are you able to tell me the dream I had and it’s interpretation?”
Daniel answered,
“No wise man, necromancer, fortune teller, nor diviner can describe the secret the king inquired about. But there is a God in heaven who makes mysteries known, and he showed king Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in later days. This is what your dream was. While you were in your bed, your thoughts came up with what would take place in the future. The Revealer of Secrets was showing you what would come to pass. This secret wasn’t shown to me for being wiser than anyone else, but rather so that the king would know its interpretation and understand his own thoughts.
Dream was about a rock that shattered a multi-material statue
“Oh king, in your dream you saw a huge statue. It was massive and amazing as it stood in front of you looking awesome. Its head was made of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its abdomen and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, while its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. While you were looking at it, a stone was cut out (even though there weren’t any hands cutting it), and the stone struck the statue’s feet and shattered them. The iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all shattered at the same time and became like wheat dust during harvest season. The wind carries them away leaving behind no trace of their existence. But the stone that struck the statue became a huge mountain that filled the entire planet.”
God’s empire will shatter future empires
“That was the dream. Now we’ll tell you its interpretation. Oh king, you are the king over all the other kings, and the God of heaven has given you the empire, the power, the strength, and the glory. God has handed you the descendants of mankind, along with the beasts and the birds, causing you to rule over all of them no matter where they live. You are the head of gold.
Another empire [Persia] will arise after you even though it will be inferior to yours.
Then another third empire [Greece] of bronze which will rule over the entire earth.
Then there will be a fourth empire [Rome] as strong as iron. In the same way that iron crushes and shatters everything else, it will crush and shatter all those pieces. Just like the feet and toes were a mixture of iron and clay, this empire will be divided… but it will be as firm as iron just like you saw the iron mixed with clay. Just like the toes were a mixture of iron and clay, part of the empire will be strong while part of it will break. Just like you saw iron mixed with clay, they will mix together in mankind’s genes. But they won’t mesh well together just like iron and clay don’t mix.
During that empire’s rule, the God of heaven will establish an empire that will never be destroyed. That empire won’t have any successors. It will shatter all these other empires and bring them to an end even though it will last forever. Just like you saw the stone get cut from the mountain and shatter everything else, the great God has told the king what will take place in the future. Since I described your dream accurately, you know its interpretation is trustworthy.”
Nebuchadnezzar promotes Daniel & acknowledges God’s power
Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel and ordered for him to be presented with a soothing offering. The king responded to Daniel by saying,
“Your God really is a God over all other gods and a superior to all other kings. He’s an an unraveler of mysteries since you were able to unravel this mystery.”
Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great presents, appointing him as ruler over the entire Babylonian empire and as the chief governor over all of Babylon’s wise men. At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego as administrators over the Babylonian empire while Daniel was at the king’s palace.