The Book of Daniel

1 In the year three of the reign of King Jehojakim of Judah, King Nebucadnessar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it, 2* and the Lord gave into his hands King Jehojakim of Judah and some of the vessels of God’s house, and he brought them to the country of Shinear, and brought the vessels into the treasury of his god’s house.

3 And the king told his chief eunuch Ashpenaz to bring some of the sons of Israel and of the royal blood and of the upper classes, 4 boys free from all defects, good-looking, judicious, well-informed, clear-headed, capable of serving in the royal palace, and to teach them Chaldean scholarship and the Chaldean language. 5* And the king assigned them a daily ration out of the king’s viands and the wine provided for his drinking, and gave orders to bring them up for three years, at the end of which they were to serve before the king. 6 And among them were certain Judahites, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and ʽAzariah; 7 and the chief eunuch gave them names, naming Daniel “Belteshassar” and Hananiah “Shadrac” and Mishael “Meshac” and ʽAzariah “ʽAbed-Nego.”

8 But Daniel resolved not to pollute himself with the king’s viands and the wine provided for his drinking, and requested the chief eunuch that he might not pollute himself. 9* And God gave Daniel the friendliness and sympathy of the chief eunuch. 10 And the chief eunuch said to Daniel “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink: why should he see your faces looking mopy in comparison with the boys of the same age, and you make me lose my standing with the king?” 11* But Daniel said to the proctor whom the chief eunuch had assigned to be over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and ʽAzariah 12* “Put your servants on trial ten days and have them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink, 13 and have our looks and the looks of the boys that eat the king’s viands inspected before you, and do with your servants in accordance with what you see”; 14 and he listened to them on this proposition and put them on trial ten days, 15 and at the end of ten days their looks were seen to be better, and they to be plumper, than any of the boys that ate the king’s viands; 16 and the proctor took to making away with their viands and the wine provided for their drinking and giving them vegetables. 17 And to all four of these boys God gave knowledge and expertness in all scholarship and wisdom; and Daniel had insight into all visions and dreams. 18* And at the end of the time after which the king had ordered them brought, the chief eunuch brought them before Nebucadnessar 19 and the king talked with them; and of them all there were not found the equals of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and ʽAzariah; and they served before the king. 20 And in every item of perspicacious wisdom that the king called on them for he found them tenfold superior to any of the scholars and exorcists in his whole kingdom. 21* And Daniel lasted to the year one of King Cyrus.

2* And in the year two of Nebucadnessar’s reign Nebucadnessar had dreams; and he was uncomfortable and sleepless about it. 2 And the king ordered the scholars, the exorcists, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans called to tell the king his dreams; and they came in and stood before the king, 3 and the king said to them “I have had a dream and am uncomfortable about knowing the dream.”

4* And the Chaldeans said to the king (in Aramaic) “Live forever, your majesty! tell your servants the dream and we will show the interpretation.”

5 The king answered the Chaldeans “It is my positive word, if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation you shall be cut to pieces and your houses made a garbage-dump; 6 but if you show the dream and its interpretation you shall receive gifts and grants and great honor from the government. So show the dream and its interpretation.”

7 They answered for the second time “Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show the interpretation.”

8 The king answered “I know for certain that you are trying to tide over the crisis inasmuch as you see it is my positive word 9* that if you do not make known the dream there is one sentence for you, and you have concerted a plan to tell a foul lie before me till the crisis resolves itself. So tell me the dream and I shall know you will show the interpretation.”

10** The Chaldeans answered before the king “There is no man on earth who can show the thing your majesty mentions, as no great and absolute king ever asked any scholar or exorcist or Chaldean a thing like this. 11 And the thing your majesty has asked is difficult, and there is no other who would show it before your majesty except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

12 Thereat the king was provoked and flew into a great rage and ordered all the wise men in Babylon put to death, 13 and the edict was issued, and the wise men were to be killed, and Daniel and his comrades were going to be killed. 14 Then Daniel made a prudent and rational response to the king’s chief guardsman Arjoc, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon: 15 he answered the king’s officer Arjoc “Why is the government’s edict so rigorous?” Then Arjoc informed Daniel of the affair, 16 and Daniel went in and applied to the king to set a time for him, and he would show the king the interpretation.

17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his comrades Hananiah, Mishael, and ʽAzariah of the affair 18* and went to asking for kindness from the God of heaven as to this secret, that Daniel and his comrades might not be put to death with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel responded “Be God’s name blessed from age to age, whose are wisdom and might 21 and who changes times and dates, sweeps kings away and sets kings up, gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to enlightened men; 22 it is he reveals the deep and covert things; he knows what is going on in the darkness, and the light is lodged with him. 23 To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise because you have given me wisdom and power and have now made known what we asked you for, that you have made known to us the king’s affair.”

24* Thereat Daniel went to Arjoc, to whom the king had assigned the putting to death of the wise men of Babylon, and said thus to him: “Do not put the wise men of Babylon to death; bring me before the king and I will show the king the interpretation.” 25 Then Arjoc brought Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found a man, one of the Judahite deportees, who will make the interpretation known to your majesty.”

26 The king answered by saying to Daniel, whose name was Belteshassar, “Are you competent to make known to me the dream I saw and its interpretation?”

27 Daniel answered before the king “The secret your majesty asks about is one that not wise men, exorcists, sorcerers, nor diviners can show your majesty; 28 but there is a god in heaven, a revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Nebucadnessar what is to be in future days. Your dream and the visions of your head on your bed were this:

29 “Your majesty’s musings were coming up on your bed as to what was to be after this; and the Revealer of Secrets made known to you what is to be. 30 And I had this secret revealed to me not by wisdom that was in me more than in all living men, but to the end of making known the interpretation to your majesty and having you know the things your heart was musing on. 31 Your majesty saw that a great statue—this statue was large and extraordinarily bright—stood before you, and the sight of it was terrible; 32 that statue’s head was fine gold, its breast and arms silver, its waist and hips bronze, 33 its legs iron, its feet part iron and part crockery. 34 You saw till a stone was cut out without hands and struck the statue on its iron-and-crockery feet and smashed them; 35 then all at once the iron, the crockery, the bronze, the silver, and the gold smashed up and became like chaff off summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them off and there was not a trace of them to be found; and the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled all the earth. 36 This was the dream; and we will tell the interpretation before the king.

37 “You yourself, your majesty, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given royalty, dominion, might, and glory, 38 and in every place they inhabit has given into your hands the sons of men and the wild beasts and the birds of the air and made you sovereign over them, you are the golden head. 39 And after you there shall stand up another empire inferior to you, and another third bronze empire which shall be sovereign over all the earth; 40 and there shall be a fourth empire, strong as iron, inasmuch as iron smashes up and pounds down everything; and like shattering iron it will smash and shatter all these. 41 And as to your having seen its feet and toes part potter’s crockery and part iron, it shall be a divided empire but shall have in it some of the starkness of iron; inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with the mud crockery, 42 and the toes of its feet some of them iron and some of them crockery, parts of the empire shall be strong and parts shall be brittle. 43 And as to your having seen the iron mixed with the mud crockery, they shall be mixing together by human seed, but they shall not cohere with each other, just as iron does not mix with crockery.

44* “And in the time of those kings the God of heaven shall set up an empire invulnerable forever, and the empire shall not pass to another people; and it shall smash and end all these empires, and it itself shall stand forever, 45 inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands and smashed the iron, the bronze, the crockery, the silver, and the gold. Great God has made known to your majesty what is to be after this; and the dream is determinate, and the interpretation of it trustworthy.”

46* Then King Nebucadnessar threw himself down on his face and did reverence to Daniel and ordered sacrifice and genial odors to be offered to him. 47 The king answered Daniel and said “Your god must indeed be god of gods and lord of kings and revealer of secrets, that you have been able to reveal this secret.” 48 Then the king raised Daniel to high rank and gave him many great gifts and put him in command over all the province of Babylon, and made him chief rector over all the wise men of Babylon. 49* And at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego to the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained at the king’s court.

3 King Nebucadnessar made a gold statue ninety feet high and nine feet across, which he erected on the Dura plain in the province of Babylon; 2* and King Nebucadnessar sent to assemble the satraps, viceroys, and governors, the councillors, ministers, judges, recorders, and all the authorities of the provinces, to come for the dedication of the statue King Nebucadnessar had erected. 3 Then the satraps, viceroys, and governors, the councillors, ministers, judges, recorders, and all the authorities of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue King Nebucadnessar had erected and took their stand before the statue King Nebucadnessar had erected, 4 and a herald proclaimed loudly “Peoples, nations, and languages, you are ordered that 5 at the time when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the zither, the harp, the bagpipe, and all sorts of music, you are to throw yourselves down and do reverence to the gold statue which King Nebucadnessar has erected. 6* And whoever does not throw himself down and do reverence shall that moment be thrown into the heart of the furnace with the fire burning.” 7 Accordingly at the time when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the zither, the harp, and all sorts of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages threw themselves down doing reverence to the gold statue King Nebucadnessar had erected.

8* Accordingly at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and laid information against the Jews; 9* they said to King Nebucadnessar “Live forever, your majesty! 10 Your majesty has issued a decree that any man who heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the zither, the harp, and the bagpipe, and all sorts of music, should throw himself down and do reverence to the gold statue, 11 and whoever did not throw himself down and do reverence should be thrown into the heart of the furnace with the fire burning. 12 There are certain Jews whom you appointed to the administration of the province of Babylon, Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego: those men have paid no attention to your majesty: they do not worship your gods and they do not do reverence to the gold statue you have erected.”

13 Then Nebucadnessar, in great excitement and passion, ordered Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego to be brought. Then those men were brought before the king. 14 Nebucadnessar said to them “Is it a fact, Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego, that you are not worshiping my gods nor doing reverence to the gold statue I have erected? 15 Now if you are ready at the time when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the zither, the harp, the bagpipe, and all sorts of music, to throw yourselves down and do reverence to the statue which I have made,—but if you do not do reverence, that moment you shall be thrown into the heart of the furnace with the fire burning. And who is a god that will save you out of my hands?”

16 Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego answered King Nebucadnessar “We do not need to argue this point with you: 17** whether our God whom we worship can save us out of the furnace with the fire burning and will save us out of your majesty’s hands 18 or not, take notice, your majesty, that we do not worship your gods and will not do reverence to the gold statue you have erected.”

19* Then Nebucadnessar was filled with passion and his face was distorted as he looked at Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego. He answered by ordering the furnace heated seven times hotter than was normal 20 and ordering powerful men of his troops to bind Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego, to throw them into the furnace with the fire burning. 21 Then those men were bound in their cloaks, trousers, caps, and clothing, and were thrown into the heart of the furnace with the fire burning. 22 Thereupon, since the king’s word was rigorous and the furnace was heated intensely, the blaze of the fire killed those men who lifted Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego.

23 And those men all three of them, Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego, fell down bound into the heart of the furnace with the fire burning. 24* Then King Nebucadnessar started to his feet in amazement; he answered his courtiers’ looks by saying “Did we not throw three men bound into the heart of the fire?”

They answered the king “Yes, your majesty.”

25* He answered “Here I see four men unbound walking unharmed in the heart of the fire, and the look of the fourth is like a son of a god.”

26* Then Nebucadnessar approached the door of the furnace with the fire burning, saying “Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego, worshipers of the Most High God, come out and go your way.” Then Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego came out of the heart of the fire; 27 and the satraps, viceroys, and governors and the king’s courtiers assembled and saw those men, how the fire had had no effect on their bodies, and the hair on their heads had not been singed, and their mantles were not affected, and no odor of fire had passed to them.

28** Nebucadnessar answered “Blessed be the god of Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego, who has sent his angel and saved his worshipers who trusted to him and went against the king’s word and gave up their bodies that they might not worship nor do reverence to any god but theirs. 29** And it is hereby ordered that in every people, nation, and language he who says anything careless against the god of Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego shall be cut to pieces and his house made a garbage-dump, inasmuch as there is no other god that can give a deliverance like this.” 30 Then the king advanced Shadrac, Meshac, and ʽAbed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

4 King Nebucadnessar to all the peoples, nations, and languages that live in all the earth: Great be your peace. 2 I have thought best to announce the tokens and wonders which the Most High God has performed in my case. 3 How great his tokens are, and how mighty his wonders! his empire is an eternal empire, and his dominion accompanies generation upon generation.

4 I, Nebucadnessar, was comfortable in my house and flourishing in my palace. 5 I had a dream, and it terrified me; and a nightmare in my bed, and the sights that came to my head alarmed me. 6 And my order was given to bring in before me all the wise men of Babylon to make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

7 Then the sorcerers, exorcists, Chaldeans, and diviners were coming in and I was telling the dream before them, and they were failing to make known its interpretation to me. 8* But at last Daniel, whose name is Belteshassar after my god’s name, and who has in him a spirit from holy gods, came in before me and I told the dream before him: 9* “Belteshassar, chief of the sorcerers, you who I know have in you a spirit from holy gods and for whom no secret is impenetrable, tell me the sights of the dream I had, and its interpretation. 10 And the sights that came to my head in my bed were—I saw that there was a tree in the middle of the earth, whose height was great; 11* and the tree grew large and strong, and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the end of all the earth. 12 Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and it had on it food for everything; the wild beasts found shade under it and the birds of the air lodged in its branches, and all mortal beings fed from it. 13* I saw, in the sights that came to my head in my bed, that a sacred watcher came down out of the sky; 14 he called out with a powerful voice ‘Cut the tree down and lop its branches and strip it of its foliage and scatter its fruit; let the beasts disperse from under it and the birds from its branches; 15 but leave its rooted stump in the earth, and in a band of iron and bronze among the plants of the meadow, and let it be wet with the dews of the sky and have its portion in the herbage of the earth with the beasts, 16* and his mind be changed from human and a beast’s mind be given to him, and seven times go past over him. 17 The edict is by resolution of the Watchers and the finding is a behest of the Sacred Ones, with the intent that those who live may know that the Most High is sovereign over human empire and gives it to whomever he wishes and sets up over it the lowest of men.’ 18 This dream I, Nebucadnessar the king, saw; tell you its interpretation, Belteshassar, since none of the wise men of my kingdom have been able to make the interpretation known, but you are competent because you have in you a spirit from holy gods.”

19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshassar, stood aghast for a moment, and the things he thought of alarmed him.

The king answered “Belteshassar, may the dream and its interpretation not alarm you.”

Belteshassar answered “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your foes. 20* The tree you saw which grew large and strong and whose height reached to the sky and which was visible to all the earth 21 and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and which had on it food for everything, the wild beasts lodged under it and the birds of the air perched in its branches, 22* is you, your majesty, who have grown great and whose greatness has mounted till it reached to the sky and your sovereignty to the end of the earth. 23* And as to your majesty’s seeing a sacred watcher come down out of the sky and say ‘Cut the tree down and mutilate it, but leave its rooted stump in the earth, and in a band of iron and bronze among the plants of the meadow, and let it be wet with the dews of the sky and have its portion with the wild beasts till seven times go past over it,’ 24 —this is the interpretation, your majesty, and it is the resolve of the Most High, which has reached to your majesty, my lord; 25 and you shall be driven out from mankind and your quarters shall be with the wild beasts, and you shall be fed on herbage like cattle and wet with the dews of the sky, and seven times shall go past over you, till you come to know that the Most High is sovereign over human empire and gives it to whomever he wishes. 26 And as to its being ordered to leave the rooted stump of the tree, you shall have your kingship permanently after you come to know that heaven is sovereign. 27* So, your majesty, may my advice meet your approval: rid yourself of your sins by doing right and of your guilt by kindness to the unfortunate, in case there might be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

28 It all overtook King Nebucadnessar. 29* At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon. 30* The king spoke up and said “This is indeed the great Babylon which I built for a royal residence by the power under my control and for the grandeur of my majesty.” 31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth a voice fell from the sky “You are notified, King Nebucadnessar, that your kingship has passed from you, 32 and you shall be driven out from mankind and your quarters shall be with the wild beasts, and you shall be fed on herbage like cattle, and seven times shall go past over you, till you come to know that the Most High is sovereign over human empire and gives it to whomever he wishes.” 33 That moment the word was accomplished for Nebucadnessar, and he was driven out from men and ate herbage like cattle and was wet with the dews and rain of the sky till his hair grew long as vultures’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

34 But at the end of the time I, Nebucadnessar, raised my eyes to the sky and my reason came back to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and glorified him who lives forever, that his dominion is an eternal dominion and his empire accompanies generation upon generation, 35 and all who live on earth count for nothing, and he does as he pleases with the legions of the sky and with those who live on earth; and there is no one who shall check his hand and say to him “What are you doing?” 36* At that time my reason came back to me, and for my royal dignity my good looks and bloom came back to me, and my courtiers and lords presented petitions to me, and I was reinstated in my kingship and received notable additions of greatness. 37 Now I Nebucadnessar praise and exalt and glorify the King of Heaven, all whose workings are truth and his courses justice, and who is able to bring low those who go loftily.

5 King Belshassar gave a great dinner to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshassar, inspired by the wine, ordered that the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebucadnessar had taken out of the temple at Jerusalem be brought for the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, to drink from. 3* Then the gold vessels they took out of the temple at Jerusalem were brought, and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them, 4 drank the wine and praised the golden and silver and bronze and iron and wooden and stone gods.

5* That moment fingers of a human hand came out and wrote, opposite the lamp, on the whitewashed wall of the royal palace, and the king saw the writing hand. 6 Then the king changed color and the things he thought of alarmed him, his hip-joints went loose and his knees knocked together; 7 the king called loudly to bring in the exorcists, Chaldeans, and diviners. The king said to the wise men of Babylon that any man who should read that writing and show its interpretation should wear purple and have a gold necklace round his neck and have tritarch authority in the empire. 8 Then all the king’s wise men were coming in and not proving competent to read the writing and make the interpretation known to the king. 9 Then King Belshassar was greatly alarmed and changed color, and his lords were bewildered.

10 *In consequence of the words of the king and his lords the queen came into the banquet house. The queen responded “May your majesty live forever! Do not let the things you think of alarm you, and do not change color so. 11* There is a man in your kingdom who has in him a spirit from holy gods, and in your father’s time enlightenment and insight and wisdom like that of gods was found in him, and your royal father Nebucadnessar set him up as chief of sorcerers, exorcists, Chaldeans, diviners,—your royal father. 12 Inasmuch as notable inspiration and knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams and solution of riddles and unraveling of knotty problems, are found in him, Daniel, whom the king named Belteshassar, now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation.”

13** Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel “You are Daniel, one of the Jewish deportees whom the king my father brought from Judah? 14* then I hear that you have in you a divine spirit, and enlightenment and insight and notable wisdom have been found in you. 15 Now the wise men, the exorcists, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make its interpretation known, but they were not competent to show the interpretation of the word. 16 And I hear that you can expound interpretations and unravel knotty problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known the interpretation of it, you shall wear purple and have a gold necklace round your neck and have tritarch authority in the empire.”

17* Then Daniel answered before the king “Keep your gifts to yourself and give your grants to another; but I will read the writing to your majesty and make known the interpretation of it. 18 To your majesty’s father Nebucadnessar the Most High God gave empire and greatness and glory and majesty, 19 and for the greatness that he gave him all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him; whom he wished he killed and whom he wished he left alive, and whom he wished he distinguished and whom he wished he disgraced. 20 But when his heart grew lofty and his spirit presumingly headstrong, he was put down from his royal throne and his glory was taken off from him, 21 and he was driven out from mankind and his mind leveled with that of beasts, and his quarters were with the wild asses, they fed him on herbage like cattle, and he was wet with the dews and rains of the sky, till he came to know that the Most High God is sovereign over human empire and sets up over it whom he pleases to. 22 And you his son, Belshassar, did not humble your heart though you knew all this, 23 but set yourself up above the Lord of Heaven, and they brought before you the vessels of his house, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, drank wine from them and praised the gods made of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, that do not see nor hear nor know; but the God who holds your breath in his hand and all your experiences, him you did not glorify. 24 Then the hand was sent from before him and this writing was inscribed. 25* And this is the writing that is inscribed: mene, tekel, peres. 26 This is the interpretation of the word: mene, God has counted your empire and paid it off; 27 tekel, you have been weighed in the scales and found short weight; 28 peres, your empire is broken up and given to the Medes and the Persians.” 29 Then Belshassar gave the word and they clothed Daniel in purple, with a gold necklace round his neck, and proclaimed before him that he was to have tritarch authority in the empire.

30 That night King Belshassar of the Chaldeans was killed, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the empire, a man some sixty-two years old.

6* Darius thought best to set up over the empire a hundred and twenty satraps, 2 and above them three controllers, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should make their reports, and the king not be troubled. 3 Then this Daniel became preeminent among the controllers and satraps, inasmuch as he had in him notable inspiration; and the king thought of setting him over all the empire. 4* Then the controllers and the satraps set about trying to find an offense of Daniel’s with regard to the administration, but could not find any offense or misconduct, inasmuch as he was a faithful man and no negligence or misconduct was found chargeable to him.

5* Then those men said “We shall not find any offense of this Daniel’s unless we find something in his religion.” 6 Then these controllers and satraps came in a body to the king and said to him “Live forever, King Darius! 7* All the controllers of the empire, the viceroys and the satraps, the courtiers and the governors, have resolved to recommend that the king enact a decree and impose a prohibition that anybody who makes a petition to any god or man except your majesty for thirty days shall be thrown into the lion-pit. 8 Your majesty is now to enact the prohibition and have it inscribed in written form to be unalterable as an irreversible law of the Medes and Persians.” 9* Accordingly King Darius had the prohibition formally inscribed.

10 But Daniel, when he learned that the edict was inscribed, went into his house, which had windows cut in its upper room toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down and prayed and gave thanks before his God in the same way as he had done before this.

11 Then those men went in a body and found Daniel making petitions and supplications before his God. 12* Then they presented themselves and said before the king “Your majesty, did you not have a prohibition inscribed that any man who makes a petition to any god or man except your majesty for thirty days shall be thrown into the lion-pit?”

The king answered “It is a settled thing with the irreversibleness of Median and Persian law.”

13 Then they answered before the king “Daniel, who is one of the Jewish deportees, has not paid any attention to your majesty and to the prohibition you have had inscribed, and three times a day he makes his petitions.”

14 Then the king was much annoyed at hearing the thing, and determined to save Daniel and exerted himself till sunset to get him clear. 15 Then those men came in a body to the king and said to him “Know, your majesty, that the Medes and Persians have a law that every prohibition or decree which the king enacts is unalterable.” 16** Then the king gave the word and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion-pit, the king saying to Daniel “Let your God whom you constantly worship save you”; 17 and a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the pit, and the king sealed it with his signet and with the signets of his lords, that there might not be a thing changed in Daniel’s case.

18* Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting, and did not have music brought before him, and his sleep would not come. 19 Then at daybreak the king rose as soon as it was light and went in haste to the lion-pit, 20* and when he came near the pit he cried to Daniel in a distressful voice “Daniel, worshiper of the living God, was your God whom you constantly invoke able to save you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel spoke with the king; “Live forever, your majesty! 22* my God sent his angel and held the lions’ mouths shut, and they did not harm me, inasmuch as before him I was found to have right on my side; and before you too, your majesty, I had done no harm.”

23 Then the king was much gratified, and ordered Daniel lifted out of the pit; and Daniel was lifted out, and no injury was found on him, because he had trusted his God. 24 Then the king ordered those men who had laid the information against Daniel to be brought and thrown into the lion-pit, them, their children, and their wives, and they did not get to the bottom of the pit before the lions had them and had crushed all their bones.

25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that live in all the earth “Great be your peace. 26 It is hereby ordained that throughout the jurisdiction of my empire men are to tremble and fear before Daniel’s God, because he is the living God and stands forever, and his empire is invincible and his sovereignty lasts to the end. 27** He saves and delivers and performs tokens and wonders, he who has saved Daniel out of the power of the lions.”

28 And this Daniel did well under the reign of Darius and that of Cyrus the Persian.

7* In the year one of King Belshassar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and sights came to his head in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream. (Beginning of statement.) 2 He said “Said Daniel, I saw in my visions during the night that the four winds of the sky were churning the great sea, 3* and four great beasts came up out of the sea, all different.

4 “The first was like a lion with a vulture’s wings; I saw till its wings were pulled off and it was raised from the earth and set on two feet like a man and given a human heart.

5 “And on came another beast, a second, resembling a bear, which had got on its feet on one side, and had in its mouth three ribs between its teeth; and they said to it ‘Up, eat much flesh!’

6 “After this I saw, and on came another, like a leopard with four bird wings on its back; and the beast had four heads, and was given sovereign power.

7 “After this I saw in night visions, and on came a fourth beast, fearful and terrible and surpassingly strong, with great iron teeth; it was eating and mangling and trampling the remnants underfoot; and it was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I was noticing the horns, and up between them came another horn, a tiny one, and three of the previous horns were uprooted before it; and eyes there were in this horn like human eyes, and a mouth talking big words.

9 “I saw till thrones were placed and an Aged One took his seat, whose clothing was like white snow and the hair of his head like clean wool. His throne was flames of fire, and its wheels fire burning; 10* a river of fire streamed out from before him. A thousand thousand were waiting on him and a million million stood before him. The court took its seat and books were opened.

11 “I saw: then, at the sound of the big words the horn talked, I saw till the beast was killed and its body wrecked and put for burning up. 12 And the rest of the beasts had their sovereignty discontinued, but were given prolongation of life till a time and a tide.

13 “I saw in night visions that with the clouds of the sky there came the like of a human being, and he came up to the Ancient One and presented himself before him; 14 and he was given sovereignty and glory and empire, and all the peoples, nations, and languages became his subjects. His sovereignty is sovereignty eternal, inalienable, and his empire impregnable.

15* “I, Daniel, was excited over this, and the sights that had come to my head alarmed me. 16 I approached one of those who were standing there and asked him for the precise significance of this; and he told me, and made the interpretation known, 17* ‘These great beasts, of which there are four, are four kings to stand upon the earth; 18 but the holy ones of the Most High shall take over the empire, and shall rule the empire forever, world without end.’

19 “Then I wanted the precise significance of the fourth beast that was different from all of them, surpassingly fearful, its teeth iron and its claws bronze, which ate and mangled and trampled the remnants underfoot, 20 and of the ten horns on its head and another that came up and three fell before it, and that horn had eyes and a mouth talking big words, and the look of being larger than its mates; 21 I had seen that that horn made war with holy ones and got the best of them 22* till an Ancient One came and judgment was given for the holy ones of the Most High, and the time arrived and holy ones ruled the empire.

23 “He said thus: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth empire that there shall be on earth, which shall be different from all empires and shall eat up all the earth and kick it to pieces and mangle it; 24 and the ten horns, out of that empire ten kings shall stand up, and another shall stand up after them; and he shall be different from the preceding ones, and shall bring three kings down, 25* and shall talk in words pointing at God on high, and shall wear down the holy ones of the Most High, and shall think to change times and law; and they shall be given into his hands through a time and times and half a time. 26 But the court shall sit, and they shall take off his sovereignty for definitive destroying and extirpating; and empire, and the sovereignty and greatness of all the empires under the sky, was given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High. 27* Its empire is an empire forever, and all sovereignties shall be its subjects and obey it.’

28* “With this the whole was at an end. I, Daniel, was much alarmed by the things I thought of, and changed color. But I laid the matter up in my mind.”

8 In the year three of King Belshassar’s reign a vision appeared to me, Daniel, following out the one I had seen at first. 2 And I saw in the vision—and when I saw it I was in Susa Citadel in the province of ʽElam—I saw in the vision that I was by Ulai Run, 3 and I raised my eyes and saw that there was a ram standing in front of the Run; and it had two horns, and the horns were tall, the one taller than the other, and the taller coming up behind. 4* I saw the ram butting west and north and south, and no beasts could stand before it, and there was nobody to give deliverance from its power, and it did as it pleased and made a great record.

5 And as I was taking it in, there, coming from the west over the face of all the earth, was a he-goat; and the goat had a strikingly large horn between its eyes. 6 And it came through to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing in front of the Run, and ran at it in its rage of strength; 7* and I saw it come on alongside the ram and quarrel with it and hit the ram and break both its horns, and there was in the ram no strength to stand before it, and it knocked it down and trampled it, and there was nobody that delivered the ram out of its power. 8* And the he-goat did very great things; but when it was at its mightiest the great horn broke, and four others came up instead, to the four winds of the sky.

9* And out of one of them came out another horn, a tiny one, and it grew extremely large toward the south and toward the east and toward the crowning glory; 10 and it grew large up to the legions of the sky and knocked some of the legions and some of the stars down to the earth and trampled them; 11*** and up to the Chief of the Legions it grew large, and the regular sacrifice was taken off from him and the footing of his sanctuary thrown down; 12 and a campaign is undertaken against the regular sacrifice with crime; and he shall throw truth down on the ground, and carry on and be successful. 13**** And I heard one holy one speak; and one holy one said to whoever it was that spoke “How long does the vision run? the regular sacrifice, and the crime appalling, his making sanctuary and host things to trample on?” 14*** And he said to him “Through twenty-three hundred evenings, mornings; and sacred things shall be vindicated.”

15 And when I, Daniel, saw the vision I sought for insight; and there before me stood what looked like a man, 16* and I heard a human voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called out “Gabriel, give yonder man an insight into the apparition!” 17** And he came beside me as I stood; and at his coming I was perturbed and threw myself down on my face. And he said to me “Understand, man; for the vision is for an ultimate time.”

18 And as he spoke to me I was in a trance on my face on the ground; but he came up to me and set me on my feet. 19* And he said to me “Here, I am going to make known to you that which is to be in the latter end of the unfriendliness, for it is for an ultimate date. 20 The two-horned ram that you saw is the kings of Media and Persia; 21* and the he-goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn between its eyes is the first king; 22 and the broken horn, and four standing up instead, four kingdoms are to stand up out of his nation but not with his power. 23* But toward the latter end of their empire, while criminals are finishing their work, there is to stand a king stiff-faced and ingenious at riddles. 24*** And his power is to be immense, but not by his power; and he is to think up marvelous things and be successful and carry on; and he is to make away with mighty ones and a people of holy ones; 25* and owing to his longheadedness he is to handle deceit successfully, and build great things in his heart, and make away with many while they are off their guard; and he is to stand against a Chief of Chiefs, but be broken without touch of a hand. 26* And the spoken disclosure of the evenings and mornings is truth. But as for you, keep the vision under a stopper, for it is a longtime one.”

27* And I, Daniel, broke down and was ill for a while; but I got on my feet and did the king’s business. But I was appalled at the inexplicable vision.

15 “But now, Lord our God, who brought your people out from Egypt with strong hand and made yourself famous as at this day,—we have sinned, we are in the wrong, 16 —Lord, to agree with all your right-doing, let your anger and exasperation turn back from your city Jerusalem, your sacred mountain, because by our sins and the guilts of our fathers Jerusalem and your people have become a butt for taunts from all who are around them; 17* but now, our God, listen to your servant’s prayer and supplication and show a shining face toward your desolated sanctuary for your own sake, Lord. 18 Bend your ear, my God, and hear; open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that wears your name, because it is not for our right-doings that we are laying our supplication before you but for your great tenderheartedness. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! do not delay, my God, because your city and your people wear your name.”

20 And while I was still speaking and praying and making confession of my sin and the sin of my people Israel and laying my appeal before my God Jehovah for my God’s sacred mountain, 21* —while I was still speaking in prayer the man Gabriel whom I had seen brought flying in the vision I had had at the beginning came up to me in his flying at the time of the evening oblation, 22* and came in and spoke to me and said “Daniel, I have now come out to enlighten you with insight. 23 At the beginning of your supplications word went out, and I have come to make the announcement, because you are a favorite. Understand the word and see the point of the apparition: 24* seventy sevens are marked off as to your people and your sacred city for finishing crime and getting through with sin and purging guilt and bringing in eternal righteousness and sealing vision and prophet and anointing a holiest of the holy. 25*** And you are to know and see the point: from the going out of word to bring back and rebuild Jerusalem to a Warden Anointed is seven sevens; and for sixty-two sevens it will be coming back and being rebuilt, square and moat. And in the hard pinch of the times, 26**** and after the sixty-two sevens, there will cease to be an Anointed, and the city and the sanctuary will be ravaged by the people of a warden, him who comes in; and the end of him will be with a flood; and to the end of war desolations are fated; 27* and he will put a covenant in force for the many for one seven; and for half the seven he will bring sacrifice and meal-offering to a stop; and on a wing there will be an appalling disgustment, and so till a finish and a fate to be poured out on an appalling one.

10* In the year three of King Cyrus of Persia a matter was revealed to Daniel who was named Belteshassar; and the word was true, but a great task; but he understood the word and had insight into the apparition.

2 In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning three weeks; 3 I had not eaten palatable bread, and meat and wine had not come into my mouth, and I had not put on any oil, till three weeks were up. 4 And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, when I was by the side of the great river (that is, the Tigris), 5 I raised my eyes and saw that there was a man there dressed in linen, his waist belted with nugget gold from Uphaz, 6 his body like yellow jasper, his face like the sight of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and legs like the luster of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the voices of an excited crowd.

15 And while he spoke these words with me I had my face toward the ground and was dumb. 16 But there what bore the semblance of humankind touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to the one that stood in front of me “My lord, at the sight of the apparition my pains came upon me and I retained no strength, 17 and how can this servant of my lord’s talk with this lord of mine, when after this I have no strength standing up in me and there remains no breath in me?”

18 And once more what had the look of a man touched me and put strength into me, 19 and he said “Do not be afraid, you favorite man, you are all right; brace up, brace up!” and as he spoke with me I gathered firmness and said “Let my lord speak, for you have put strength into me.”

20 And he said “Do you know what I have come to you for? and I am going right back to fight the prince of Persia, and when I come out, in comes the prince of Greece. 21 I will inform you, though, of what is inscribed in a record of truth. And there is nobody holding firmly with me against these except your own prince Micael;

5* “And the king of the south will be strong, but one of his generals will be stronger against him and will rule a dominion greater than his. 6***** And at the end of years they will ally themselves, and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to bring about an accord, but will not retain strength of arm and his two arms will not stand, and she will be betrayed and those who brought her in and he who gave birth to her and he who strengthens her at the times. 7* But part of the sprouting of her roots will replace him, and will come to the bulwark and come into the stronghold of the king of the north and will do his business in them and be strong. 8 And their gods too, with their statues, with their exquisite vessels in silver and in gold, he will bring captured to Egypt; and, he keeping away from the king of the north for some years, 9 he will invade the empire of the king of the south, but go back to his own land.

10* “But his sons will start hostilities and get together a numerous body of troops, and he will go in sweeping everything before him and passing off; but he will come back, and hostilities will continue up to his stronghold. 11 But the king of the south will be infuriated and will come out and make war with him, the king of the north; and he will set on foot a great host, but the host will be given into his hands, 12 and the host will be carried off; and his heart will be uplifted, and he will cut down myriads, but will not be vigorous. 13** And the king of the north will go back and will set on foot a host greater than the first, and at the end of the times (years) he will come in with a great force and abundant supplies; 14 and in those times many will stand against the king of the south, and the sons of the revolutionists among your people will have high expectations of making good a vision, but will come to grief; 15* and the king of the north will come in and throw up a ramp and capture a fortified city, and the partisans of the south will not stand their ground, and his choice troops, and there will be no strength to stand, 16* and his invader will do as he pleases, no one standing before him, and will take his stand in the land of the crowning glory and have it wholly in his hands, 17* and will set his face to come in with the might of his whole empire, but will come to an accord with him and give him the daughter of women with ruinous intent; but it will not stand and he will not get it. 18* And he will turn his face back toward seacoasts, and conquer many; but a chieftain will stop his insolence for him, will give him back something else than his insolence, 19 and he will turn his face back to the strongholds of his own country and come to grief, and fall and not be found; 20** and there will replace him one who sends about a collecting agent as royal glory, but in a short time he will be broken, and not in anger nor in war.

21 “And there will replace him a despised man to whom they had not given royal honor, but he will come in while people are off their guard and grasp kingship by slippery methods; 22 and partisans will be swept down before him and broken, and a covenanted warden too; 23** and upon one’s allying himself with him he will commit fraud; and he will come up and rise to domination with a small faction 24* while people are off their guard. And he will come into the fattest parts of a province and do what his fathers and his fathers’ fathers had not done, scatter plunder and booty and chattels to them; and he will lay plans against fortifications—and this up to a time.

36 “And the king will do as he pleases and play the great and lofty lord against every deity, and speak monstrous words against the God of Gods, and flourish till hostility is finished because a crisis has been brought about. 37 And to the gods of his fathers he will pay no attention, and to the Desire of Women, or any god, he will pay no attention, because he plays the part of great one against all. 38 But he will honor a god of strongholds in place, and a god whom his fathers had never known he will honor with gold and silver and precious stones and works of fine art. 39**** And for best-fortified strongholds he will take the people of a foreign god that he has recognized; he will pay great honor, and set them to rule over the majority, and give portions of land as payment.

40 “And at an ultimate time the king of the south will clash with him, and the king of the north will come storming against him with chariotry and cavalry and a great navy, and will invade countries and sweep everything before him and pass on. 41** And he will come into the land of the crowning glory, and myriads will come to grief; but these will come through safe from his hands, Edom and Moab and the chief part of the Bene-ʽAmmon. 42 And he will put out his hand against countries, and Egypt will not escape, 43 but he will get control of the accumulations of gold and silver and all the fine things of Egypt, and have the Libyans and the Nubians at his heels. 44 But news from the east and the north will startle him, and he will go out in a great passion to massacre and exterminate many, 45* and will pitch his palace-tents between the sea and the mountain of sacred glory, and come to his end with nobody to help him.

12* And at that time Micael will stand, the great prince who stands on behalf of the sons of your people; and there will come the time of a distress that there had not been since a nation existed up to that time; but at that time your people will come off safe, everyone that is written down in the Book. 2 And many of the sleepers in earthy ground will wake, these to life forever and those to ignominies, to be objects of repugnance forever; 3 and the enlighteners will have a brightness like the resplendence of the firmament, and those who make the many righteous like the stars forevermore. 4** But as for you, Daniel, keep the things under a stopper and seal the book till an ultimate date; many will go ranging about, and disasters will abound.”

5 And I, Daniel, saw that there were two others standing one on this bank of the river and one on that bank; 6 and one said to the man dressed in linen who was over the water of the river “How long till the end of the mysteries?”

7 And I heard the man dressed in linen who was over the water of the river, lifting his right hand and his left hand toward the sky, swear by him who lives forever that in a time, times, and a half, and when the smashing of the arms of a holy people is finished, finished will these things be. 8 And I myself heard, but did not understand, and said “My lord, what will be the latter part of these things?”

9 And he said “Go, Daniel, for the words are stoppered and sealed till an ultimate date. 10 Many will be sifted and scrubbed and smelted, and wrong-doers will do wrong, and no wrong-doers will understand, but the judicious will understand. 11* And from the date of the displacing of the regular sacrifice to the putting in of an appalling disgustment is twelve hundred and ninety days. 12 Happy he who waits and comes up to thirteen hundred and thirty-five days. 13* But as for you, go rest; for there is some time yet, and destined periods are to be filled out at the end, and you are to rest, and stand on your feet at the end of the time.”

MARGINAL NOTES TO DANIEL