Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream of the Shattered Statue[a]
Chapter 2
The King’s Dream. 1 During the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him deeply and made sleep impossible. 2 Therefore, the king commanded that the magicians, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans[b] were to be summoned to interpret his dream. When they arrived and stood in his presence, 3 he said to them, “I have had a dream, and my mind is troubled because I have been unable to interpret it.” 4 The Chaldeans replied to the king in Aramaic,[c] “May you live forever, O king. Relate your dream to us, your servants, and we will reveal its meaning to you.”
5 The king answered the Chaldeans, “This is what I have decided to do. If you are unable to tell me both the dream I had and its meaning, I will command that you be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be totally destroyed. 6 However, if you are able to tell me what I dreamed and its meaning, I will present you with gifts, rewards, and great honors. Therefore, tell me the content of the dream and its meaning.”
7 They replied a second time, “Let the king first reveal his dream to his servants, and we shall interpret its meaning for you.” 8 But the king responded, “It is clear to me that you are stalling for time, since you know what I have already resolved to do. 9 If you are unable to interpret my dream for me, there will only be one verdict for you. You have obviously decided to stall for time in the hope that some compromise may be reached. Therefore, relate the content of my dream to me so that I will be able to determine whether you can interpret it correctly.”
10 The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what you request, O king. Never has there been a king, no matter how great or powerful, who has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11 What you are requiring of us is much too difficult, and no one can satisfy the king’s demand except for the gods, whose dwelling is not among mortals.”
12 On hearing this, the king flew into a violent rage and ordered that all the wise men of Babylon were to be put to death. 13 There-fore, the decree was issued for their execution, and a search was also made for Daniel and his companions so that they also might be executed.
14 As Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, prepared to execute the wise men of Babylon, Daniel approached him, and with prudent words and discretion 15 he said to him, “May I ask you why the king has issued such a harsh decree?” When Arioch explained what had occurred, 16 Daniel went off and asked the king to decree a stay of execution so that he might have the opportunity to offer his interpretation to the king.
17 The Prayer of Daniel. Then Daniel went home and informed his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, what had happened. 18 He also asked them to implore the God of heaven[d] for his mercy in regard to the mystery so that he and his companions might not perish along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision during the night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 This is what Daniel said,
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
for wisdom and power are his.
21 He directs the changes of the times and seasons;
he controls the appointment and the removal of kings.
He endows the wise with wisdom
and confers knowledge on those who have understanding.
22 He reveals deep and hidden mysteries
and knows what lies in the darkness,
for light dwells with him.
23 To you, O God of my fathers,
I offer thanks and praise
because you have given me wisdom and power.
Now you have made known to me
what we asked of you;
you have revealed to us the king’s dream.”
24 The Statue Turned Upside Down.[e]Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had designated to execute the wise men of Babylon, and he said to him, “Do not put the wise men of Babylon to death. Bring me into the presence of the king, and I will reveal to him the interpretation of the dream.”
25 Arioch immediately brought Daniel to the king and said to him, “Among the exiles from Judah I have located a man who can reveal the meaning of the dream to the king.” 26 The king said to Daniel, “Are you able to tell me the dream that I experienced and to reveal its meaning to me?”
27 Daniel stood in the king’s presence and replied, “None of the wise men, the enchanters, the sorcerers, or the astrologers has been able to explain to the king the dream about which you have been so disturbed. 28 However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to take place at the end of this age. These were the dreams and the visions that passed through your head as you lay in your bed.
29 “While you were lying there, O king, thoughts came to you about what would happen in the future, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what will take place. 30 This mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than any living person, but for the sole purpose that the interpretation may be made known to you and also that you may understand the thoughts that have entered your mind.
31 “In the vision that you had, Your Majesty, you beheld a huge statue that was dazzling in its brightness. It stood before you, frightening in its appearance. 32 The head of the statue was of fine gold, its chest and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of bronze, 33 its legs were of iron, and its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.
34 “While you were gazing at the statue, a stone broke away, untouched by any human hand, and struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, shattering them to pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all shattered into pieces as fine as the chaff on the threshing floor during the summer. The wind carried them away without leaving a trace. However, the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.
36 “That was the dream. Now we shall offer to the king its interpretation. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom with its power, its might, and its glory. 38 He has entrusted to your care men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell. You are the head of gold.
39 “After you another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, followed by a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. 40 There will then be a fourth kingdom, as strong as iron. Just as iron crushes and smashes everything to pieces, it will crush and pulverize all the other kingdoms.
41 “Like the feet and the toes that you saw, composed partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but it will have some of the strength of iron just as you saw the iron mixed with the clay tile. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly potter’s clay, the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with the clay, so will the people mix together in marriage, but they will not remain united, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44 “In the times of those kings, the God of heaven shall establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom fall under the power of another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of your vision of the stone untouched by human hands being hewn from the mountain and crushing the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
46 Nebuchadnezzar Prostrates Himself before God. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate and paid homage to Daniel, and he gave orders that a grain offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the revealer of mysteries. That is why you were able to reveal this mystery.”
48 Then the king conferred a high rank on Daniel and gave him many handsome gifts. He also appointed him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Furthermore, at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as administrators of the province of Babylon. However, Daniel remained at the king’s court.
Footnotes
- Daniel 2:1 How was the author to circulate subversive writings on the coming end of the reign of Antiochus IV, without naming the king? How was he to proclaim the coming of God’s reign, when a pagan prince was in control? Here is one of the stories that, doubtless, circulated behind the king’s back. To a small extent it makes use of the story of Joseph at the pharaoh’s court (Gen 41), but draws more direct and important conclusions. In this allegory, dreams, which the ancients considered a means used by divinities to communicate with human beings, play an important part. Dreams serve chiefly as a literary device for writers of apocalypses, such as the Book of Daniel.
- Daniel 2:2 Chaldeans: some Chaldeans studied astrology.
- Daniel 2:4 Aramaic: from this verse to the end of chapter 7, the original is written in Aramaic, the current language of the period.
- Daniel 2:18 God of heaven: a title frequently used in the Persian period for the true God, Yahweh; Daniel and his companions ask mercy from this God.
- Daniel 2:24 This odd statue, the parts of which are listed in order of decreasing value, may simply illustrate the sequence of the ages of the world. The present story describes the succession of human empires from Nebuchadnezzar to Antiochus IV. The last of these regimes is the weakest, and the linking by marriage of the Greek sovereigns of Egypt (the Ptolemies) and those of Antioch (the Seleucids) is unable to restore a balance among the successors of Alexander. God will finally destroy these regimes and establish another kingdom, his own, which will be everlasting.