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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 2
Nebuchadnezzar's dream is revealed to Daniel—The King saw a great
image; a stone cut from the mountain without hands destoryed the image; and
the stone grew and filled the whole earth—The stone is the latter-day
kingdom of God.
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1 AND in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed adreams, wherewith his spirit was
btroubled, and his
sleep brake from him.
2 Then the king commanded to call the
amagicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the
Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before
the king.
3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
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4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in
aSyriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the
dream, and we will bshew the interpretation,
5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The
thing is agone from me: if ye will not make known unto me
the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be
bcut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
6 But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
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7 They answered again and said, Let the king tell his
servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
8 The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9 But if ye will not make known unto me the dream,
there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and
corrupt words to speak before me, atill the time be
changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me
the interpretation thereof.
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10 ¶ The Chaldeans answered before the king, and
said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's
mattera:
therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such
things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
11 And it is a rare thing that the king
requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king,
except the
agodsa, whose
dwelling is not with flesh.
12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13 And the decree went forth that the wise men
should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
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10a There is not a man upon the earth
that can shew the king's matter It is true that God does not allow
one man to know another man's thoughts and mental workings in and of
themself.
11a there is none other that can shew it
before the king, except the gods Again this is true. God knows the
thoughts of man and only God can give it to another by revelation what
another's mind doeth work and think.
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14 ¶ Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom
to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the
wise men of Babylon:
15 He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain,
Why is the decree so ahasty from the king?
Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
16 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that
he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
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17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing
known to aHananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his
companions:
18 That they would desire mercies of the God of
heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
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19 ¶ Then was the asecret
revealed unto Daniel in a night bvision. Then Daniel
blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of
God for ever and ever: for awisdom and might are his:
21 And he changeth the atimes and
the bseasons: he cremoveth kings, and
setteth up kings: he giveth dwisdom unto the wise, and
eknowledge to them that know understanding:
22 He arevealeth the deep and secret
things: he bknoweth what is in the darkness, and the
clight dwelleth with him.
23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my
fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.
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24 ¶ Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation.
25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in
haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah,
that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose
aname was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make
bknown unto me the dream which I have seen, and the
interpretation thereof?
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27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and
said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the
aastrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the
king;
28 But there is a God in heaven that
arevealeth bsecrets, and maketh known to
the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy
cdream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are
these;
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy
mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that
arevealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to
pass.
30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me
for any awisdom that I have more than any living,
but bfor their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy
heart.
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31 ¶ Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great
aimage. This great image, whose brightness was
excellent, stood before thee; and bthe form thereof
was terrible.
32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
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34 Thou sawest till that a astone
was cut out bwithout hands, which smote the image upon his
feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver,
and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no
aplace was found for them: and the bstone
that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
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36 ¶ This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the
God of heaven hath given thee a akingdom, power, and
strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the
beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine
hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this
ahead of gold.
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39 And after thee shall arise another
akingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of
brass, which shall bear brule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth akingdom shall be
strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all
things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces
and bruise.
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41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of
potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there
shall be in it of the strength of the airon, forasmuch as
thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part
of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
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44 And in the adays of these
bkings shall the God of heaven cset up a
dkingdom, which shall never be
edestroyed: and the fkingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall gbreak in pieces
and hconsume all these ikingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the
astone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that
it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold;
the great God hath made bknown to the king what shall come
to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure.
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46 ¶ Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his
face, and aworshipped Daniel, and commanded that they
should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth
it is, that your aGod is a
bGod of gods, and a cLord of kings, and a
revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.
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48 Then the king made Daniel a
agreat man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him
ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over
all the wise men of Babylon.
49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he
aset Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of
the province of Babylon: but Daniel bsat in the gate
of the king.
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