Daniel:1-2
Seeker Overlay ON
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In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem ,
and besieged it .
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And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand ,
with part of the vessels of the house of God :
which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god ;
and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god .
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And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs ,
that he should bring certain of the children of Israel ,
and of the king '
s seed ,
and of the princes ;
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Children in whom was no blemish ,
but well favoured ,
and skilful in all wisdom ,
and cunning in knowledge ,
and understanding science ,
and such as had ability in them to stand in the king '
s palace ,
and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans .
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And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king '
s meat ,
and of the wine which he drank :
so nourishing them three years ,
that at the end thereof they might stand before the king .
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Now among these were of the children of Judah ,
Daniel ,
Hananiah ,
Mishael ,
and Azariah :
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Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names :
for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar ;
and to Hananiah ,
of Shadrach ;
and to Mishael ,
of Meshach ;
and to Azariah ,
of Abednego .
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But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king '
s meat ,
nor with the wine which he drank :
therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself .
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Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs .
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And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel ,
I fear my lord the king ,
who hath appointed your meat and your drink :
for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort ?
then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king .
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Then said Daniel to Melzar ,
whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel ,
Hananiah ,
Mishael ,
and Azariah ,
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Prove thy servants ,
I beseech thee ,
ten days ;
and let them give us pulse to eat ,
and water to drink .
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Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee ,
and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king '
s meat :
and as thou seest ,
deal with thy servants .
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So he consented to them in this matter ,
and proved them ten days .
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And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king '
s meat .
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Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat ,
and the wine that they should drink ;
and gave them pulse .
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As for these four children ,
God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom :
and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams .
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Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in ,
then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar .
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And the king communed with them ;
and among them all was found none like Daniel ,
Hananiah ,
Mishael ,
and Azariah :
therefore stood they before the king .
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And in all matters of wisdom and understanding ,
that the king enquired of them ,
he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm .
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And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus .
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And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams ,
wherewith his spirit was troubled ,
and his sleep brake from him .
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Then the king commanded to call the magicians ,
and the astrologers ,
and the sorcerers ,
and the Chaldeans ,
for to shew the king his dreams .
So they came and stood before the king .
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And the king said unto them ,
I have dreamed a dream ,
and my spirit was troubled to know the dream .
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Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack ,
O king ,
live for ever :
tell thy servants the dream ,
and we will shew the interpretation .
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The king answered and said to the Chaldeans ,
The thing is gone from me :
if ye will not make known unto me the dream ,
with the interpretation thereof ,
ye shall be cut in pieces ,
and your houses shall be made a dunghill .
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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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They answered again and said ,
Let the king tell his servants the dream ,
and we will shew the interpretation of it .
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The king answered and said ,
I know of certainty that ye would gain the time ,
because ye see the thing is gone from me .
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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 ,
till 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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The Chaldeans answered before the king ,
and said ,
There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king '
s matter :
therefore there is no king ,
lord ,
nor ruler ,
that asked such things at any magician ,
or astrologer ,
or Chaldean .
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And it is a rare thing that the king requireth ,
and there is none other that can shew it before the king ,
except the gods ,
whose dwelling is not with flesh .
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For this cause the king was angry and very furious ,
and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon .
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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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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 :
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He answered and said to Arioch the king '
s captain ,
Why is the decree so hasty from the king ?
Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel .
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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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Then Daniel went to his house ,
and made the thing known to Hananiah ,
Mishael ,
and Azariah ,
his companions :
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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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Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision .
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven .
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Daniel answered and said ,
Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever :
for wisdom and might are his :
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And he changeth the times and the seasons :
he removeth kings ,
and setteth up kings :
he giveth wisdom unto the wise ,
and knowledge to them that know understanding :
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He revealeth the deep and secret things :
he knoweth what is in the darkness ,
and the light dwelleth with him .
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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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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 .
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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 .
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The king answered and said to Daniel ,
whose name was Belteshazzar ,
Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen ,
and the interpretation thereof ?
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Daniel answered in the presence of the king ,
and said ,
The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men ,
the astrologers ,
the magicians ,
the soothsayers ,
shew unto the king ;
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But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets ,
and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days .
Thy dream ,
and the visions of thy head upon thy bed ,
are these ;
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As for thee ,
O king ,
thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed ,
what should come to pass hereafter :
and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass .
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But as for me ,
this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living ,
but for 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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Thou ,
O king ,
sawest ,
and behold a great image .
This great image ,
whose brightness was excellent ,
stood before thee ;
and the form thereof was terrible .
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This image '
s head was of fine gold ,
his breast and his arms of silver ,
his belly and his thighs of brass ,
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His legs of iron ,
his feet part of iron and part of clay .
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Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands ,
which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay ,
and brake them to pieces .
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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 place was found for them :
and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain ,
and filled the whole earth .
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This is the dream ;
and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king .
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Thou ,
O king ,
art a king of kings :
for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom ,
power ,
and strength ,
and glory .
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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 head of gold .
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And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee ,
and another third kingdom of brass ,
which shall bear rule over all the earth .
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And the fourth kingdom 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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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 iron ,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay .
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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 .
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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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And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom ,
which shall never be destroyed :
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people ,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms ,
and it shall stand for ever .
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Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone 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 known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter :
and the dream is certain ,
and the interpretation thereof sure .
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Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face ,
and worshipped Daniel ,
and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him .
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The king answered unto Daniel ,
and said ,
Of a truth it is ,
that your God is a God of gods ,
and a Lord of kings ,
and a revealer of secrets ,
seeing thou couldest reveal this secret .
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Then the king made Daniel a great 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 .
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Then Daniel requested of the king ,
and he set Shadrach ,
Meshach ,
and Abednego ,
over the affairs of the province of Babylon :
but Daniel sat in the gate of the king .
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Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold ,
whose height was threescore cubits ,
and the breadth thereof six cubits :
he set it up in the plain of Dura ,
in the province of Babylon .