# Daniel 2

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/daniel/2

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled, and he could not sleep.
2. So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. They came in and stood before the king.
3. The king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”
4. Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
5. The king answered the Chaldeans, “This is my firm decision: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into rubble.
6. But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts, a reward, and great honor. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”
7. They answered a second time, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.”
8. The king answered, “I know for certain that you are trying to buy time, because you see that my decision is firm:
9. if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one sentence for you. You have agreed among yourselves to tell me lying and corrupt words until the situation changes. So tell me the dream, and then I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”
10. The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can tell what the king asks. No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.
11. What the king asks is difficult, and there is no one who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”
12. Because of this the king became angry and very furious, and he ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed.
13. So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed. They looked for Daniel and his companions to kill them too.
14. Then Daniel responded with wise counsel and tact to Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
15. He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the matter to Daniel.
16. So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, so that he could give the king the interpretation.
17. Then Daniel went to his house and told the matter to his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
18. so that they would ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this mystery, and Daniel and his companions would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20. Daniel said, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him.
21. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
22. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him.
23. To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power. Now you have made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
24. Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said to him, “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation.”
25. Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel in before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make known the interpretation to the king.”
26. The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream I saw and its interpretation?”
27. Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about.
28. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the last days. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay in bed were these:
29. As for you, O king, while you lay in bed, your thoughts turned to what would happen after this, and the revealer of mysteries has made known to you what is going to happen.
30. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me not because I have more wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that the interpretation may be made known to the king and you may understand the thoughts of your heart.
31. You were watching, O king, and there was a great statue. That statue was huge and its brightness extraordinary. It stood in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying.
32. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
33. its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
34. As you watched, a stone was cut out, not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
35. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all crushed together and became like chaff from the threshing floors in summer. The wind swept them away, and not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
36. This was the dream, and now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37. You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory.
38. Wherever they live, he has given into your hand human beings, the wild animals, and the birds of the sky, and he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39. After you another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, and then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule over the whole earth.
40. Then there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron. Just as iron crushes and shatters everything, and as iron smashes things, it will crush and smash all these.
41. Just as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, so it will be a divided kingdom; yet some of the firmness of iron will be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay.
42. As the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
43. And just as you saw iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix together through intermarriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44. In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it will stand forever—
45. just as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain, not by human hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has made known to the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
46. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel, and he ordered that an offering and fragrant incense be presented to him.
47. The king said to Daniel, “Truly your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
48. Then the king gave Daniel a high position and many great gifts. He made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
49. At Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained at the king’s court.

## Nearby chapters

[Daniel 1](https://www.lumin.faith/read/daniel/1.md)
[Daniel 3](https://www.lumin.faith/read/daniel/3.md)

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