Daniel 2
The full text of Daniel 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew and Aramaic. Free to read.
1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
2 So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king,
3 the king said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me, and I want to know what the dream means."
4 Then the Chaldeans said 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, "My decision is firm: if you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses turned into rubble.
6 But if you reveal the dream and its interpretation, you will receive gifts, rewards, and great honor from me. 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 replied, "I am certain that you are trying to buy time, because you see that my decision is firm.
9 If you don't tell me the dream, there is only one decree for you. You have agreed among yourselves to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation changes. So tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation."
10 The Chaldeans answered the king, "There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks. No great and powerful king has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.
11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals."
12 Because of this the king became furious and very angry, and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13 So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and they searched for Daniel and his friends to kill them.
14 Then Daniel responded with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, who had gone out to execute 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, and he would tell the king the interpretation.
17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
18 urging them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the 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 establishes 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.
And now you have made known to me
what we asked of you;
you have made the king's matter known to us."
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 before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation."
25 Then Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said to him, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king."
26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw and its interpretation?"
27 Daniel answered the king, "No wise man, enchanter, magician, or diviner can reveal 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 latter days. Your dream and the visions in your mind as you lay in bed are these:
29 As for you, O king, your thoughts came to you on your bed about what would happen in the future, and the revealer of mysteries has made known to you what will happen.
30 As for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me because of any wisdom I have more than any other living person, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.
31 "You, O king, were watching, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.
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 baked clay.
34 While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.
35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 "This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion, power, strength, and glory.
38 In your hands he has placed all of humanity, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.
40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.
41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, just as you saw iron mixed with clay.
42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
44 In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
45 This is the meaning of the vision of the stone cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a stone that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future. The dream is certain and its interpretation trustworthy."
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown and paid homage to Daniel. He ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him.
47 The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery."
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.
49 And at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained at the royal court.
Translation notes (13)
- Daniel 2:2a Here, 'Chaldeans' refers to a class of priests and scholars, not the ethnic group or people group (which is different from how the word is used more generally in chapter 1).
- Daniel 2:4a The text switches to Aramaic here (2:4b) and remains in Aramaic through 7:28. This marker, 'in Aramaic' (Hebrew: *'aramit*), may be both a note about what language is being spoken and a note from the scribe indicating the language change.
- Daniel 2:11a The Aramaic phrase means 'whose dwelling is not with flesh.' Ironically, this confession of God's *transcendence*—his nature as being beyond human understanding and separate from the physical world—sets up Daniel's God who does reveal secrets to humans.
- Daniel 2:18a The title 'God of heaven,' or in Aramaic, *elah shemayya*, emphasizes God's complete rule over everything. This title is used frequently in the Aramaic sections of the book.
- Daniel 2:25a Arioch takes credit for 'finding' Daniel, which is a way of promoting himself in the king's court.
- Daniel 2:28a The Aramaic phrase *acharit yomayya* means 'latter days.' This is a term related to the end times, pointing to the end of the way the world is now.
- Daniel 2:33a The Aramaic word *chasaph* means 'clay' or 'pottery.' The mixture of iron and clay represents a weakness in its structure despite seeming strong.
- Daniel 2:34a This phrase, "not by human hands" (Aramaic: di-la biyeday), emphasizes the supernatural origin of the final kingdom.
- Daniel 2:38a Language echoes Gen 1:28 and Jer 27:6—Nebuchadnezzar receives Adamic dominion as God's instrument.
- Daniel 2:39a Traditionally, silver is identified as Medo-Persia and bronze as Greece, though an alternative view identifies silver as Media and bronze as Persia. The text deliberately leaves the exact identification open.
- Daniel 2:40a This is traditionally identified as Rome, though critical scholarship sometimes identifies it as Greece. The imagery of iron emphasizes its military crushing power.
- Daniel 2:43a The Aramaic phrase "they will mix with the seed of men" possibly refers to intermarriage between ruling classes, or to attempted political alliances that ultimately fail.
- Daniel 2:46a This scene depicts a stunning reversal: a pagan king prostrating before a Jewish exile. Nebuchadnezzar treats Daniel as a mediator of divine revelation.
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Hebrew and Aramaic, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open Daniel in the Trinity Bible app.
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