> ‎Dan 3‎ > ‎Dan 4‎ > ‎Dan 5‎ > ‎Dan 6‎ > ‎Dan 7‎ > ‎Dan 8‎ > ‎Dan 9‎ > ‎Dan 10‎ > ‎Dan 11‎ > ‎Dan 12‎ > ‎Dan 13 (Susanna)‎ > ‎Dan 14 (Bel and the Dragon) 

 

1 In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodonosor had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of his mind. 2 Then the king commanded to call together the diviners and the wise men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: to declare to the king his dreams: so they came and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw.


4 And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live for ever: tell to your servants your dream, and we will declare the interpretation thereof. 5 And the king, answering, said to the Chaldeans: The thing has gone out of my mind: unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof, you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated. 6 But if you tell the dream, and the meaning of it, you shall receive of me rewards, and gifts, and great honour: therefore, tell me the dream, and the interpretation thereof. 7 They answered again and said: Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation of it. 8 The king answered and said: I know for certain, that you seek to gain time, since you know that the thing has gone from me. 9 If, therefore, you tell me not the dream, there is one sentence concerning you, that you have also framed a lying interpretation, and full of deceit, to speak before me till the time pass away. Tell me, therefore, the dream, that I may know that you also give a true interpretation thereof.

10 Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and said: There is no man upon earth, that can accomplish your word, O king; neither does any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any diviner, or wise man, or Chaldean. 11 For the thing that you ask, O king, is difficult: nor can any one be found that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose conversation is not with men. 12 Upon hearing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath, commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death. 13 And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death.

14 Then Daniel inquired concerning the law and the sentence, of Arioch, the general of the king's army, who had gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 And he asked him that had received the orders of the king, why so cruel a sentence had gone forth from the face of the king. And when Arioch had told the matter to Daniel, 16 Daniel went in, and desired of the king, that he would give him time to resolve the question, and declare it to the king.

17 And he went into his house, and told the matter to Ananias, and Misael, and Azarias, his companions: 18 To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of heaven, concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

 

 

2:1 second year: There is more than one way to explain the second year. First, they may have been taken captive in 605 when Nabuchodonosor was in Israel. Or - because of his distress, the king may have tried all possible means to interpret his dream and so even though their education was only 2/3 finished, they might still help, and did so. Or -If we recall the semitic approximation and looseness of numbers which we explained above, this could be an other instance of that sort of thing. (Fr. Most) Nabuchodonosor had a dream: The impious king beheld a dream concerning things to come, in order that he might give glory to God after the holy man had interpreted what he had seen, and that great consolation might be afforded the captive Jews and those who still served God in their captive state. (St. Jerome) 2:2 the diviners and the wise men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: Well then, it seems to me that diviners are people who perform a thing by means of words; wise men are those who pursue individual lines of philosophic enquiry; magicians are those who employ blood and animal sacrifices and often have contact with corpses. Furthermore the term "astrologers" or nativity-casters, among the Chaldeans signifies, I believe, what the common people call mathematicians. (St. Jerome)

2:4 Syriac: That is Aramaic. Now, the astrologers conducted the dialogue in Aramaic, assembled as they were from different nations, and though having their own language in each case, they all used Aramaic in common in their wish to convey a unanimous reply. (Theodoret of Cyrus) 2:12-13 The Hebrews raise the question of why Daniel and the three lads did not enter before the king along with the other wise men, and why they were ordered to be slain with the rest when the decree was issued. They have explained the difficulty in this way, by saying that at that time, when the king was promising rewards and gifts and great honor, they did not care to go before him, lest they should appear to be shamelessly grasping after the wealth and honor of the Chaldeans. Or else it was undoubtedly true that the Chaldeans themselves, being envious of the Jews' reputation and learning, entered alone before the king, as if to obtain the rewards by themselves. Afterwards they were perfectly willing to have those whom they had denied any hope of glory to share in a common peril. (St. Jerome)