yet he said to Daniel, “My lord the king assigned your food and drink. I’m afraid of what would happen if he saw your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age. You would endanger my life with the king.”

The Chaldeans spoke to the king (Aramaic begins here): “May the king live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the air—He has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever.

King Nebuchadnezzar,

To those of every people, nation, and language, who live in all the earth:

May your prosperity increase.

You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.

You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men, and He gives it to anyone He wants.”

Because of the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen came to the banquet hall. “May the king live forever,” she said. “Don’t let your thoughts terrify you or your face be pale.

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you and your nobles, wives, and concubines drank wine from them, you praised the gods made of silver and gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or understand. But you have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls the whole course of your life.

So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, “May King Darius live forever.

Then Daniel spoke with the king: “May the king live forever.

Then King Darius wrote to those of every people, nation, and language who live in all the earth: “May your prosperity abound.

As for the rest of the beasts, their authority to rule was removed, but an extension of life was granted to them for a certain period of time.

I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands—

Many of those who sleep in the dust
of the earth will awake,
some to eternal life,
and some to shame and eternal contempt.