The chief officer told Daniel, "I fear his majesty the king, who has determined what you eat and drink. If he notices that your faces are more pale than the other young men in your group, I will forfeit my head to the king."

But Daniel told the guard whom the chief officer had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

the king told them, "I have dreamed a dream and I will remain troubled until I can understand it."

In reply the king told the Chaldeans, "Here is what I have commanded: If you don't tell me both the dream and its meaning, you'll be destroyed and your houses will be reduced to rubble.

Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the king's command.

After this, Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the advisors of Babylon. He told him, "Don't destroy the advisors of Babylon. Bring me before the king and I'll explain the meaning to him."

The king told Daniel, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the Revealer of Secrets, because you were able to reveal this mystery."

They told King Nebuchadnezzar, "Your majesty, live forever.

Astonished, King Nebuchadnezzar stood up in terror, and asked his advisors, "Didn't we throw three men into the fire, bound firmly with ropes?" In reply they told the king, "Yes, your majesty."

"Look!" he told them, "I see four men walking untied and unharmed in the middle of the fire, and the appearance of the fourth resembles a divine being."

Then the diviners, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers came in, and I told them the dream. But they could not reveal its interpretation to me.

Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream:

Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king spoke up and told Daniel, "So you are Daniel, one of the Judean exiles whom my grandfather the king brought from Judah!

Then they told the king, "Daniel, who is one of the Judean exiles, pays no attention to you, your majesty, or to the written decree, since he is still praying three times a day."

But the men who had gone as a group to the king told him, "Remember, your majesty, that according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, any decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be repealed."

"He told me, "For 2,300 days. Then the Holy Place will be restored.'"

"As he approached where I was standing, I became terrified and fell on my face. But he told me, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.'

He told me, "Daniel, man highly regarded, understand the message that I'm about to relate to you. Stand up, because I've been sent to you.' When he spoke this statement to me, I stood there trembling.

""Don't be afraid, Daniel,' he told me, "because from the first day that you committed yourself to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I've come in answer to your prayers.