rd

Daniel 2

1 The dream of Nebuchad-nezzár. 13 The King commandeth all the wise men of Babylón to be slain because they could not interpret his dream. 16 Daniél requireth time to solute the question. 24 Daniél is brought unto the King and sheweth him his dream and the interpretation thereof. 44 Of the everlasting kingdom of Christ.
1.And in the asecond year of the reign of Nebuchad-nezzár, Nebuchad-nezzár dreamed bdreams wherewith his spirit was ctroubled, and his dsleep was upon him.
2.Then the King commanded to call the inchanters, and the astrologians and the sorcerers, and the eCaldeans for to shew the King his dreams: so they came and stood before the King.
3.And the King said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
4.Then spake the Caldeans to the King in the fAramite’s language, O King, live for ever: shewe thy servants thy dream, and we shal shewe the interpertation.
5.And the King answered and said to the Caldeans, The thing is gone from me. If ye will not make me understand the dream with the interpretation thereof, ye gshalbe drawn in pieces, and your houses shalbe made a jakes.
6.But if ye declare the dream and the interpretation thereof, ye shal receive of me gifts and rewards, and great honour: therefore shewe me the dream and the interpretation of it.
7.They answered again, and said, Let the King shewe hhis servants the dream, & we will declare the interpretation thereof.
8.Then the King answered, and said, I know certainly that ye ^would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9.But if ye will not declare me the dream, there is but one judgement for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words, to speak before me till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, that I may know, if ye can declare me the interpretation thereof.
10.Then the Caldeans answered before the King, and said, There is no man upon earth that can declare the King’s matter: yea, there is neither King nor prince nor Lord that asked such things at an inchanter or astrologian or Caldean.
11.For it is a rare thing that the King requireth, and there is none other that can declare it before the King, except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.
12.For this cause the King was angry and in great fury, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babél.
13.¶ And when sentence was given, the wise men were slain: and they isought Daniél and his fellows to be put to death.
14.Then Daniél answered with counsel and wisdom to Arióch the King’s ^chief steward, which was gone forth to put to death the wise men of Babél.
15.Yea, he answered and said unto Arióch the King’s captain, Why is the sentence so hasty from the King? Then Arióch declared the thing to Daniél.
16.So Daniél went and desired the King that he would give him leisure & that he would shewe the King the interpretation thereof.
17.¶ Then Daniél went to his house and shewed the matter to Hananiáh, Mishaél, and Azariáh his companions,
18.That they should beseech the God of heaven for grace in this secret, that Daniél and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babél.
19.Then was the secret revealed unto Daniél in a vision by night: therefore Daniél praised the God of heaven.
20.And Daniél answered and said, *The Name of God be praised for ever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his.
21.And he changeth the times and seasons: he taketh away Kings: he setteth up Kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and understanding to those that understand.
22.He discovereth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the klight dwelleth with him.
23.I thank thee and praise thee, ô thou God of my lfathers, that thou hast given me wisdom and mstrength, and hast shewed me now the thing that we desired of thee: for thou hast declared unto us the King’s matter.
24.¶ Therefore Daniél went unto Arióch, whom the King had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babél: he went and said thus unto him, Destroy not nthe wise men of Babél, but bring me before the King, & I will declare unto the King the interpretation.
25.Then Arióch brought Daniél before the King in all haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the children of Judáh that were brought captives, that will declare unto the King the interpretation.
26.Then answered the King, and said unto Daniél, whose name was Belteshazzár, Art thou able to shewe me the dream, which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
27.Daniél answered in the presence of the King, and said, The secret which the King hath demanded, can neither the wise, the astrologians, the inchanters, nor the southesaiers declare unto the King.
28.But there is a God in oheaven that reveileth secrets, and sheweth the King Nebuchad-nezzár what shalbe in the latter days. Thy dream, and the things, which thou hast seen in thine head upon thy bed, is this.
29.O King, when thou wast in thy bed, thoughts came into thy mind, what should come to pass hereafter, and he that reveileth secrets, telleth thee, what shal came.
30.As pfor me, this secret is not shewed me for any wisdom that I have, more then any other living, but only to shewe the King the interpretation, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thine heart.
31.O King, thou sawest, and behold, there was a great image: this great image whose glory was so excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible.
32.This image’s head was of fine qgold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33.His legs of iron, and his feet were part of iron, & part of clay.
34.Thou beheldest it til a stone was cut without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35.Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken all together, and became like the chaff of the summer floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36.This is the dream, and we will declare before the King the interpretation thereof.
37.¶ O King, thou art a King of Kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38.And in all places where the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all: thou art rthis head of gold.
39.And after thee shal rise another kingdom, sinferior to thee, of silver, and another tthird kingdom shalbe of brass, which shal bear rule over all the earth.
40.And the fourth kingdom shalbe strong as iron: for as iron breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things, and as iron bruseth all these things, so shal it break in upieces and bruse all.
41.Where as thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shalbe xdivided, but there shalbe in it of the strength of the iron, as thou sawest the iron mixed with the clay, and earth.
42.And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so shal the kingdom be partly strong, and partly broken.
43.And where as thou sawest iron mixed with clay and earth, they shal mingle them selves with ythe seed of men: but they shal not join one with another, as iron can not be mixed with clay.
44.And in the days of these Kings, shal the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which zshal never be destroyed: and this kingdom shal not be given to another people, but it shal break, and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shal stand for ever.
45.Where as thou sawest, that the astone was cut of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold: so the great God hath shewed the King, what shal come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof is sure.
46.¶ Then the King Nebuchad-nezzár fell upon his face, and bbowed him self unto Daniél, and commanded that they should offer meat offerings, and sweet odours unto him.
47.Also the King answered unto Daniél, and said, I know of a truth that your cGod is a God of gods, and the Lord of Kings, and the revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest open this secret.
48.So the King made Daniél a great man, and gave him many and great dgifts. He made him governour over the whole province of Babél, & chief of the rulers, & above all the wise men of Babél.
49.Then Daniél emade request to the King, and he set Shadrách, Meshách, and Abednegó over the charge of the province of Babél: but Daniél sate in the fgate of the King.

Notes

1-a.
The father and the son were both called by this name, so that this is meant of the son, when he reigned alone: for he reigned also after a sort with his father.
1-b.
Not that he had many dreams, but because many matters were contained in this dream.
1-c.
Because it was so rare & strange a dream, that he had not had the like.
1-d.
He was so heavy with sleep that he began to sleep again. Some read, and his sleep was broken from him.
2-e.
For all these astrologers and sorcerers called themselves by this name of honour as though all the wisdom and knowledge of the country depended upon them, and that all other countries were void of the same.
4-f.
That is, in the Syrian tongue which differed not much from the Caldean’s, save it seemed to be more eloquent, and therefore the learned used to speak it: as the Jewish writers do to this day.
5-g.
This is a just reward of their arrogancy (which vaunted of themselves that they had the knowledge of all things) that they should be proven fools & that to their perpetual shame and confusion. (jakes or outhouse)
7-h.
Here in appeared their ignorance that not withstanding their brags, yet were they not able to tell the dream, except he entered them into the matter, and therefore they would pretend knowledge where was but mere ignorance and so as deluders of the people, they were worthy to die.
8-^.
Ebr, redeem the time.
13-i.
Which declares, that God would not have his servant joined in the company of these sorcerers, & astrologers, whose arts were wicked, and therefore justly ought to die, though the King did it upon a rage, and no zeal.
14-^.
Or, the captain of the guard.
20-*.
Ps. 113.2 and 115.18.
22-k.
He shows that man has neither wisdom nor knowledge but very dark blindness, and ignorance of himself: for it comes only of God, that man understands any thing.
23-l.
To whom you made your promise and who lived in your fear: whereby he excludes all other gods.
23-m.
Meaning, power to interpret it.
24-n.
Whereby appears that many were slain, as verse 13, and the rest at Daniel’s offer were preserved on condition: not that Daniel favoured their wicked profession, but that he had respect to equity because the King proceeded according to his wicked affection, and not considering, if their science was lawful or no.
28-o.
He affirms that man by reason, and art is not able to attain to the cause of God’s secrets, but the understanding only thereof must come of God: whereby he smites the King with a certain fear and reverence of God that he might be the more apt to receive the high mysteries that should be revealed.
30-p.
Because he had said that God only must reveal the significance of this dream, the King might have asked, why Daniel did enterprise to interpret it, and therefore he shows, that he was, but God’s minister, and had no gifts, but such as God had given him to set forth his glory.
32-q.
By gold, silver, brass, and iron are meant the Caldean, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman kingdom, which should successively rule all the world till Christ (which is here called the stone) come himself, and destroy the last: and this was to assure the Jews, that their afflictions should not end with the empire of the Caldeans but that they should patiently abide the comming of Messiah, which should be at the end of this fourth monarchy.
38-r.
Daniel leaves out the kingdom of the Assyrians, which was before the Babylonian, both because it was not a monarchy and general empire, and also because he would declare the things, that were to come, to the coming of Christ for the comfort of the elect among these wonderful alterations: and he calls the Babylonian kingdom the golden head, because in respect of the other three, it was the best, and yet was of itself wicked and cruel.
39-s.
Meaning, the Persians, which were not inferior in dignity, power, and riches, but were worse touching ambition, cruelty, and all kind of vice: showing, that the world should grow worse, and worse, till it was restored by Christ.
39-t.
That is, of the Macedonians shall be of brass, not alluding to the hardness thereof, but to the vileness in respect of silver.
40-u.
That is, the Roman empire shall subdue all these other afore named, which after Alexander were divided into the Macedonians, Grecians, Syrians and Egyptians.
41-x.
They shall have civil wars & continual discords among themselves.
43-y.
They shall by marriages, and affinities think to make themselves strong: yet shal they never be joined in hearts.
44-z.
His purpose is to show, that all the kingdoms of the world are transitory, and that the kingdom of Christ shall only remain forever.
45-a.
Meaning Christ who was sent of God and not set up by man, whose kingdom at the beginning should be small, and without beauty to man’s judgement, but should at length grow and fill the whole earth, which he calls a great mountain, as verse 35. And this kingdom, which is not only referred to the person of Christ, but also to the whole body of his Church, and to every member thereof, shall be eternal: for the Spirit that is in them, is life eternal, Rom. 8.10.
46-b.
Though this humbling of the King seemed to deserve commen- dation, yet because he joined God’s honour with the Prophet’s, it is to be reproved, and Daniel herein erred if he suffered it: but it is credible that Daniel admonished him of his faute and did not suffer it.
47-c.
This confession was but a sudden motion, as it was also in Pharaoh, Ex. 9.28, but his heart was not touched, as appeared soon afterward.
48-d.
Not that the Prophet was desirous of gifts or honour, but because by this means he might relieve his poor brethren which were grievously oppressed in this their captivity, and also he received them, lest he should offend this cruel King, which willingly gave them.
49-e.
He did not this for their private profit, but that the whole Church which was then there in affliction, might have some release and ease, by this benefit.
49-f.
Meaning, that either he was a judge, or that he had the whole authority, so that none could be admitted to the King’s presence, but by him.