Daniel 2

Daniel 2:1

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

In the second year after Daniel and his fellows were admitted to the attendance of Nebuchadnezzar, the king Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a divinatory and perplexed dream, wherewith he was much disquieted; both, for the matter of the dream, and for the loss of it out of his memory: the thought whereof did so afflict him, that his sleep departed from him.

Daniel 2:5

The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye, &c.

I have utterly forgotten the thing that I dreamed, which, for the time, did exceedingly affect me: now then, that, which I require of you, is, to recall to my thoughts the dream that I had and to give me the interpretation of it, &c.

Daniel 2:9

For ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed.

Ye have intended only to delude me with lying and dilatory answers, until some other occasions may divert me from this earnest inquiry.

Daniel 2:39

And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

After thy line is expired, there shall arise another kingdom of the Medes and Persians, who shall sway the sceptre; yet so, as they shall not arise to that glory and magnificence, which thou hast attained: these are the breast and arms of silver, which thou sawest joined to the golden head of thine empire. And after this succession of government is ended, there shall come a third kingdom in the place thereof, which shall be that of the Grecians; less glorious and excellent than the other of the Medes, which shall be as brass, in comparison of their silver or thy gold; the extent of which third empire shall reach to the rule of the whole earth.

Daniel 2:40

And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

The fourth kingdom shall be that, which shall arise out of the division of the Grecian Monarchy, upon the death of Alexander the Great; in which the several kings of Asia the Less, and Syria, and Egypt shall bear the sway: but especially that of Seleucus Nicanor, which shall have the rule of Syria and Babylonia, and shall overtop the rest, and offer most violence to the Church of God; which shall be as the legs of iron, in respect of strength and hardness; for, as iron breaketh all things in pieces, so shall this tyrannical government crush and extremely oppress God’s people.

Daniel 2:41

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay, and part of iron, it foreshews to thee the same fourth kingdom, divided in itself, and in process of time weakened and sensibly abated of the former power: the iron of it figures strength and power; but the clay, fragility and weakness.

Daniel 2:42

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so those substitutions and under-governments, which shall be subordinated to this fourth kingdom, shall be of a mistempered mixture; some of them strong and able to subsist; others, weak and brittle.

Daniel 2:43

And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with a baser kind of clay, it fore-signifies, that these kingdoms, thus divided, shall endeavour to unite and conjoin themselves by leagues of marriages; for Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, shall be matched with Antiochus, king of Syria; but this conjunction shall not hold, neither shall be any more possible to continue, than it is possible, that iron and clay should make and hold a perfect mixture.

Daniel 2:44

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

And in the days of some of those kings, which shall be derived from this stock, and namely of Herod who shall tyrannically usurp the kingdom of Judah, shall the God of Heaven send the Messiah; and shall erect that Spiritual Kingdom of his, which shall never be destroyed: and this kingdom shall be proper to God’s Church, and shall be administered and ruled only by his Anointed King, the Saviour of the World; and shall outwear the forenamed Monarchies, and, when they are extinct and forgotten, shall last for evermore.

Daniel 2:45

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, &c.

This Messiah is the stone, which thou sawest cut out of the mountain, without hands; that is ordained and sent from heaven, by the eternal counsel and decree of the Almighty, who, by his omnipotent power and infinite wisdom, hath determined to subvert all these successions of kingdoms and monarchies, according to his good pleasure; &c.

Daniel 2:46

Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.

Then the king Nebuchadnezzar, as admiring the prophetical spirit of Daniel, and imagining some divine power to be in him, worshipped Daniel; and commanded his people and servants that they should offer sacrifices to him, as to a more than human person.

Daniel 2:49

Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

Then Daniel, as desiring to prefer his partners and colleagues, made suit to the king, that he would make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the chief rulers over the provinces of Babylon: but Daniel was appointed to be the prime officer of the king’s court.