The Living Bible (275 page)

Daniel
3

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet high and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon;
²
 then he sent messages to all the princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, sheriffs, and rulers of all the provinces of his empire, to come to the dedication of his statue.
³
 When they had all arrived and were standing before the monument,
⁴
 a herald shouted out, “O people of all nations and languages, this is the king’s command:

    
⁵
 “When the band
*
strikes up, you are to fall flat on the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue;
⁶
 anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a flaming furnace.”

    
⁷
 So when the band
*
began to play, everyone—whatever his nation, language, or religion
*
—fell to the ground and worshiped the statue.

    
⁸
 But some officials went to the king and accused some of the Jews of refusing to worship!

    
⁹
 “Your Majesty,” they said to him,
¹⁰
 “you made a law that everyone must fall down and worship the gold statue when the band
*
begins to play,
¹¹
 and that anyone who refuses will be thrown into a flaming furnace.
¹²
 But there are some Jews out there—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whom you have put in charge of Babylonian affairs—who have defied you, refusing to serve your gods or to worship the gold statue you set up.”

    
¹³
 Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a terrible rage, ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in before him.

    
¹⁴
 “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” he demanded, “that you are refusing to serve my gods or to worship the gold statue I set up?
¹⁵
 I’ll give you one more chance. When the music plays, if you fall down and worship the statue, all will be well. But if you refuse, you will be thrown into a flaming furnace within the hour. And what god can deliver you out of my hands then?”

    
¹⁶
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not worried about what will happen to us.
¹⁷
 If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand, Your Majesty.
¹⁸
 But if he doesn’t, please understand, sir, that even then we will never under any circumstance serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have erected.”

    
¹⁹
 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and his face became dark with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He commanded that the furnace be heated up seven times hotter than usual,
²⁰
 and called for some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and throw them into the fire.
²¹
 So they bound them tight with ropes and threw them into the furnace, fully clothed.
²²
 And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames leaped out and killed the soldiers as they threw them in!
²³
 So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down bound into the roaring flames.

    
²⁴
 But suddenly, as he was watching, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors, “Didn’t we throw three men into the furnace?”

    
“Yes,” they said, “we did indeed, Your Majesty.”

    
²⁵
 “Well, look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see
four
men, unbound, walking around in the fire, and they aren’t even hurt by the flames! And the fourth looks like a god!”
*

    
²⁶
 Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the open door of the flaming furnace and yelled: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God! Come out! Come here!” So they stepped out of the fire.

    
²⁷
 Then the princes, governors, captains, and counselors crowded around them and saw that the fire hadn’t touched them—not a hair of their heads was singed; their coats were unscorched, and they didn’t even smell of smoke!

    
²⁸
 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, for he sent his angel to deliver his trusting servants when they defied the king’s commandment and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own.
²⁹
 Therefore, I make this decree, that any person of any nation, language, or religion
*
who speaks a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and his house knocked into a heap of rubble. For no other God can do what this one does.”

    
³⁰
 Then the king gave promotions to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so that they prospered greatly there in the province of Babylon.

Daniel
4

This is the proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar the king, which he sent to people of every language in every nation of the world:

    
Greetings:

    
²
 I want you all to know about the strange thing that the Most High God did to me.
³
 It was incredible—a mighty miracle! And now I know for sure that his kingdom is everlasting; he reigns forever and ever.

    
⁴
 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living in peace and prosperity,
⁵
 when one night I had a dream that greatly frightened me.
⁶
 I called in all the wise men of Babylon to tell me the meaning of my dream,
⁷
 but when they came—the magicians, astrologers, fortune-tellers, and wizards—and I told them the dream, they couldn’t interpret it.
⁸
 At last Daniel came in—the man I named Belteshazzar after my god—the man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and I told him the dream.

    
⁹
 “O Belteshazzar, master magician,” I said, “I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery is too great for you to solve. Tell me what my dream means:

    
^10-11
 “I saw a very tall tree out in a field, growing higher and higher into the sky until it could be seen by everyone in all the world.
¹²
 Its leaves were fresh and green, and its branches were weighted down with fruit, enough for everyone to eat. Wild animals rested beneath its shade and birds sheltered in its branches, and all the world was fed from it.
¹³
 Then as I lay there dreaming, I saw one of God’s angels
*
coming down from heaven.

    
¹⁴
 “He shouted, ‘Cut down the tree; lop off its branches; shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Get the animals out from under it and the birds from its branches,
¹⁵
 but leave its stump and roots in the ground, banded with a chain of iron and brass, surrounded by the tender grass. Let the dew of heaven drench him and let him eat grass with the wild animals!
¹⁶
 For seven years let him have the mind of an animal instead of a man.
¹⁷
 For this has been decreed by the Watchers, demanded by the Holy Ones. The purpose of this decree is that all the world may understand that the Most High dominates the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he wants to, even the lowliest of men!’

    
¹⁸
 “O Belteshazzar, that was my dream; now tell me what it means. For no one else can help me; all the wisest men of my kingdom have failed me. But you can tell me, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”

    
¹⁹
 Then Daniel
*
sat there stunned and silent for an hour, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Finally the king said to him: “Belteshazzar, don’t be afraid to tell me what it means.”

    
Daniel replied: “Oh, that the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you!
²⁰
 For the tree you saw growing so tall, reaching high into the heavens for all the world to see,
²¹
 with its fresh green leaves, loaded with fruit for all to eat, the wild animals living in its shade, with its branches full of birds—
²²
 that tree, Your Majesty, is you. For you have grown strong and great; your greatness reaches up to heaven, and your rule to the ends of the earth.

    
²³
 “Then you saw God’s angel
*
coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump and the roots in the earth surrounded by tender grass, banded with a chain of iron and brass. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. For seven years let him eat grass with the animals of the field.’

    
²⁴
 “Your Majesty, the Most High God has decreed—and it will surely happen—
²⁵
 that your people will chase you from your palace, and you will live in the fields like an animal, eating grass like a cow, your back wet with dew from heaven. For seven years this will be your life, until you learn that the Most High God dominates the kingdoms of men and gives power to anyone he chooses.
²⁶
 But the stump and the roots were left in the ground! This means that you will get your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules.

    
²⁷
 “O King Nebuchadnezzar, listen to me—stop sinning; do what you know is right; be merciful to the poor. Perhaps even yet God will spare you.”

    
²⁸
 But all these things happened to Nebuchadnezzar.
²⁹
 Twelve months after this dream, he was strolling on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon,
³⁰
 and saying, “I, by my own mighty power, have built this beautiful city as my royal residence and as the capital of my empire.”

    
³¹
 While he was still speaking these words, a voice called down from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you: You are no longer ruler of this kingdom.
³²
 You will be forced out of the palace to live with the animals in the fields and to eat grass like the cows for seven years, until you finally realize that God parcels out the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he chooses.”

    
³³
 That very same hour this prophecy was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar was chased from his palace and ate grass like the cows, and his body was wet with dew; his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

    
³⁴
 “At the end of seven years
*
I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High God and honored him who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting, his kingdom evermore.
³⁵
 All the people of the earth are nothing when compared to him; he does whatever he thinks best among the angels of heaven, as well as here on earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’
³⁶
 When my mind returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My counselors and officers came back to me, and I was reestablished as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.

    
³⁷
 “Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of Heaven, the Judge of all, whose every act is right and good; for he is able to take those who walk proudly and push them into the dust!”