I, Daniel, watched as two others stood there, one on each side of the river.

“Then a second beast appeared, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and devour much flesh!’

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was beside the great river, the Tigris.

As for that statue, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze.

However, I will first tell you what is written in a dependable book. (There is no one who strengthens me against these princes, except Michael your prince.

And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to strengthen him and to provide protection for him.)

His intention will be to come with the strength of his entire kingdom, and he will form alliances. He will give the king of the south a daughter in marriage in order to destroy the kingdom, but it will not turn out to his advantage.

Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai. It called out, “Gabriel, enable this person to understand the vision.”

Then with smooth words he will defile those who have rejected the covenant. But the people who are loyal to their God will act valiantly.

But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed by the leaping flames.

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!

“You are righteous, O Lord, but we are humiliated this day – the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.