But he ¹  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ²  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ³  If that happened, ⁴  you would endanger my life ⁵  with the king!”

I listened to his voice, ¹  and as I did so ²  I fell into a trance-like sleep with my face to the ground.

Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel. ¹ 

So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine ¹  from their diet ²  and gave them a diet of vegetables instead.

The king told them, “I have had a dream, ¹  and I ²  am anxious to understand the dream.”

Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai. It called out, “Gabriel, ¹  enable this person to understand the vision.”

Then he said, “I am going to inform you about what will happen in the latter time of wrath, for the vision ¹  pertains to the appointed time of the end.

So I turned my attention ¹  to the Lord God ²  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ³ 

Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to future days.”

I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram ¹  and struck it ²  and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. ³  The goat hurled the ram ⁴  to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. ⁵ 

Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ¹  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ²  from your reliable moral standards. ³ 

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men who were with me did not see it. ¹  On the contrary, they were overcome with fright ²  and ran away to hide.

“Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then compare our appearance ¹  with that of ²  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³  deal with us ⁴  in light of what you see.”

At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ¹  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ¹  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ²  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ³ 

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

I, Daniel, was exhausted ¹  and sick for days. Then I got up and again carried out the king’s business. But I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.

“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power ¹  and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.

I looked up ¹  and saw a ²  man ³  clothed in linen; ⁴  around his waist was a belt made of gold from Upaz. ⁵