So the warden ¹  agreed to their proposal ²  and tested them for ten ³  days.

saying, ¹  “Let the name of God ²  be praised ³  forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him.

“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed, ¹  and the visions of my mind ²  were alarming me.

While he was saying this to me, ¹  I was flat on ²  the ground and unable to speak.

There will arise after him ¹  one ²  who will send out an exactor ³  of tribute to enhance the splendor of the kingdom, but after a few days he will be destroyed, ⁴  though not in anger or battle.

Shortly after his rise to power, ¹  his kingdom will be broken up and distributed toward the four winds of the sky ²  – but not to his posterity or with the authority he exercised, for his kingdom will be uprooted and distributed to others besides these.

So a decree went out, and the wise men were about ¹  to be executed. They also sought ²  Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

But reports will trouble him from the east and north, and he will set out in a tremendous rage to destroy and wipe out many.

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ²  your very breath and all your ways!

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 

You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ¹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. These satraps were accountable ¹  to them, so that the king’s interests might not incur damage.

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

Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake – some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. ¹ 

So know and understand: From the issuing of the command ¹  to restore and rebuild Jerusalem ²  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ³  there will be a period of seven weeks ⁴  and sixty-two weeks. It will again be built, ⁵  with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ¹  “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel ²  and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring ³  the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than ⁴  serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!

whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –

Then Daniel went to his home and informed his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the matter.

He ordered strong ¹  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

I have heard about you, how there is a spirit of the gods in you, and how you have ¹  insight, discernment, and extraordinary wisdom.