Emily: welcome to immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
day 300 and 63
Many years later, king Bell Shazer gave a great feast for 1000 of his nobles,
and he drank wine with them while Bell Shazer was drinking the wine.
He gave orders to bring in the golden silver cups that his
predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem.
He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
So they brought these gold cups taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem,
and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
While they drank.
From them, they praised their idols made of gold, silver,
bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand riding on the plaster wall of
the king's palace near the lamp stand.
The king himself saw the hand as it wrote, and his face turned pale with fright.
His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.
The king shouted for the enchanters astrologers and fortune tellers
to be brought before him.
He said to these wise men of Babylon.
Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means, will be dressed in
purple robes of royal honor, and will have a gold chain placed around his neck.
He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
But when all the king's wise men had come in, none of them could read the
writing or tell him what it meant.
So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned pale.
His nobles too were shaken.
But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she
hurried to the banquet hall.
She said to Bell Shazer, long live the king.
Don't be so pale and frightened.
There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy
gods during Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
This man was found to have insight, understanding, and
wisdom like that of the gods.
Your predecessor, the king, your predecessor, king Nebuchadnezzar,
made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers,
and fortune tellers of Babylon.
This man Daniel, whom the king named Belt Shazer, has exceptional
ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding.
He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems.
Call for Daniel and he will tell you what the writing means.
So Daniel was brought in before the king.
The king asked him.
Are you Daniel, one of the exiles brought from Judah by my
predecessor, king Nebuchadnezzar.
I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you,
and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom.
My wise men and enchanters have tried to read the words on the wall and tell
me their meaning, but they cannot do it.
I am told that you can give interpretations and
solve difficult problems.
If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in
purple robes of royal honor, and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck.
You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
Daniel answered the king.
Keep your gifts or give them to someone else.
But I will tell you what the writing means.
Your Majesty the most high.
God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory and honor to your predecessor Nebuchadnezzar.
He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages
trembled before him in fear.
He killed those.
He wanted to kill and spared those.
He wanted to spare.
He honored those.
He wanted to honor and disgraced those.
He wanted to disgrace.
But when his heartened mind were puffed up with arrogance, he
was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.
He was driven from human society.
He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys.
He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven
until he learned that the most high God rules over the kingdoms
of the world and appoints anyone.
He desires to rule over them.
You are his successor.
Oh, bell Shazer, and you knew all this.
Yet you have not humbled yourself.
For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups
from his temple brought before you.
You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from
them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Gods that neither see nor hear, nor know anything at all.
But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of
life and controls your destiny.
So God has sent this hand to write this message.
This is the message that was written, meany, meany, tackle, and Parson.
This is what these words mean.
Mimi means numbered.
God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
Tackle means weighed.
You have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
Parson means divided.
Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Meads and Persians.
Then at Bel Shazer's command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes.
A gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the
third highest ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Bell Shazer, the Babylonian king was killed and darris.
The mead took over the kingdom at the age of 62
Darras, the mead decided to divide the kingdom in into 120 provinces,
and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province.
The King also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high
officers and protect the king's interests.
Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other
administrators and high officers.
Because of Daniel's great ability, the king made plans to place
him over the entire empire.
Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some
fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn't
find anything to criticize or condemn.
He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.
So they concluded our only chance of finding grounds for accusing
Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.
So the administrators and high officers went to the king and
said, long Live King, Doris.
We are all in agreement.
We administrators, officials, high officers, advisors, and governors
that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced.
Give orders that for the next 30 days.
Any person who prays to anyone, divine or human except to you, your majesty
will be thrown into the den of lions.
And now your majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed.
An official law of the Meads and Persians that cannot be revoked.
So King Dars signed the law.
But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt
down as usual in his upstairs room with its windows open toward Jerusalem.
He prayed three times a day just as he had always done giving thanks to his God.
Then the officials went together to Daniel's house and found him
praying and asking for God's help.
So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law.
Did you not sign a law that for the next 30 days, any person who
prays to anyone, divine or human except to you, your majesty will
be thrown into the den of lions?
Yes.
The king replied that decision stands.
It is an official law of the Meads and Persians that cannot be revoked.
Then they told the king that Man Daniel, one of the captives from
Judah is ignoring you and your law.
He still prays to his God three times a day.
Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled and he tried to
think of a way to save Daniel.
He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.
In the evening, the men went together to the king and said, you're majesty.
You know that according to the law of the Meads and the Persians, no law,
that the king signs can be changed.
So at last, the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and
thrown into the den of lions.
The king said to him, May your God, whom you serve so faithfully rescue you.
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den.
The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles
so that no one could rescue Daniel.
Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting.
He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night.
Very early.
The next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions den.
When he got there, he called out an anguish.
Daniel servant of the living God was your God, whom you serve so faithfully
able to rescue you from the lions.
Daniel answered, long live the king, my God, sent his angel to shut the lion's
mouths so that they would not hurt me.
For I have been found innocent in his sight and I have not wronged you.
Your majesty.
The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den.
Not a scratch was found on him for he had trusted in his God.
Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel.
He had them thrown into the lion's den along with their wives and children.
The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they
even hit the floor of the den.
Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and
nation and language throughout the world, peace and prosperity to you.
I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear
before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed and his rule will never end.
He rescues and saves his people.
He performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.
So Daniel prospered during the reign of DARS and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.