Emily: welcome to immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
day 300 and 60
The book of Daniel
during the third year of King Je Jolla, Kim's reign in Judah, king
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
The Lord gave him victory over King Jolla Kim of Judah, and permitted
him to take some of the sacred objects from the temple of God.
So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them
in the treasure house of his God.
Then the king ordered Ash Espana, his chief of staff to bring to the palace
some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families
who had been brought to Babylon as captives, select only strong,
healthy, and good looking young men.
He said, make sure they are well-versed in every branch of learning, are gifted
with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace.
Trained these young men in the language and literature of Babylon the king
assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens.
They were to be trained for three years and then they
would enter the Royal Service.
Daniel, Hannah, Naya, Miche, Michelle and Azariah were four of the young men
chosen all from the tribe of Judah.
The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names.
Daniel was called Beta Shazer.
Aya was called Shadrach.
Michale was called Micha as Uriah was called Abednego.
But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food
and wine given to them by the king.
He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.
Now, God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for
Daniel, but he responded, I'm afraid of my Lord the king who has ordered
that you eat this food in wine.
If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am
afraid the king will have me beheaded.
Daniel spoke with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief
of staff to look after Daniel, Hannah, NA, Michelle, and Azariah.
Please test us for 10 days on a diet of vegetables and water.
Daniel said At the end of the 10 days, see how we look compared to the other
young men who are eating the King's food?
Then make your decision in light of what you see.
The attendant agreed to Daniel's suggestion and tested them for 10 days.
At the end of the 10 days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better
nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.
So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food
and wine provided for the others.
God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect
of literature and wisdom, and God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret
the meanings of visions and dreams.
When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief of
staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar, the king talked with them.
No one impressed him as much as Daniel Aya, Ms.
Shale and Azariah, so they entered the Royal service whenever the king consulted
them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them 10 times
more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
Daniel remained in the Royal Service until the first year of the reign of King Cyrus.
One night.
During the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had such disturbing
dreams that he couldn't sleep.
He called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers, and he demanded
that they tell him what he had dreamed as they stood before the king, he said.
I have had a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must know what it means.
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic.
Long live the king.
Tell us the dream and we will tell you what it means.
But the king said to the astrologers.
I am serious about this.
If you don't tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be
torn limb from limb and your houses will be turned into heaps of rubble.
But if you tell me what I dreamed and what the dream means, I will give
you many wonderful gifts and honors.
Just tell me the dream and what it means.
They said again, please, your majesty.
Tell us the dream and we will tell you what it means.
The king replied, I know what you are doing.
You're stalling for time because you know I am serious when I say, if you
don't tell me the dream, you are doomed.
So you have conspired to tell me lies.
Hoping I will change my mind, but tell me the dream and then I'll know
that you can tell me what it means.
The astrologers replied to the king.
No one on earth can tell the king his dream and no king, however great and
powerful has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.
The king's demand is impossible.
No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they
do not live here among people.
The king was furious when he heard this.
And he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed.
And because of the king's decree, men were sent to find
and kill Daniel and his friends.
When Och, the commander of the King's Guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled
the situation with wisdom and discretion.
He asked ak, why has the king issued such a harsh decree?
So AK told him all that had happened.
Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to
tell the king what the dream meant.
Then Daniel went home and told his friends, AYA, miss Shael
and Azariah, what had happened.
He urged them to ask the God of heaven, to show them his mercy by telling them
the secret so they would not be executed along with the otherwise men of Babylon.
That night, the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Then Daniel praised the God of heaven.
He said, praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.
He controls the course of world events.
He removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness.
Though he is surrounded by light.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors.
For you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.
Then Daniel went to see Och whom the king had ordered to
execute the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel said to him, don't kill the wise men.
Take me to the king and I will tell him the meaning of his dream.
Och quickly took Daniel to the king and said, I have found one of the
captives from Judah who will tell the king the meaning of his dream.
The king said to Daniel, also known as Belt Shazer.
Is this true?
Can you tell me what my dream was and what it means?
Daniel replied, there are no wise men, enchanters magicians or fortune tellers
who can reveal the king's secret.
But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he
has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future.
Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your
bed while your majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events.
He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen.
And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the
secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was
in your heart, in your vision, your majesty, you saw standing before
you, a huge shining statue of a man.
It was a frightening sight.
The head of the statue was made of fine gold.
Its chest and arms were silver.
Its belly and thighs.
Were bronze.
Its legs were iron, and its feet.
Were a combination of iron and baked clay.
As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands.
It struck the feet of iron and clay smashing them to bits.
The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron,
clay, bronze, silver, and gold.
Then the wind blew them away without a trace like chaff on a threshing floor.
But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain
that covered the whole earth.
That was the dream.
Now we will tell the king what it means.
Your majesty.
You are the greatest of kings.
The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.
He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild
animals and birds under your control.
You are the head of gold, but after your kingdom comes to an end, another
kingdom in inferior to yours will rise to take your place After that kingdom has
fallen, yet a third kingdom represented by bronze will rise to rule the world.
Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one as strong as iron.
That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires.
Just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes.
The feet and toes you saw were a combination of iron and baked clay
showing that this kingdom will be divided like iron, mixed with clay.
It will have some of the strength of iron.
But while some parts of it will be as strong as iron, other
parts will be as weak as clay.
This mixture of iron and clay also shows that these kingdoms will try
to strengthen themselves by forming alliances with each other through
intermarriage, but they will not hold together just as iron and clay do not mix.
During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that
will never be destroyed or conquered.
It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.
That is the meaning of the rock Cut from the mountain, though not by
human hands that crushed to pieces.
The statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold.
The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future.
The dream is true and its meaning is certain.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar threw himself down before Daniel and worshiped him,
and he commanded his people to offer sacrifices and burned sweet incense
before him, the king said to Daniel, Truly your God is the greatest of Gods.
The Lord over kings a revealer of mysteries for you have been
able to reveal this secret.
Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts.
He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon as well as chief over
all his wise men at Daniel's request.
The King appointed Shadrock, Micha, and Abednego to be in charge of all the
affairs of the province of Babylon while Daniel remained in the King's Court.