THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
3:77. O ye fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:78. O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:79. O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:80. O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:81. O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:82. O ye sons of men, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:83. O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:84. O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:85. O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:86. O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:87. O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
3:88. O Ananias, Azarias, Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. For he hath delivered us from hell, ad saved us out of the hand of death, and delivered us out of the midst of the burning flame, and saved us out of the midst of the fire.
3:89. O give thanks to the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.
3:90. O all ye religious, bless the Lord, the God of gods: praise him, and give him thanks, because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.
3:91. Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, and said: True, O king.
3:92. He answered, and said: Behold, I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.
3:93. Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the most high God, go ye forth, and come. And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, went out from the midst of the fire.
3:94. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.
3:95. Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: Blessed be the God of them, to wit, of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that believed in him: and they changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies, that they might not serve nor adore any god except their own God.
3:96. By me, therefore, this decree is made: That every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other God that can save in this manner.
3:97. Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon.
3:98. Nabuchodonosor, the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues, that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you.
Nabuchodonosor, etc... These last three verses are a kind of preface to the following chapter, which is written in the style of an epistle from the king.
3:99. The most high God hath wrought signs and wonders towards me. It hath seemed good to me, therefore, to publish
3:100. His signs, because they are great: and his wonders, because they are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power to all generations.
Daniel Chapter 4
Nabuchodonosor's dream, by which the judgments of God are denounced against him for his pride, is interpreted by Daniel, and verified by the event.
4:1. I, Nabuchodonosor, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace:
4:2. I saw a dream that affrighted me: and my thoughts in my bed, and the visions of my head, troubled me.
4:3. Then I set forth a decree, that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought in before me, and that they should shew me the interpretation of the dream.
4:4. Then came in the diviners, the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them: but they did not shew me the interpretation thereof.
4:5. Till their colleague, Daniel, came in before me, whose name is Baltassar, according to the name of my god, who hath in him the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him.
Baltassar, according to the name of my god... He says this, because the name of Baltassar, or Belteshazzar, is derived from the name of Bel, the chief god of the Babylonians.
4:6. Baltassar, prince of the diviners, because I know that thou hast in thee the spirit of the holy gods, and that no secret is impossible to thee, tell me the visions of my dreams that I have seen, and the interpretation of them?
4:7. This was the vision of my head in my bed: I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was exceeding great.
4:8. The tree was great and strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth.
4:9. Its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much: and in it was food for all: under it dwelt cattle and beasts, and in the branches thereof the fowls of the air had their abode: and all flesh did eat of it.
4:10. I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher, and a holy one came down from heaven.
A watcher... A vigilant angel, perhaps the guardian of Israel.
4:11. He cried aloud, and said thus: Cut down the tree, and chop off the branches thereof: shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruits: let the beasts fly away that are under it, and the birds from its branches.