from limb
and your houses shall be made ash-heaps. But if you tell the dream and
what it means, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great
honors; therefore tell me the dream and what it means." They answered
the second time, "Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we
will tell what it means." The king replied, "I see clearly that you wish
to gain time, for you know that what I have said is certain, and that if
you do not tell the dream to me, you will all suffer the same
punishment. So you have planned to speak lying and false words before
me, until the time when it is to happen has passed. Therefore tell me
the dream, and I shall know that you can tell me what it means." The
Chaldeans answered the king, "There is no man on earth who can do what
the king asks, for no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked
such a thing of any wise man or magician, or of one who studies the
stars. What the king asks is too hard. There is no one else who can tell
it to the king, except the gods, who do not live with men." This made
the king very angry and he ordered all the wise men of Babylon put to
death.

So the command was given that the wise men were to be put to death. And
search was made for Daniel and his friends that they too might be put to
death. Then Daniel spoke wisely, to Arioch, the captain of the king's
guard, who had gone out to put the wise men of Babylon to death, and
said, "Why is the king's command so harsh?" When Arioch told Daniel the
facts, he went to the king and asked that he give him time to tell what
the dream meant.

Then Daniel went to his house and told the facts to his friends,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, that they might ask the God of heaven to
be kind to them and to tell Daniel this secret, so that they might not
die with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the secret was told
to Daniel in a vision at night, and he praised the God of heaven and
said:

"Blessed be the name of God
From everlasting to everlasting!
For wisdom and power are his.
He gives wisdom to the wise,
And knowledge to those who have insight.
He shows the deep, secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light of truth dwells in him.
I give thee thanks and praise,
For thou givest me wisdom and strength,
And hast made known the things we asked;
Thou hast made known to us t