Lexicon :: Strong's H1836 - dēn

This is the text of the letter they sent to him:

To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men from the region west of the Euphrates River:

Since we have taken an oath of loyalty to the king,[fn] and it is not right for us to witness his dishonor, we have sent to inform the king

See that you not neglect this matter. Otherwise, the damage will increase and the royal interests[fn] will suffer.

At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues came to the Jews and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure? ”[fn]

They sent him a report, written as follows:

To King Darius:

All greetings.

So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who gave you the order to rebuild this temple and finish this structure? ”

This is the reply they gave us:

We are the servants of the God of the heavens and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

So if it pleases the king, let a search of the royal archives[fn] in Babylon be conducted to see if it is true that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king’s decision regarding this matter be sent to us.

I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive:

Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.

This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

Then you are to be diligent to buy with this money bulls, rams, and lambs, along with their grain and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.

Be advised that you do not have authority to impose tribute, duty, and land tax on any priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”[fn]

The Chaldeans answered the king, “No one on earth can make known what the king requests. Consequently, no king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, medium, or Chaldean.

Because of this, the king became violently angry and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

urging them to ask the God of the heavens for mercy concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men.

Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had assigned to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He came and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will give him the interpretation.”

“But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay in bed were these:

“This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.

“You saw the iron mixed with clay ​— ​the peoples will mix with one another[fn] but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.

“You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it,[fn] and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”

The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Therefore, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and every kind of music, people of every nation and language fell down and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question.

Since the king’s command was so urgent[fn] and the furnace extremely hot, the raging flames[fn] killed those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

“Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.”

“This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because none of the wise men of my kingdom can make the interpretation known to me. But you can, because you have a spirit of the holy gods.”

“This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High that has been issued against my lord the king:

The king shouted to bring in the mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and gives me its interpretation will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around his neck, and have the third highest position in the kingdom.”

“Now the wise men and mediums were brought before me to read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not give its interpretation.

“But you his successor, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

“Therefore, he sent the hand, and this writing was inscribed.

Daniel[fn] distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm.

Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”

So King Darius signed the written edict.

So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and[fn] the reign of Cyrus the Persian.