Lexicon :: Strong's H3028 - yaḏ

Let it be known to the king that we went to the house of the great God in the province of Judah. It is being built with cut[fn] stones, and its beams are being set in the walls. This work is being done diligently and succeeding through the people’s efforts.

But since our ancestors angered the God of the heavens, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

May the God who caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who dares[fn] to harm or interfere with this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.

You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your possession.

And you, Ezra, according to[fn] God’s wisdom that you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in the region west of the Euphrates who know the laws of your God and to teach anyone who does not know them.

“As you were watching, a stone broke off without a hand touching it,[fn] struck the statue on its feet of iron and fired clay, and crushed them.

“Wherever people live ​— ​or wild animals, or birds of the sky ​— ​he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

“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.”

“Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire ​— ​and who is the god who can rescue you from my power? ”

“If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can[fn] rescue us from the power of you, the king.

All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,

and he does what he wants with the army of heaven

and the inhabitants of the earth.

There is no one who can block his hand

or say to him, “What have you done? ”

At that moment the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand[fn] that was writing,

“Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of the heavens. The vessels from his house were brought to you, and as you and your nobles, wives, and concubines drank wine from them, you praised the gods made of silver and gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or understand. But you have not glorified the God who holds your life-breath in his hand and who controls the whole course of your life.[fn]

“He rescues and delivers;

he performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth,

for he has rescued Daniel

from the power of the lions.”

“He will speak words against the Most High and oppress[fn] the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals[fn] and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time.[fn]