Daniel

Daniel and his friends stay faithful to God in the Babylonian court, through the fiery furnace and the lions’ den. The second half records visions of empires rising and falling, and of God’s everlasting kingdom.

Author

Traditionally Daniel

Written

Set about 605 to 530 BC

Chapters

1. 1Daniel 1Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon. They refuse the king’s food, and God gives them wisdom beyond all others.
2. 2Daniel 2Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great statue. Daniel explains it: kingdoms will rise and fall, but God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.
3. 3Daniel 3Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow to the golden statue and are thrown into the fiery furnace. A fourth figure walks with them, and they come out unharmed.
4. 4Daniel 4Nebuchadnezzar’s pride is humbled, and he lives like an animal until he acknowledges that God rules.
5. 5Daniel 5At Belshazzar’s feast a hand writes on the wall. Daniel reads it: the kingdom is finished. That night Babylon falls.
6. 6Daniel 6Daniel keeps praying despite a new law and is thrown into the lions’ den. God shuts the lions’ mouths.
7. 7Daniel 7Daniel’s vision of four beasts, and one like a son of man coming with the clouds to receive an everlasting kingdom.
8. 8Daniel 8A vision of a ram and a goat, pointing to future empires.
9. 9Daniel 9Daniel confesses Israel’s sins and prays for mercy. Gabriel gives a prophecy of seventy weeks.
10. 10Daniel 10Daniel sees a glorious heavenly messenger who tells of a spiritual battle.
11. 11Daniel 11A detailed vision of wars between the kings of the north and south.
12. 12Daniel 12The end: those who sleep in the dust will awake, and the wise will shine like the stars forever.