Chapter 40
1 When this had happened, Daniel arose and came to Arioch and said to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, but bring me in before the king, and I will declare to the king the dream and its interpretation.”
2 And he, having heard these things, brought Daniel in with haste and said: “I have found a man from the sons of the captivity of Judea, who will declare the interpretation to the king.”
3 And he, astonished, said to Daniel: “Are you able to declare to me the dream which I saw and its interpretation?” And Daniel said: “The mystery which the king asks—it is not for magicians, enchanters, or soothsayers to declare it to the king; but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what must come to pass in the last days.”
4 See how through these words he removes the Chaldeans from the danger of being slain, and teaches the king not to seek heavenly mysteries from earthly men—mysteries which were to be accomplished in their own times by God.
5 And for this reason, directing the king’s mind up to God, he said: “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, from whom man must receive by asking in mercies and prayers.”
6 Accordingly he too, being humble-minded and making himself small and not boasting, though found wiser than all the Babylonians, said: “To me also this mystery was revealed, not by any wisdom that is in me beyond all who dwell upon the earth, but for the sake of making the interpretation known to the king, that you might know the thoughts of your heart.”
7 For when the king had taken possession of Egypt, and had captured the land of Judea and removed the people, he was reasoning, as he lay upon his bed, what then would come to pass after these things.
8 But he who knows the hidden things of all and searches out the thoughts of hearts revealed to him through the image the things that would be, yet hid from him the vision, so that the counsels of God might not be able to be interpreted by the wise men of Babylon, but rather that the things hidden from all might be made manifest by the blessed Daniel, as a prophet of God.