In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.
- BSB In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar over Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account.
- NKJV In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
- NASB In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and told the following summary of it.
- NLT Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In Belshazzar's first year Daniel receives a dream and visions, which he records. This opens the prophetic visions that fill the book's second half.
Overview
The narrative turns from court stories to Daniel's own visions, the first dated to Belshazzar's reign. Daniel writes down the dream, underscoring that this is revelation to be preserved and pondered. The chapter inaugurates a series of prophecies tracing God's sovereign plan through the kingdoms of the world to His eternal reign.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 30
- Dan 1:17As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
- Amos 3:7Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
- Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Joel 2:28And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
- Dan 5:1Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
- Jer 23:28The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
- Gen 46:2And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
- Rev 1:19Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
- Job 33:14–16For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
- Dan 7:15I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Acts 2:17–18And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
- Dan 2:1And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
- Dan 7:13I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
- Hab 2:2And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
- Num 12:6And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
- Ezek 1:1Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
- Isa 8:1Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.
- Jer 27:7And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
- Jer 36:4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
- Dan 5:22And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
- Dan 7:7After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
- Gen 15:1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
- Dan 8:1In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.
- Isa 30:8Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
- Rev 10:4And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
- Dan 2:28–29But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
- 2 Cor 12:1It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
- Job 4:13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
- Dan 5:30In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
- Rom 15:4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
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Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 7:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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