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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.
Daniel 7:1 · New Living Translation
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.
  • KJV 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.
  • 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.

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 1:17Now as for these four youths, 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 Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
  • Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
  • Joel 2:28“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will 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 who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.
  • Gen 46:2God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
  • Rev 1:19Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;
  • Job 33:14–16For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention.
  • Dan 7:15As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
  • Acts 2:17–18‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
  • Dan 2:1In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.
  • Dan 7:13I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
  • Hab 2:2Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
  • Num 12:6He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.
  • Ezek 1:1Now in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
  • Isa 8:1Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;
  • Jer 27:7All the nations will serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant.
  • Jer 36:4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.
  • Dan 5:22You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,
  • Dan 7:7After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the animals that were before it; and it had ten horns.
  • Gen 15:1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
  • Dan 8:1In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.
  • Isa 30:8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.
  • Rev 10:4When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.”
  • Dan 2:28–29but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
  • 2 Cor 12:1It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
  • Job 4:13In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
  • Dan 5:30In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.
  • Rom 15:4For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Daniel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Daniel 7:1YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on DanielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.