You people of Israel should tell those nations this: ‘These gods did not make heaven and earth. They will disappear ¹  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ² 

so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family. ¹ 

¹ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Then in a night vision the mystery was revealed to Daniel. So Daniel praised ¹  the God of heaven,

Everything that the God of heaven has required should be precisely done for the temple of the God of heaven. Why should there be wrath ¹  against the empire of the king and his sons?

He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

“You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

While I was watching in my mind’s visions ¹  on my bed, a holy sentinel ²  came down from heaven.

whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven ¹  rules.

While these words were still on the king’s lips, ¹  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ²  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

Daniel explained: ¹  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ²  the four winds of the sky ³  were stirring up the great sea. ⁴ 

I was watching in the night visions, “And with ¹  the clouds of the sky ²  one like a son of man ³  was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted ⁴  before him.

As for the king seeing a holy sentinel coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its taproot in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, surrounded by the grass of the field. Let it become damp with the dew of the sky, and let it live with the wild animals, until seven periods of time go by for him’ –

They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ¹  of Israel built it and completed it.

But after our ancestors ¹  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ²  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ³ 

Whatever is needed – whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by ¹  the priests who are in Jerusalem – must be given to them daily without any neglect,

“I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ¹  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

Wherever human beings, ¹  wild animals, ²  and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. ³  He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold.

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.