² And Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to get together all the captains, the chiefs, the rulers, the wise men, the keepers of public money, the judges, the overseers, and all the rulers of the divisions of the country, to come to see the unveiling of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had put up.

²⁷ And the captains, the chiefs, and the rulers, and the king's wise men who had come together, saw these men, over whose bodies the fire had no power, and not a hair of their heads was burned, and their coats were not changed, and there was no smell of fire about them.

⁴ And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

⁵ And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord.

⁶ So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.

² For they sent for the people to be present at the offerings made to their gods; and the people took part in their feasts and gave honour to their gods.

²³ And the chiefs of the Philistines came together to make a great offering to Dagon their god, and to be glad; for they said, Our god has given into our hands Samson our hater.

³² And Jeroboam gave orders for a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is kept in Judah, and he went up to the altar. And in the same way, in Beth-el, he gave offerings to the oxen which he had made, placing in Beth-el the priests of the high places he had made.

¹² If a ruler gives attention to false words, all his servants are evil-doers.

¹ And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being then about sixty-two years old.

² Darius was pleased to put over the kingdom a hundred and twenty captains, who were to be all through the kingdom;

³ And over them were three chief rulers, of whom Daniel was one; and the captains were to be responsible to the chief rulers, so that the king might undergo no loss.

⁴ Then this Daniel did his work better than the chief rulers and the captains, because there was a special spirit in him; and it was the king's purpose to put him over all the kingdom.

⁶ Then these men said, We will only get a reason for attacking Daniel in connection with the law of his God.

⁷ Then these chief rulers and the captains came to the king and said to him, O King Darius, have life for ever.

² With whom the kings of the earth made themselves unclean, and those who are on the earth were full of the wine of her evil desires.