--- title: "Book of Daniel: Summary & All 14 Chapters · Bless" url: https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/ description: "The Book of Daniel, a book of stories and visions in 14 chapters. Bp. Challoner’s summary of all 14 chapters, and the full text free." --- Old Testament # The Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is the thirty-second of the 46 books of the Old Testament: 14 chapters and 531 verses. [Start reading: Daniel 1](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/1/) Chapters 1–14: [1](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/1/) … [14](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/14/) ## About Daniel About Daniel · Stories and visions Daniel joins court stories — the fiery furnace, the lions' den, the writing on the wall — to apocalyptic visions of empires rising and falling before the kingdom of God. Set in the Babylonian exile, the book in its final form addresses a much later persecution, a dating long discussed in Catholic scholarship; the Catholic canon includes its Greek portions, with the song of the three young men and the tales of Susanna and Bel. It was written to steady believers under pressure to apostatize: empires are temporary, fidelity is not, and the Son of Man receives an everlasting dominion. *Daniel in Bless* | | | |---|---| | Testament | Old Testament — book 32 of 46, 32 of 73 in the Bible | | Canon | Protocanonical (in every Christian canon) | | Chapters | 14 | | Verses | 531, as Bless numbers them | | Latin | Clementine Vulgate, every chapter | | Bp. Challoner | Summaries of all 14 chapters · 71 notes | | Catechism | 9 paragraphs cite it | Chapter by chapter ## All 14 chapters, *in brief.* Bishop Richard Challoner’s summary of each chapter, from his revision of the Douay-Rheims (1749–52). Open a chapter for the full text. 1. ### [Daniel 1](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/1/) 21 verses Daniel and his companions are taken into the palace of the king of Babylon: they abstain from his meat and wine, and succeed better with pulse and water. Their excellence and wisdom. 2. ### [Daniel 2](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/2/) 49 verses Daniel, by divine revelation, declares the dream of Nabuchodonosor, and the interpretation of it. He is highly honoured by the king. 3. ### [Daniel 3](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/3/) 100 verses Nabuchodonosor set up a golden statue; which he commands all to adore: the three children for refusing to do it are cast into the fiery furnace; but are not hurt by the flames. Their prayer and canticle of praise. 4. ### [Daniel 4](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/4/) 34 verses Nabuchodonosor's dream, by which the judgments of God are denounced against him for his pride, is interpreted by Daniel, and verified by the event. 5. ### [Daniel 5](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/5/) 31 verses Baltasar's profane banquet: his sentence is denounced by a handwriting on the wall, which Daniel reads and interprets. 6. ### [Daniel 6](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/6/) 28 verses Daniel is promoted by Darius: his enemies procure a law forbidding prayer; for the transgression of this law Daniel is cast into the lions' den: but miraculously delivered. 7. ### [Daniel 7](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/7/) 28 verses Daniel's vision of the four beasts, signifying four kingdoms: of God sitting on his throne: and of the opposite kingdoms of Christ and Antichrist. 8. ### [Daniel 8](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/8/) 27 verses Daniel's vision of the ram and the he goat interpreted by the angel Gabriel. 9. ### [Daniel 9](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/9/) 27 verses Daniel's confession and prayer: Gabriel informs him concerning the seventy weeks to the coming of Christ. 10. ### [Daniel 10](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/10/) 21 verses Daniel having humbled himself by fasting and penance seeth a vision, with which he is much terrified; but he is comforted by an angel. 11. ### [Daniel 11](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/11/) 45 verses The angel declares to Daniel many things to come, with regard to the Persian and Grecian kings: more especially with regard to Antiochus as a figure of Antichrist. 12. ### [Daniel 12](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/12/) 13 verses Michael shall stand up for the people of God: with other things relating to Antichrist, and the end of the world. 13. ### [Daniel 13](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/13/) 65 verses The history of Susanna and the two elders. This history of Susanna, in all the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles, was placed in the beginning of the book of Daniel: till St. Jerome, in his translation, detached it from thence; because he did not find it in the Hebrew: which is also the case of the history of Bel and the Dragon. But both the one and the other are received by the Catholic Church: and were from the very beginning a part of the Christian Bible. 14. ### [Daniel 14](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/14/) 42 verses The history of Bel, and of the great serpent worshipped by the Babylonians. Bp. Richard Challoner · chapter summaries In the comments ## What the saints *said.* 2 quotations from 2 saints linked to passages of Daniel in Bless. Each names the work it comes from. [St. Francis of Assisi](https://blessbible.app/saints/st-francis-of-assisi/) · on [Daniel 3:57](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/3/#v57) On this theme > Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars: in heaven You formed them clear and precious and beautiful. Canticle of the Creatures, 1225 [St. Rose of Lima](https://blessbible.app/saints/st-rose-of-lima/) · on [Daniel 12:3](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/12/#v3) On this theme > Know that the greatest service that man can offer to God is to help convert souls. Recorded words, c. 1615 Coming up ## Read at *Mass.* From October 29, 2026 to October 28, 2027, Daniel is read at the principal Mass on 5 days in the US calendar. The next 8 readings: | Date | Celebration | Reading | Citation | |---|---|---|---| | [Tue, Mar 2, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/03/02/) | Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent | First Reading | [Daniel 3:25, 34-43](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/3/) | | [Mon, Mar 15, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/03/15/) | Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent | First Reading | [Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/13/) | | [Wed, Mar 17, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/03/17/) | Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent | First Reading | [Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/3/) | | [Wed, Mar 17, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/03/17/) | Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent | Responsorial Psalm | [Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/3/) | | [Fri, Aug 6, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/08/06/) computed | Transfiguration of the Lord | First Reading | [Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/7/) | | [Wed, Sep 29, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/09/29/) computed | Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels | First Reading | [Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/7/) | | [Sun, Nov 14, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/11/14/) computed | Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time | First Reading | [Daniel 12:1-3](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/12/) | | [Sun, Nov 21, 2027](https://blessbible.app/calendar/2027/11/21/) computed | The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe | First Reading | [Daniel 7:13-14](https://blessbible.app/bible/daniel/7/) | Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish. [Previous book The Book of Ezekiel](https://blessbible.app/bible/ezekiel/) [Next book The Book of Hosea](https://blessbible.app/bible/hosea/)