Scholarship, context and study plans for Come, Follow Me
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD.” — Isaiah 1:18
Come, Follow Me · Old Testament 2026 · Week 46
“There Is No Other God That Can Deliver”
November 9–15, 2026Daniel 1–77 chapters · 224 verses
Taken from Jerusalem as a young man, Daniel spends his life serving the empire that destroyed his home. With three friends, he shows how to stay faithful in Babylon. They keep their diet, refuse to bow, keep praying, and trust God whether or not He saves them.
Chapter
Also read in
The text shown is the King James Version, the Church's preferred English Bible for classes and meetings. The General Handbook lists the ESV and NRSV as helpful translations for ages 14 and up. They are copyrighted, so they open on their publishers' sites. Highlighted verses have a study note with links to compare that verse.
Study guide
Daniel's stories are some of the best known in scripture. These notes add the historical setting and help with the visions in chapters 2 and 7.
How to read this week
Read chapters 1–6 as one story of faith in exile. Each chapter puts a faithful person under pressure from a powerful king. Each ends with God vindicated and the king acknowledging Him (2:47; 3:28–29; 4:34–37; 6:25–27).
Notice the small choices. Daniel's courage in the lions' den (ch. 6) grows out of decisions he made as a youth (1:8) and prayers he had said for decades (6:10).
Compare chapters 2 and 7. Both describe four kingdoms followed by God's kingdom. Chapter 2 shows them as a king sees them, a magnificent statue; chapter 7 as God sees them, beasts.
Don't over-decode the symbols. Interpreters have long matched the kingdoms to Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. The message doesn't depend on the details: human empires rise and fall, and God's kingdom lasts forever.
Keep the long timeline in mind. Daniel arrives as a youth in 605 BC (ch. 1) and is still serving after Babylon falls in 539 BC (chs. 5–6). His whole adult life was spent in exile.
Daniel's world
605 BC — Nebuchadnezzar takes Daniel and other young nobles to Babylon (1:1–6)
c. 603 BC — Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image (2:1)
597 BC — Jehoiachin and thousands more exiled, including Ezekiel
587/586 BC — Jerusalem and the temple destroyed
c. 553 BC — Daniel's vision of the four beasts, in Belshazzar's first year (7:1)
539 BC — Babylon falls to Persia the night of Belshazzar's feast (5:30)
538 BC — Cyrus allows the Jews to return home; the lions' den story is set in these early Persian years (ch. 6)
Images and ideas to recognize
Passage
Image
What it means
1:8–16
Pulse and water
Faithfulness in small, daily choices, made in advance. Compare D&C 89.
2:31–35
The great image
Gold, silver, brass, iron and clay: successive kingdoms, each weaker than the one before.
2:34–35, 44–45
The stone cut without hands
God's kingdom, set up by Him, which fills the whole earth. D&C 65:2 applies it to the restored Church.
3:17–18
“But if not”
Faith that trusts God's power and accepts His will, whatever the outcome.
3:25
The fourth man in the fire
God's presence with His servants in their trials.
4:10–16
The great tree cut down
Nebuchadnezzar's pride and fall. The stump left in the ground shows mercy: he can be restored (4:26).
5:25–28
The writing on the wall
MENE (numbered), TEKEL (weighed), PERES (divided): judgment on a king who mocked holy things.
6:10
Windows open toward Jerusalem
Steady, unhidden devotion kept up for years.
7:2–8
Four beasts from the sea
Earthly kingdoms as God sees them: powerful, violent and temporary.
7:9–14
The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man
The final judgment and the everlasting kingdom given to Christ.
Restoration connections
D&C 65:2 — The keys of the kingdom are committed to men on earth, and the gospel will roll forth “as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands.”
D&C 89:18–21 — Promises of health and wisdom for keeping the Word of Wisdom; compare Daniel 1:15–20.
D&C 27:11; 116 — Adam is the Ancient of Days, and Adam-ondi-Ahman is where he will sit, “as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.”
Alma 14:8–13 — Alma and Amulek face a fire of their own and trust God's will (the manual pairs it with Daniel 3).
Questions for the week
What standards have you “purposed in your heart” ahead of time, so the decision is already made when pressure comes (1:8)?
Daniel and his friends prayed together before facing the king (2:17–18). Who could you pray with about a hard problem?
What does “but if not” faith look like in your life right now (3:18)?
Daniel prayed “as he did aforetime” (6:10). What small daily habits are building your faith for harder days?
How does Daniel 7:13–14 help you see Jesus Christ as the King whose kingdom will last?
Conference talks & Church resources
Talks the Church's lesson points to this week, plus other Church resources that teach from these chapters.
Scholarly papers
Faithful scholarship from BYU and related publishers, tagged with the chapters each one discusses.
Podcasts & video
Come, Follow Me shows and episodes covering this week's reading.