38 Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all.h You are the head of gold.

39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.i 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.B,j 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay—the peoples will mix with one anotherC but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with fired clay.

44 “In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed,k and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdomsl and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.