Daniel 2:24–49

²⁴Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: “^aDo not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me ¹into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”

²⁵Then Arioch hurriedly ^abrought Daniel ¹into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the ^2bexiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!”

²⁶The king said to Daniel, whose name was ^aBelteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?”

²⁷Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither ^awise men, conjurers, ¹magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.

²⁸“However, there is a ^aGod in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the ^1blatter days. This was your dream and the ^cvisions ²in your mind while on your bed.

²⁹“As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts ¹turned to what would take place ²in the future; and ^aHe who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.

³⁰“But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any ^awisdom ¹residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may ²understand the ^bthoughts of your ³mind.

The King’s Dream

³¹“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and ¹of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was ^aawesome.

³²“The ^ahead of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

³⁴“You ¹continued looking until a ^astone was cut out ^bwithout hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and ^ccrushed them.

³⁵“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed ¹all at the same time and became ^alike chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that ^bnot a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great ^cmountain and filled the whole earth.

The Interpretation—Babylon the First Kingdom

³⁶“This was the dream; now we will tell ^aits interpretation before the king.

³⁷“You, O king, are the ^aking of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ¹kingdom, the ^bpower, the strength and the glory;

³⁸and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the ^abeasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

Medo-Persia and Greece

³⁹“After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

Rome

⁴⁰“Then there will be a ^afourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

⁴¹“In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with ¹common clay.

⁴²“As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.

⁴³“And in that you saw the iron mixed with ¹common clay, they will combine with one another ²in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

The Divine Kingdom

⁴⁴“In the days of those kings the ^aGod of heaven will ^bset up a ^ckingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ¹left for another people; it will ^dcrush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

⁴⁵“Inasmuch as you saw that a ^astone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the ^bgreat God has made known to the king what ^cwill take place ¹in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel Promoted

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did ^ahomage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and ^1bfragrant incense.

⁴⁷The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely ^ayour God is a ^bGod of gods and a Lord of kings and a ^crevealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

⁴⁸Then the king ^1apromoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole ^bprovince of Babylon and chief ²prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

⁴⁹And Daniel made request of the king, and he ^aappointed ^bShadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ^1ccourt.