Daniel 2:31–45

³¹“King Nebuchadnezzar, you looked up and saw a large statue standing in front of you. It was huge. It shone brightly. And it terrified you. ³²The head of the statue was made out of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and thighs were bronze. ³³Its legs were made out of iron. And its feet were partly iron and partly baked clay.

³⁴“While you were watching, a rock was cut out. But human hands didn’t do it. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay. It smashed them. ³⁵Then the iron and clay were broken to pieces. So were the bronze, silver and gold. All of them were broken to pieces at the same time. They became like straw on a threshing floor at harvest time. The wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain. It filled the whole earth.

³⁶“That was your dream. Now I will tell you what it means. ³⁷Nebuchadnezzar, you are the greatest king of all. The God of heaven has given you authority and power. He has given you might and glory. ³⁸He has put everyone under your control. He has also given you authority over the wild animals and the birds of the air. It doesn’t matter where they live. He has made you ruler over all of them. You are that head of gold.

³⁹“After you, another kingdom will take over. It won’t be as powerful as yours. Next, a third kingdom will rule over the whole earth. The bronze part of the statue stands for that kingdom.

⁴⁰“Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom. It will be as strong as iron. Iron breaks and smashes everything to pieces. And the fourth kingdom will crush and break all of the others. ⁴¹You saw that the feet and toes were made out of iron and baked clay. And the fourth kingdom will be divided up. But it will still be almost as strong as iron. That’s why you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴²The toes were partly iron and partly clay. And the fourth kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. ⁴³You saw the iron mixed with baked clay. And the fourth kingdom will be made up of all kinds of people. They won’t hold together any more than iron mixes with clay.

⁴⁴“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom. It will never be destroyed. And no other nation will ever take it over. It will crush all of those other kingdoms. It will bring them to an end. But it will last forever. ⁴⁵That’s what the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain means. Human hands didn’t cut the rock out. It broke the statue to pieces. It smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver and gold.

“The great God has shown you what will take place in days to come. The dream is true. And you can trust the meaning I have given you for it.”