Daniel 2:24–49

Daniel Interprets the Dream

²⁴Then Daniel went to Arioch,^z whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”

²⁵Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles^a from Judah^b who can tell the king what his dream means.”

²⁶The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar),^c “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”

²⁷Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about,^{d 28}but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.^e He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.^f Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind^g as you were lying in bed^h are these:ⁱ

²⁹“As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.^{j 30}As for me, this mystery has been revealed^k to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.

³¹“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue,^l awesome^m in appearance. ³²The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands.ⁿ It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed^o them.^{p 35}Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away^q without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain^r and filled the whole earth.^s

³⁶“This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.^{t 37}Your Majesty, you are the king of kings.^u The God of heaven has given you dominion^v and power and might and glory; ³⁸in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all.^w You are that head of gold.

³⁹“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.^{x 40}Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.^{y 41}Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴²As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

⁴⁴“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush^z all those kingdoms^a and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.^{b 45}This is the meaning of the vision of the rock^c cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands^d—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future.^e The dream is true^f and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

⁴⁶Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate^g before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering^h and incense be presented to him. ⁴⁷The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of godsⁱ and the Lord of kings^j and a revealer of mysteries,^k for you were able to reveal this mystery.^l”

⁴⁸Then the king placed Daniel in a high^m position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.^{n 49}Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon,^o while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.^p