Daniel 2:24-45 - Daniel Praises God And Interprets The King's Dream
24 {Therefore} Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and thus he said to him: "You must not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me in before the king and I will give the explanation to the king."
25 Then Arioch {quickly} brought Daniel in before the king and thus he said to him: "I have found a man among {the exiles} of Judah who {can relate} the explanation to the king.
26 {The king then asked} and said to Daniel, whose name [was] Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its explanation?"
27 Daniel answered the king and said, "The mystery that the king asks, no wise men, conjurers, magicians, [or] diviners are able to make known to the king. 28 But there is a God in heaven [who] reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what [it is] that will be at the end of days. This [is] your dream and the visions of your head on your bed. 29 "[As for you], king, your thoughts on your bed {turned to} what [it was] that would be {in the future}, and the revealer of mysteries has made known to you what that would be. 30 And as for me, [it is] not because of wisdom that is in me more than {any other living person} [that] this mystery is revealed to me, but {in order that} the explanation may be made known to the king and you will {understand} the thoughts of your {mind}.
31 "You, O king, were looking and, look, there was one great statue. This statue [was] huge and its brilliance extraordinary, standing [there] before you, and its appearance [was] frightening. 32 The head of this statue [was] of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay. 34 You were looking on {until} a stone was chiseled out--that not by hands--and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and it broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold {all at once} broke into pieces and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away and any trace of them could not be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and it filled the whole earth.
36 "This [was] the dream, and [now] we will tell its interpretation to the king. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory, 38 and [also] {human beings wherever they dwell}, the animals of the field and the birds of heaven--he has given into your hand and made you ruler over all of them--you are the head of gold.
39 And after you another kingdom inferior to yours will arise, and another third [kingdom] of bronze that will rule over the whole earth. 40 And fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, [and] {just as} iron crushes and smashes {everything}, and as iron shatters all of these [other metals], [so] it will crush and it will shatter [these nations]. 41 {And just as} you saw the feet and the toes, {partly potter's clay} and {partly iron}, it will be a divided kingdom; and {some hardness} of the iron will be [in it], {just as} you have seen the iron mixed with the wet clay. 42 And [as] the toes of the feet [were] partly iron and partly clay, [so] part of the kingdom will be strong {and partly brittle}. 43 And [in] that you saw the iron was mixed with wet clay, [so] {they will mix in marriage} and they will not cling {to one another}, just as iron [does] not mix with clay.
44 And {in the day of those kings}, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will {never} be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left for another nation, and it will bring an end to all these kingdoms, but it will stand {forever}. 45 {Inasmuch as} you saw that a stone from the mountain was chiseled out [but] not by hands, and [that] it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, [thereby] the great God made known to the king what will be {in the future}, and the dream is certain and its explanation trustworthy."