Daniel 2:24-45 - Daniel Praises God And Interprets The King's Dream
24 Therefore Daniel went to Arioch. Arioch was appointed by the king to destroy the wise men of Babylon. Daniel said to him: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king and I will show the king the interpretation.
25 Arioch quickly brought Daniel before the king and said: I have found a man of the captive children of Judah who will make the interpretation known to the king.
26 The king said to Daniel, who was also called Belteshazzar: Are you able to tell me about my dream and interpret it?
27 Daniel answered: Wise men, enchanters, magicians, and soothsayers cannot show the secret the king demanded. 28 There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets. He made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in days to come. Your dream and visions are these: 29 As for you, O king, your thoughts while you were in bed were about what will happen in the future. He who reveals secrets revealed the future to you. 30 Concerning me, this secret is not revealed to me to give me more wisdom than anyone else. It is for the purpose that the interpretation may be made known to the king; that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
31 You, O king, saw a large statue. This statue was in fact very large. It was very bright as it stood before you. Its appearance was awesome. 32 The statue had a head of pure gold, chest and arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass. 33 It had legs of iron and its feet were partly of iron, and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands. It struck the statue upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 The iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broke in pieces together. It became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors. The wind carried them away and no place was found for them. The stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36 This was the dream! We will interpret it for the king. 37 You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory. 38 He gave the children of men, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens to your hand. He made you the ruler over them all! You are the head of gold.
39 After you another inferior kingdom will arise and another third kingdom of brass, which will rule over all the earth. 40 The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, since iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things. It is iron that crushes all these. It will break in pieces and crush. 41 The feet and toes you saw, part of potters' clay, and part of iron will be a divided kingdom. It will have the strength of iron. However, you saw the iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 The iron mixed with clay will mingle with the seed of men. But they will not adhere to one another. For iron does not stick to clay.
44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Its sovereignty will not be entrusted to another people. It will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it will stand forever! 45 You saw a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. It broke the iron, brass, clay, silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God made known to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is sure.