and said, "May the name of God be blessed forever and ever; wisdom and power are his for evermore.

To you, God of my ancestors, I give thanks and praise, because you have given me wisdom and power; you have now revealed to me what we asked of you by making known to us what the king commanded."

That statue had a head made of pure gold, with its chest and arms made of silver, its abdomen and thighs made of bronze,

You, your majesty, king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory,

Now, if you are ready at this very moment to obey "the sound of the trumpet, the flute, the lyre, the four-stringed lyre, and the harp,' and worship the image that I have made" If you do not so worship, you will immediately have cast yourselves into the middle of the blazing fire, and what god is there who can deliver you from my power?"

he commented to himself, "Isn't Babylon great? I've built a royal palace in it by my own might and power, for the sake of my majesty."

All who live on the earth are nothing compared to him. He does what he wishes with the heavenly armies and with those who live on earth. No one can hold back his power or say to him, "What did you do?'

"You've exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. "You've had the vessels from his Temple brought into your presence. "And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them. "You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can't see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge. "But you didn't honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways.

When Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done.

He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

"Then look! a second animal resembling a bear followed it. It was raised up on one side, with three ribs held between the teeth in its mouth. Therefore people kept telling it, "Get up and devour lots of meat!'

"I kept on watching until the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothes were white, like snow, and the hair on his head was like pure wool. His throne burned with flaming fire, and its wheels burned with fire.

He said, "These four great animals are four kings who will rise to power from the earth.

"The fourth animal will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the kingdoms. It will devour the entire earth, trampling it down and crushing it. Now as to the ten horns, ten kings will rise to power from this kingdom, and another king will rise to power after them. He will be different from the previous kings, and will defeat three kings.

"Pay attention! I'm going to brief you about what will happen at the end of the period of wrath, because its end is appointed. The ram that you saw with a pair of horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

""Now I'll tell you the truth: Pay attention! Three more kings will arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain more than them all. As soon as he gains power by means of his wealth, he'll stir up everyone against the Grecian kingdoms.

""A mighty king will come to power, and he'll rule with awesome energy, doing whatever he pleases.

However, after he has come to power, his kingdom will be broken and parceled out in all directions. It won't go to his succeeding descendants, nor will its power match how he ruled, because his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to successors besides them.

""The southern king will become strong, along with one of his officials, who will become stronger than he and rule over his own realm with great power.

After a number of years, they'll become allies and the daughter of the southern king will go to the northern king in order to craft alliances. But she won't remain in power, nor will he retain his power. Instead, she'll be surrendered, along with her entourage, the one who fathered her, and the one who supported her at that time.

""However, the one who invades him will do whatever he wants to do. No one will oppose him. He'll establish himself in the Beautiful Land, wielding devastating power.

He'll decide to come with the full power of his kingdom, bringing with him an alliance that he'll implement. He'll give him a daughter in marriage to overthrow it, but it won't succeed or work out for him.

From the time that an alliance is made with him, he'll act deceitfully, and he will go up and take power with only a small group of nations.

He'll extend his power over other countries, and even the land of Egypt won't escape.

"I heard the man dressed in linen clothes, who was standing above the waters of the river as he lifted his right and left hands to heaven and swore by the one who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and a half. When the shattering of the power of the holy people has occurred, all these things will conclude."