40 Bible Verses about empires

From the wilderness {and the Lebanon}, up to the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and up to {the great sea in the west}, will be your territory.

Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites with respect to all [who were] entering the gate of his city, [and] said,

Then he instructed them and said to them, "I am [about to be] gathered to my people. Bury me among my ancestors in the cave that [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that [is] in the field of Machpelah that [is] before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite before Mamre.

David sent and inquired about the woman, and [someone] said, "[Is] this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) And she returned to her house. The woman became pregnant, and she sent and told David, and she said, "I [am] pregnant."read more.
So David sent to Joab, "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." So Joab sent Uriah to David. Uriah came to him, and David asked {how Joab and the army fared and how the war was going}. David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." So Uriah went out from the king's house, and a gift from the king went out after him. But Uriah slept [at] the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his master and did not go down to his house. They told David, "Uriah did not go down to his house." David said to Uriah, "[Are] you not coming from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing." David said to Uriah, "Remain here {today}, and tomorrow I will send you away." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day and the next. David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence {so that he became drunk}, and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die." {When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}. The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died. Joab sent and told David all of the news of the battle. He instructed the messenger, saying, "As you are finishing to speak all the news of the battle to the king, if the anger of the king rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from [atop] the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerub-bosheth, if not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from [atop] the wall and he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'" Then the messenger left, and he came and told David all that Joab had sent him [to say]. The messenger said to David, "Because {the men overpowered us}, the men came out to us [in] the field, but {we forced them back} to the entrance of the gate. The archers shot at your servant from [atop] the wall, and some of the servants of the king died; your servant Uriah the Hittite also died."

And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to dwell as an alien there, for the famine was severe in the land.

And the period of dwelling of the {Israelites} that they dwelled in Egypt [was] four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on this exact day, all of Yahweh's divisions went out from the land of Egypt.

Then you shall say to your child, 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand.

After all of this that Josiah had prepared [for] the temple, Neco the king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went up to meet him.

Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid a tribute upon the land [of] one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, so Menahem gave a thousand talents of silver to Pul so that his hand would be with him {to strengthen his hold on the kingdom}. Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all {the very rich}, to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver for each one. Then the king of Assyria returned and did not stay there in the land. Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Israel?

Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I [am] your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me." Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasury rooms of the palace of the king, and he sent a gift to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria listened to him and he went up to Damascus and captured it and deported them to Kir. He also killed Rezin.read more.
So King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser the king of Assyria [in] Damascus, and he saw the altar which [was] in Damascus, so King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the builder's plan of the altar and the {exact model of how it had been made}. So Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus; thus Uriah the priest did before King Ahaz came from Damascus. When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar, so he went near to the altar and went up on it. Then he offered his burnt offerings and his grain offerings, he poured his libations and dashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. Now the bronze altar which was before Yahweh, he brought over from the front of the temple, from between [his] altar and the temple of Yahweh, and he placed it at the side of [his] altar to the north. Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, "On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the grain offering of the evening, the burnt offering of the king and his grain offering, the burnt offering of all of the people of the land, their offerings, their libations, and all of the blood of the burnt offerings, the blood of the sacrifices you must dash on it. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire [by]." So Uriah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded. Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the water carts and removed from upon them the basin, and the sea he took down from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base. The covering for the Sabbath which they had built in the palace and in the entrance of the king to the outside, he removed [from] the temple of Yahweh because of the presence of the king of Assyria.

Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid tribute to him. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and he did not offer tribute to the king of Assyria as [he had] year after year; so the king of Assyria arrested him, and confined him [in] a house of imprisonment. So the king of Assyria went up in all the land, then he went up [to] Samaria and besieged it [for] three years.read more.
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, in Habor, [in] the river [regions] of Gozan, and [in] the cities of the Medes.

After these things and these [acts of] faithfulness, Sennacherib the king of Assyria came, and he came against Judah. And he encamped against the fortified cities and planned to break them down for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and [that] his face [was set] for battle against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his commanders and his mighty warriors to block off the waters of the springs that [came] from outside the city, and they helped him.read more.
Then many people were gathered, and they blocked off all the springs and the river that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?" Then he strengthened himself and built up all the walls that were broken down, and raised towers upon [them] and another wall {outside}. And he strengthened the Millo of the city of David and made much weaponry and small shields. And he appointed commanders for battle over the people and gathered them to himself into the public square of the gate of the city. And he spoke to their hearts, saying, "Be strong! Be courageous! Do not fear and do not be dismayed before the king of Assyria and before all the crowd that [is] with him, for [there are] more with us than with him. With him [is] the arm of flesh, and with us [is] Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence with the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. After this Sennacherib the king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (now he and all his armies with him [were] against Lachish) to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all of Judah that [was] in Jerusalem, saying, "Thus says Sennacherib the king of Assyria: 'On what [are] you relying that [you are] dwelling in siege works in Jerusalem? Is not Hezekiah urging you to give you [up] to die by starvation and thirst, saying, "Yahweh our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria"? Has not Hezekiah himself removed his high places and his altars and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, "You must bow down before one altar and upon it you must make offerings"? Do you not know what I have done, I and my ancestors, to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of all the lands at all able to save their land from my hand? Who among all the gods of those nations whom my ancestors utterly destroyed was able to save his people from my hand, that your God will be able to save you from my hand? So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors. Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'" And still more his servants said against Yahweh God and against Hezekiah his servant. And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand." Then they called with a great voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who [were] upon the wall to frighten them and terrify them, so that they could take the city captive. And they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as about the gods of the peoples of the earth, the works of the hands of humankind. Then King Hezekiah and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, prayed concerning this. And they cried to the heavens. Then Yahweh sent an angel, and he destroyed every mighty warrior of strength, commander, and officer in the camp of the king of Assyria. And he returned with shamed face to his land and went into the house of his god. And some of the offspring of his loins fell upon him there with the sword. So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the all [their enemies], and gave them rest all around.

"Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor days that have not come since [the] day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria." And this shall happen: On that day, Yahweh will whistle for the fly that [is] at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that [is] in the land of Assyria. And all of them will come and settle in the rivers of the cliffs and in the clefts of the rocks and on all of the thornbushes and watering places.read more.
On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond [the] river--with the king of Assyria--and it will even take off the beard.

And this happened: In {the fourteenth year} of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and he captured them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on [the] highway of [the] field of [the] washer. And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who {was in charge of the palace}, came out to him, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder.read more.
And Rabshakeh said to them, "Now say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: "What [is] this confidence [in] which you trust? I said, 'Only a word of lips! {War has power and a plan}!' Now, in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, which [if] a man leans on it, goes into his hand and bores through it! Such [is] Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all those who trust in him. And if you say to me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' [was it] not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall bow down in the {presence} of this altar.'" And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, [that is,] if you are able {put} riders for yourself on them! But how can you drive back {one governor among the least of my master's servants}, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? And now was it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it!" '" And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand [it], and you must not speak to us in Judean in the {hearing} of the people who [are] on the wall." But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your masters and you? [Was it] not for the people who sit on the wall, to eat their dung and drink their urine with you?" Then Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king: '[Do] not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you! And [do] not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh, saying, "Surely Yahweh will deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria!" You must not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: "Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and each one will eat [from] his vine and [from] his fig tree and drink water from his cistern, until {I come} and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, 'Yahweh will save us!' Did the gods of the nations each save his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

He will return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria will be his king, because they refused to return.

Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you [the] fatherless child finds mercy.

But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon's reign he issued forth a decree to build this house of God. Also, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylonia, King Cyrus removed them from the temple in Babylonia and they were given to Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor.read more.
He said to him, 'Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be built on its site.' Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem. And from that [time] until now it is being built, but not yet finished.' And now, if it seems good for the king, let it be investigated in the house of the treasury of the king in Babylonia [to see] if a decree was issued forth from King Cyrus to build this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send to us his desire on this matter."

These are the people of the province who came up from captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his city.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

At that time, Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and recovered. And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them his house of aromatic gum, the silver, gold, spices, good oil, all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them in his house or in all his dominion. And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?" And Hezekiah {answered}, "They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon."read more.
And he said, "What have they seen in your house?" And Hezekiah {answered}, "They have seen all that [is] in my house. There is nothing that I have not shown them in my storehouses." And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: 'Look! days [are] coming, and all that [is] in your house and that which your ancestors have stored up to this day shall be carried off [to] Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says Yahweh. 'And some of your sons who go out from you, whom you fathered, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

For thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I [am] making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes [will be] seeing [it]. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will deport them [to] Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword. And I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its acquisitions, and all its precious items, and all of the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, and they will seize them, and they will bring them [to] Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all [those who] live [in] your house will go into captivity, and you will go [to] Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied {falsely}.'"

"Please inquire [of] Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon [is] fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may go up from against us." Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: "Look, I [am] about to turn back the weapons of war that [are] in your hands, [with] which you [are] fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city.read more.
And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in {anger}, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both humankind and animal; by a great plague they will die. And {afterward}," {declares} Yahweh, "I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with [the] {edge} of [the] sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion." '

And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and also the animals of the field I have given to him to serve him. And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and {his grandson}, until the coming of the time of {his own} land. Then many nations and great kings will let him work. "But it will be [that] the nation or kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague," {declares} Yahweh, "until I have destroyed it with my hand.read more.
And you, you must not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your interpreters of signs, and to your sorcerers who are {saying}, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' For they [are] prophesying to you a lie, so that you [will be] removed from your land, and I will drive you away, and you will perish. But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and will serve him, yet will I leave it on its land," {declares} Yahweh, "and they will till it, and they will live in it." '" And I spoke words like these to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, {saying}, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why should you die--you and your people--by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? And you must not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, {saying}, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they [are] prophesying a lie to you. For I have not sent them," {declares} Yahweh, "but they [are] prophesying in my name {falsely}, so that I will drive them away. And you will perish--you and the prophets who are prophesying to you." Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh, 'You must not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, {saying}, "Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh [are] about to be quickly brought back from Babylon", for they [are] prophesying a lie to you. And you must not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a site of ruins? But if they [are] prophets, and if there is with them the word of Yahweh, let them please plead with Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels that are left over in the {temple} of Yahweh, and the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, must not go [to] Babylon.' For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, did not take when he deported Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem [to] Babylon, {along with} all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left [in] the house of Yahweh, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and [in] Jerusalem: 'They will be brought [to] Babylon, and there they will stay until the day of my attending to them,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'"

For thus says Yahweh, '{As soon as the time has passed}, seventy years for Babylon, I will attend to you, and I will fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

But Paul said to them, "They beat us in public without due process--men who are Roman citizens--[and] threw [us] into prison, and now they are wanting to release us secretly? Certainly not! Rather let them come themselves [and] bring us out!"

And he found a certain Jew {named} Aquila, {a native} of Pontus who had arrived recently from Italy {along with} Priscilla his wife, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome, [and] he went to them.

Now when these [things] were completed, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, "After I have been there, it is necessary [for] me to see Rome also."

But when they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it permitted for you to flog a man [who is] a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

And the next night the Lord stood by him [and] said, "Have courage, for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

But I understood [that] he had done nothing deserving death himself, and [when] this man appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send [him].

And when we entered into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who was guarding him.

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}.

The oracle of Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: Raise a signal on a bare hill, lift up [your] voice to them; wave [the] hand and may they enter [the] gateways of [the] noblemen. I myself I have commanded my consecrated ones, I have also summoned my mighty warriors concerning my anger, the {ones who exalt over} my majesty.read more.
A sound, a noise [is] on the mountains, [the] likeness [of] many people! A sound of [the] roar of [the] kingdoms, of nations gathering! Yahweh of hosts [is] mustering an army for battle. [They are] coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy {the whole earth}. Wail, for the day of Yahweh [is] near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai! Therefore all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will melt, and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize [them]; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. {They will stare at one another}, {their faces flushing}. Look! The day of Yahweh [is] coming, cruel and wrath and [the] burning [of] anger, to make the earth a desolation, and he will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will keep back when it comes out, and [the] moon will not cause its light to shine. And I will punish [the] world [for its] evil and [the] wicked [for] their iniquity. And I will put an end to [the] pride of [the] arrogant, and I will bring [the] haughtiness of tyrants low. I will make humanity more rare than gold and humankind more than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make [the] heavens tremble, and the earth will quake from its place because of the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day his anger burns. And this shall happen: like a hunted gazelle or sheep {with none to gather them}, they will each turn to his [own] people, and they will each flee to his [own] land. Everyone who is found will be pierced through, and everyone who is carried away will fall by the sword. And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped. Look! I [am] stirring the Medes up against them, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold. And [their] bows will shatter young men. And they will not show mercy on [the] fruit of [the] womb; their eyes will not look compassionately on children. And Babylon, [the] glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like {when God overthrew} Sodom and Gomorrah. It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be dwelled in {forever}; and no Arab will pitch a tent there, and shepherds will not allow [their flocks] to lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full [of] howling creatures, and the daughters of ostriches will live there, and goats will dance there. And hyenas will answer in its palaces, and jackals in the pleasure palaces; and its time {is coming soon}, and its days will not be prolonged.

A voice [is] saying, "Call!" And he said, "What shall I call?" All {humankind} [are] grass, and all his loyalty [is] like the flowers of the field. Grass withers; [the] flower withers when the breath of Yahweh blows on it. Surely the people [are] grass. Grass withers; [the] flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever.

And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants. They will roar together like the young lions, they will growl like the cubs of lions. At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep {an everlasting sleep}, and they will not wake up," {declares} Yahweh.read more.
"I will bring them down like young rams to slaughter, like rams and goats.

"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. The head of this statue [was] of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay.read more.
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. 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. "This [was] the dream, and [now] we will tell its interpretation to the king. 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, 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. And after you another kingdom inferior to yours will arise, and another third [kingdom] of bronze that will rule over the whole earth. 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]. {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. And [as] the toes of the feet [were] partly iron and partly clay, [so] part of the kingdom will be strong {and partly brittle}. 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. 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}. {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."

And another second angel followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen [is] Babylon the great, who caused all the nations to drink from the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality."

After these [things] I saw another angel descending from heaven, who had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. And he cried out with a powerful voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen [is] Babylon the great, and it has become a dwelling place of demons and a haunt of every unclean spirit and a haunt of every unclean bird and a haunt of every unclean and detested animal. For all the nations have drunk from the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the power of her sensuality."read more.
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out from her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins, and so that you will not receive her plagues, because her sins have reached up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Pay back to her as she herself also paid out, and {pay back double} according to her deeds; in the cup that she mixed, mix double for her. As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give to her so much torment and mourning, because in her heart she said, 'I sit as a queen, and am not a widow, and I will never see mourning!' Because of this her plagues will come in one day-- death and mourning and famine-- and she will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who passes judgment on her [is] powerful!"