Daniel 2:19-49

19Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night 1vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; 20Daniel said, “Let the name of God be 2blessed forever and ever, For 3wisdom and power belong to Him.21It is He who 4changes the times and the epochs; He 5removes kings and 6establishes kings; He gives 7wisdom to wise men And knowledge to 8men of understanding.22It is He who 9reveals the profound and hidden things; 10He knows what is in the darkness, And the 11light dwells with Him.23To You, O 12God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me 13wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we 14requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”

24Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: “15Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me 16into the king’s presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.”

25Then Arioch hurriedly 17brought Daniel 18into the king’s presence and spoke to him as follows: “I have found a man among the 1920exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!” 26The king said to Daniel, whose name was 21Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?” 27Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither 22wise men, conjurers, 23magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 28However, there is a 24God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the 2526latter days. This was your dream and the 27visions 28in your mind while on your bed. 29As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts 29turned to what would take place 30in the future; and 31He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. 30But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any 32wisdom 33residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may 34understand the 35thoughts of your 36mind.

31“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and 37of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was 38awesome. 32The 39head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34You 40continued looking until a 41stone was cut out 42without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and 43crushed them. 35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed 44all at the same time and became 45like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that 46not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great 47mountain and filled the whole earth.

36“This was the dream; now we will tell 48its interpretation before the king. 37You, O king, are the 49king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the 50kingdom, the 51power, the strength and the glory; 38and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the 52beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40Then there will be a 53fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with 54common clay. 42As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43And in that you saw the iron mixed with 55common clay, they will combine with one another 56in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44In the days of those kings the 57God of heaven will 58set up a 59kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be 60left for another people; it will 61crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45Inasmuch as you saw that a 62stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the 63great God has made known to the king what 64will take place 65in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did 66homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and 6768fragrant incense. 47The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely 69your God is a 70God of gods and a Lord of kings and a 71revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48Then the king 7273promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole 74province of Babylon and chief 75prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49And Daniel made request of the king, and he 76appointed 77Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s 7879court.