Daniel 2

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever;

for wisdom and might are his.

²¹He changes the times and the seasons.

He removes kings and sets up kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise,

and knowledge to those who have understanding.

²²He reveals the deep and secret things.

He knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him.

²³I thank you and praise you,

O God of my fathers,

who have given me wisdom and might,

and have now made known to me what we desired 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 said this to him: “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation.”

²⁵Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said this to him: “I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.”

²⁶The king answered Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?”

²⁷Daniel answered before the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded can’t be shown to the king by wise men, enchanters, magicians, or soothsayers; ²⁸but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head on your bed are these:

²⁹“As for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will happen. ³⁰But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

³¹“You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its appearance was terrifying. ³²As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay. ³⁴You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶“This is the dream; and we will tell its interpretation before the king. ³⁷You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. ³⁸Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

³⁹“After you, another kingdom will arise that is inferior to you; and another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, it will break in pieces and crush. ⁴¹Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay and part of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but there will be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. ⁴²As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³Whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they won’t cling to one another, even as iron does not mix with clay.

⁴⁴“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. ⁴⁵Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will happen hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

⁴⁶Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an offering and sweet odours to him. ⁴⁷The king answered to Daniel, and said, “Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealler of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.”

⁴⁸Then the king made Daniel great and gave him many great gifts, and made him rule over the whole province of Babylon and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel was in the king’s gate.