Daniel Praises God and Interprets the King’s Dream

24 Therefore[fn] Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed[fn] to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and thus he said to him: “You must not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me in before the king and I will give the explanation[fn] to the king.”

25 Then Arioch quickly[fn] brought Daniel in before the king and thus he said to him: “I have found a man amongthe exiles[fn] of Judah[fn] whocan relate[fn] the explanation[fn] to the king. 26 The king then asked[fn] and said to Daniel, whose namewas Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its explanation?”[fn] 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “The mystery that the king asks, no wise men, conjurers,[fn] magicians,[fn]or diviners are able to make known to the king. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what it is that will be at the end of days. This is your dream and the visions of your head on your bed.

29 “As for you, king,[fn] your thoughts on your bedturned to[fn] whatit was that would be in the future,[fn] and the revealer of mysteries has made known to you what that would be. 30 And as for me, it is not because of wisdom that is in me more than any other living person[fn]that this mystery is revealed to me, but in order that[fn] the explanation[fn] may be made known to the king and you willunderstand[fn] the thoughts of yourmind.[fn]

31 “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.[fn] 32 The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay. 34 You were looking on until[fn] a stone was chiseled out[fn]—that not by hands—and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and it broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all at once[fn] broke into pieces[fn] 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.

36 “This was the dream, and now we will tell its interpretation to the king. 37 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, 38 and also human beings wherever they dwell,[fn] the animals of the field and the birds[fn] of heaven[fn]—he has given into your hand and made you ruler over all of them—you are the head of gold. 39 And after you another kingdom inferior to yours will arise, and another third kingdom of bronze that will rule over the whole earth. 40 And a fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, and just as[fn] iron crushes and smasheseverything,[fn] and as iron shatters all of theseother metals, so it will crush and it will shatter these nations. 41 And just as[fn] you saw the feet and the toes,partly potter’s clay[fn] andpartly iron,[fn] it will be a divided kingdom; andsome hardness[fn] of the iron will bein it, just as[fn] you have seen the iron mixed with the wet clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so part of the kingdom will be strong and partly brittle.[fn] 43 And in that you saw the iron was mixed with wet clay, so they will mix in marriage[fn] and they will not clingto one another,[fn] just as irondoes not mix with clay. 44 And in the day of those kings,[fn] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that willnever[fn] be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left for another nation,[fn] and it will bring an end to all these kingdoms, but it will standforever.[fn] 45 Inasmuch as[fn] you saw that a stone from the mountain was chiseled out[fn]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,[fn] and the dream is certain and its explanation trustworthy.”