Daniel told the meaning of the dream

24 Then I went to Arioch, the man whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men in Babylon. I said to him, “Do not kill those wise men. Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means.”

25 So Arioch quickly took me to the king. He said to the king, “I have found this man, one of the men whom we brought from Judah who says he can can tell you what your dream means!”

26 The king said to me, whose new name was Belteshazzar, “Is this true? Can you tell me what I dreamed and what it means?”

27 I replied, “There are no wise men or fortune-tellers or men who work magic or men who work sorcery who can tell such things to you. 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And he has shown in your dream what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you what you dreamed, the vision you saw as you were lying on your bed.

29 O King, while you were sleeping, you dreamed about events that will happen in the future. The one who reveals mysteries has shown you what is going to happen. 30 And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else on earth that I know the meaning of this mysterious dream. It is because God wanted you to understand what you were thinking.

31 O King, in your vision you saw in front of you a huge and terrifying statue of a man. It was shining very brightly, and it was frightening and awesome. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its belly and thighs were made of bronze. 33 Its legs were made of iron, and its feet were a mixture of clay and iron. 34 As you watched, something cut a rock from a mountain, but it was not a human who cut it. The rock tumbled down and smashed the feet of the statue, feet that were made of iron and clay. It smashed them to bits. 35 Then the rest of the statue collapsed into a big heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces of the statue were as small as bits of chaff on the ground where it is threshed, and the wind blew away all the tiny pieces. There was nothing left. But the rock that smashed the statue became a large mountain that covered the whole earth.

36 That was what you dreamed. Now I will tell you what it means. 37 You are a king who rules over many other kings. The God who rules in heaven has caused you to rule over them and has given you great power [DOU] and has honored you. 38 He has caused you to be the ruler over all people, and even the animals and birds are controlled by you. So the head of the statue represents you.

39 But after your kingdom/rule ends, there will be another great kingdom, but it will not be as great as yours. The silver parts of the statue represent that kingdom. Then there will be a third great kingdom whose king will rule over the whole earth. The bronze parts of the statue represent that kingdom. 40 After that kingdom ends, there will be a fourth great kingdom. The iron parts of the statue represent that kingdom. The army of that kingdom will smash the previous kingdoms, just like iron smashes everything that it strikes. 41 The feet and toes of the statue that you saw, that were a mixture of iron and clay, indicate that the kingdom they represent will later be divided. 42 Some parts of that kingdom will be as strong as iron, but some parts will not remain together, just as iron and clay do not stick together. 43 The mixture of iron and clay in the statue shows also that the rulers of those kingdoms that separate from each other will try to form alliances with each other as a result of members of the royal families of those kingdoms marrying each other. But that will not succeed, just as iron and clay do not stick together.

44 But while those kings are ruling, God who rules in heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. No one will ever defeat its king. He will completely destroy all those kingdoms, but his kingdom will remain forever. 45 That is the meaning of the rock that something cut from the mountain, the rock that will crush to tiny bits the statue that is made of iron, bronze, silver, and gold.

O king, the great God has shown you what will truly happen in the future. And you can trust what I told you about the meaning of the dream.”