Daniel 2:21-49 ▼

21 And He is the One changing the times and the seasons, removing kings and setting up kings, giving wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those knowing with understanding.

22 He is the One revealing deep and secret things, knowing what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with Him.

23 To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and I praise You, for You have given wisdom and might. To me and now You have made known to me what we asked of You, for the matter of the king You have made known to us.”

24 Therefore according to this, Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and thus said to him: “You should not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king, and I will show the interpretation to the king.”

25 Then Arioch, going with haste, brought Daniel before the king, and thus said to him: “I have found a man from the sons of the captivity of Judah who will show the interpretation to the king.”

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

27 Daniel answered before the king and said: “The secret that the king has been asking, the wise men, the enchanters, the magicians, and the diviners are not able to show to the king;

28 but there is a God in heaven revealing secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will come to pass in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, this it is:

29 To you, O king, your thought on your bed came up what would come to be after this; and the One revealing secrets has made known to you what will come to pass.

30 And to me—not with wisdom that is in me more than all the living—this secret has been revealed to me, but in order that the interpretation should be made known to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

31 You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image. This great image, whose splendor was excellent, was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening.

32 This image, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and 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, until that a stone was cut out, but not with hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and it shattered them.

35 Then they were crushed as one—the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, and they became like chaff from the threshing floors in summer, and the wind carried them away, and any trace of them could not be found. And the stone that struck the image became as a great mountain, and it filled all the earth.

36 This is the dream, and its interpretation we will tell before the king.

37 You, O king, are king of kings—for the God of heaven has given to you the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory.

38 And in everywhere the sons of man are dwelling, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your hand, and He has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold!

39 And after you another kingdom will arise, inferior to you, and another third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

40 And there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because that iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes all these, it will break in pieces and it will crush.

41 And as you saw the feet and the toes, partly of the clay of a potter, and partly of iron, so the kingdom shall be divided; and some of the strength of the iron will be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.

42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so partly the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.

43 And as you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will be mixing together with the seed of man; they will not be adhering this to that, as iron does not mix with clay.

44 And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will not be destroyed for the ages, and this other kingdom will not be left to the people; it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand to the ages,

45 all because that you saw that from the mountain was cut out the stone that was without hands, 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 come to be after this. And the dream is true, and its interpretation trustworthy.”

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and to Daniel he paid homage, and an offering and he commanded that incense be poured forth to him.

47 The king Answered Daniel and said: “Of a truth it is that your? God, He is God of gods and Lord of kings, and the One revealing secrets, since you were able to reveal this secret.”

48 Then the king gave high honor to Daniel, and he gave many great gifts to him; and he made him ruler over all the province of Babylon and chief of the administrators over all the wise men of Babylon.

49 And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and Daniel was in the gate of the king.