Daniel 2:28-45

New International Version

²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.^(A) He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.^(B) Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind^(C) as you were lying in bed^(D) are these:^(E)

²⁹ “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.^{(F) 30} As for me, this mystery has been revealed^(G) to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.

³¹ “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue,^(H) awesome^(I) in appearance. ³² The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴ While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands.^(J) It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed^(K) them.^{(L) 35} Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away^(M) without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain^(N) and filled the whole earth.^(O)

³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.^{(P) 37} Your Majesty, you are the king of kings.^(Q) The God of heaven has given you dominion^(R) and power and might and glory; ³⁸ in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all.^(S) You are that head of gold.

³⁹ “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.^{(T) 40} Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.^{(U) 41} Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴² As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³ And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

⁴⁴ “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush^(V) all those kingdoms^(W) and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.^{(X) 45} This is the meaning of the vision of the rock^(Y) cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands^(Z)—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future.^(AA) The dream is true^(AB) and its interpretation is trustworthy.”