²³ “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.^(A)

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.^(A)

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus^(A) issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.^(B)

⁷ “After that, in my vision^(A) at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron^(B) teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled^(C) underfoot whatever was left.^(D) It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.^(E)