³¹ “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue,^(A) awesome^(B) 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.^(C) It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed^(D) them.^{(E) 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^(F) without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain^(G) and filled the whole earth.^(H)

³⁶ “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.^{(I) 37} Your Majesty, you are the king of kings.^(J) The God of heaven has given you dominion^(K) 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.^(L) 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.^{(M) 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.^{(N) 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^(O) all those kingdoms^(P) and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.^{(Q) 45} This is the meaning of the vision of the rock^(R) cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands^(S)—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.^(T) The dream is true^(U) and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Psalm 96^(A)

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times^(A)(B)

⁵ Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, ⁶ “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another;^(C) every one of them will be thrown down.”

⁷ “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

⁸ He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.^{(D) 9} When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”