Daniel 2:31-49

New American Standard Bible 1995

The King’s Dream

³¹ “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and ^[a]of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was ^(A)awesome. ³² The ^(B)head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You ^[b]continued looking until a ^(C)stone was cut out ^(D)without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and ^(E)crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed ^[c]all at the same time and became ^(F)like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that ^(G)not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great ^(H)mountain and filled the whole earth.

The Interpretation—Babylon the First Kingdom

³⁶ “This was the dream; now we will tell ^(I)its interpretation before the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are the ^(J)king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ^[d]kingdom, the ^(K)power, the strength and the glory; ³⁸ and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the ^(L)beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

Medo-Persia and Greece

³⁹ After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

Rome

⁴⁰ Then there will be a ^(M)fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. ⁴¹ In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with ^[e]common clay. ⁴² As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. ⁴³ And in that you saw the iron mixed with ^[f]common clay, they will combine with one another ^[g]in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

The Divine Kingdom

⁴⁴ In the days of those kings the ^(N)God of heaven will ^(O)set up a ^(P)kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ^[h]left for another people; it will ^(Q)crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ Inasmuch as you saw that a ^(R)stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the ^(S)great God has made known to the king what ^(T)will take place ^[i]in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel Promoted

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did ^(U)homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and ^[j](V)fragrant incense. ⁴⁷ The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely ^(W)your God is a ^(X)God of gods and a Lord of kings and a ^(Y)revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” ⁴⁸ Then the king ^[k](Z)promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole ^(AA)province of Babylon and chief ^[l]prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ And Daniel made request of the king, and he ^(AB)appointed ^(AC)Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ^[m](AD)court.