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Daniel / The Statue Dream: Four Kingdoms and God's Kingdom
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The Statue Dream: Four Kingdoms and God's Kingdom

Daniel 2:24-49

2
Chapter 2
24 Therefore Daniel approached Arioch, who had been commissioned by the king to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said to the wise men of Babylon: "Do not be destroyed! Bring me before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation." 25 Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel before the king and said to him: "You have found a man from the sons of the Exile of Judah who has interpreted for the king—he knows." 26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Do you have the ability to make known to me the dream that you saw and its interpretation?" 27 Daniel answered before the king and said, "The mystery that the king has asked, the wise men, enchanters, sorcerers, and deciders cannot declare to the king." 28 However, there is a God in the heavens who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to be in the end times: your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed. This is it. 29 You, O king, your thoughts turned upon your bed to what will be after this, and the mystery was revealed to you—what will be. 30 And I, not by wisdom that is in me more than all living ones, this mystery has been revealed to me, so that to them concerning the word of the interpretation to the king it might be made known, and the thoughts of your heart you might know. 31 You, O king, were seeing, and behold, one image, a great image of such great size and exceeding brightness, was standing before you, and its appearance was fearsome. 32 It is an image, its head of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze. 33 Its thighs are of iron, its legs parts of iron and parts of clay. 34 I was watching until a stone that was not cut by hands was cut out and struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them all. 35 Then they were ground fine as one, iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, and they became chaff from the threshing floors of summer, and the wind bore them away in a multitude, and no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled all the earth. 36 "This dream and its interpretation we have told before the king." 37 You, O king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, strength, and might. 38 And in all that dwell sons of man, living creature created and bird of heavens he gave in your hand, and your dominion over all of them—you, he is the head of gold. 39 And after you another kingdom will arise, inferior to you. And a third kingdom, the one of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron. It will crush and break all things, just as iron crushes and breaks all things. And like iron that bruises, it will crush all these. 41 And that you saw feet and fingers, of them clay of potter and of them iron, its kingdom it will be divided, and from the stand of iron it will be in it, all because that you saw iron mixed in clay of potter. 42 And the toes of the feet are part iron and part clay. From the end of the kingdom it will be strong, and part it will be brittle. 43 And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they mix with them in the seed of humans, but they do not cling, this to that. For iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in their days, of those kings, the God of heaven will establish a kingdom which will not be destroyed to eternity, and its kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. 45 Since you saw that a stone was cut out from the mountain, not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable. 46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshiped Daniel and said to pour out sacrifice and incense for him. 47 The king answered Daniel and said, "Of a truth, your gods are a God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you are able to reveal this mystery." 48 Then the king made Daniel chief officer and gift-giver, great chief officer. He gave him authority over all the provincial administrative units of Babel and chief of high officials over all the skilled artisans of Babel. 49 And Daniel requested from the king, and from Mini over the service of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And Daniel was at the king's court.