24Because of this, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him thus: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the interpretation to the king.25Then Arioch brought Daniel in before the king in haste and spoke to him thus: I have found a man among the sons of the Judean exiles who will make the interpretation known to the king.26The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw and its interpretation?27Daniel answered before the king and said, The mystery about which the king inquires cannot be shown to the king by wise men, magicians, enchanters, or diviners.28But there is a god in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days; your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are this.29You, O king, your thoughts upon your bed came up about what will be after this, and the revealer of mysteries has made known to you what will be.30And as for me, this mystery was not revealed to me by any wisdom that is in me more than all the living, but so that the interpretation may be made known to the king and you may know the thoughts of your heart.31You, O king, were watching, and behold, a single great image; this image was great, and its brightness was extraordinary; it stood before you, and its appearance was terrifying.32As for that image, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze.33Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.34You continued watching until a stone was cut out, not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; but the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.36This is the dream, and we will tell its interpretation before the king.37You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the honor.38Wherever the sons of men dwell, he has given into your hand the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and he has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.39After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, and a third kingdom of bronze that will rule over all the earth.40And there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron crushes and shatters everything; and like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these.41And as you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom will be divided, yet some of the firmness of iron will remain in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with the clay.42As for the toes of the feet, partly of iron and partly of clay, part of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.43And as you saw the iron mixed with the clay, they will mix with the seed of men but will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.44In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will the kingdom be left to another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.45Just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain by no human hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, a great God has made known to the king what will happen after this; the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid homage to Daniel, and he commanded that an offering and incense be presented to him.47The king answered Daniel and said, Truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, because you were able to reveal this mystery.48Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.49Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained at the king's court.