Daniel 2:36-49

New American Standard Bible

The Interpretation—Babylon the First Kingdom

³⁶ “This was the dream; and now we will tell ^(A)its interpretation before the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are the ^(B)king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the ^[a]kingdom, the ^(C)power, the strength, and the honor; ³⁸ and wherever the sons of mankind live, or the ^(D)animals of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has handed them over to you and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

Medo-Persia and Greece

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

Rome

⁴⁰ Then there will be a ^(E)fourth kingdom as strong as iron; just as iron smashes and crushes everything, so, like iron that crushes, it will smash and crush all these things. ⁴¹ And 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 within it some of the toughness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with ^[b]common clay. ⁴² And just 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 fragile. ⁴³ In that you saw the iron mixed with ^[c]common clay, they will combine with one another ^[d]in ^[e]their descendants; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not combine with pottery.

The Divine Kingdom

⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the ^(F)God of heaven will ^(G)set up a ^(H)kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be ^[f]left for another people; it will ^(I)crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ Just as you saw that a ^(J)stone was broken off from the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the ^(K)great God has made known to the king what ^(L)will take place ^[g]in the future; so the dream is certain and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel Promoted

⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid ^(M)humble respect to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and ^(N)incense. ⁴⁷ The king responded to Daniel and said, “^(O)Your God truly is a ^(P)God of gods and a Lord of kings and a ^(Q)revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.” ⁴⁸ Then the king ^[h](R)promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the entire ^(S)province of Babylon, and chief ^[i]prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹ And Daniel made a request of the king, and he ^(T)appointed ^(U)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s ^[j](V)court.