Dan 2:24-45 | ESV | STEP | Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch , whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon . He went and said thus to him: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon ; bring me in before the king , and I will show the king the interpretation .

24 Therefore Daniel went in to ^aArioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”

25 Then ^bArioch brought in Daniel before the king ^cin haste and said thus to him: “I have found ^damong the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king declared to Daniel, ^ewhose name was Belteshazzar, ^f“Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” 27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, ^genchanters, ^hmagicians, or ⁱastrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 but ^jthere is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar ^kwhat will be in the latter days. Your dream and ^lthe visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: 29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, ^mand he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. 30 But ⁿas for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that ^oyou may know the thoughts of your mind.

Daniel Interprets the Dream

31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 ^pThe head of this image was of fine gold, ^qits chest and arms of silver, its middle and ^rthighs of bronze, 33 ^sits legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out ^tby no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and ^ubroke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became ^vlike the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that ^wnot a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became ^xa great mountain ^yand filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, ^zthe king of kings, to whom ^aathe God of heaven ^abhas given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, ^acthe beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are ^adthe head of gold. 39 ^aeAnother kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom ^afof bronze, ^agwhich shall rule over all the earth. 40 And ^ahthere shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron ^aibreaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall ^ajbreak and crush all these. 41 And as you saw ^akthe feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the ^alfirmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, ^{▼▼Aramaic by the seed of men} but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings ^anthe God of heaven will set up ^aoa kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. ^apIt shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and ^aqit shall stand forever, 45 just as ^aryou saw that ^asa stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that ^atit broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A ^augreat God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”