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Daniel 2:36-49 NIV
36 "This was the dream, and now
we will interpret it to the king.
37 You, O king, are the king of
kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might
and glory;
38 in your hands he has placed
mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air.
Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are
that head of gold.
39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours.
Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole
earth.
40 Finally, there will be a
fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes
everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and
break all the others.
41 Just as you saw that the
feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this
will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of
iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.
42 As the toes were partly iron
and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly
brittle.
43 And just as you saw the iron
mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not
remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to
another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to
an end, but it will itself endure forever.
45 This is the meaning of the
vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a
rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the
gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take
place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is
trustworthy."
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and
paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented
to him.
47 The king said to Daniel,
"Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a
revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery."
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished
many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of
Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.
49 Moreover, at Daniel's
request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself
remained at the royal court.
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