| 2:31 |
You, O king, saw, and behold, something like a great statue. This statue, which was great and high, stood exalted above you, and you considered how terrible it was. |
| 2:32 |
The head of this statue was of the finest gold, but the breast and the arms were of silver, and further on, the belly and the thighs were of brass; |
| 2:33 |
but the shins were of iron, a certain part of the feet were of iron and another part were of clay. |
| 2:34 |
And so you looked until a stone was broken off without hands from a mountain, and it struck the statue on its feet, which were of iron and clay, and it shattered them. |
| 2:35 |
Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and diminished like the ashes of a summer courtyard, and they were quickly taken away by the wind, and no place was found for them; but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. |
| 2:36 |
This is the dream; we will also tell its interpretation before you, O king. |
| 2:37 |
You are a king among kings, and the God of heaven has given to you a kingdom, and fortitude, and power, and glory, |
| 2:38 |
and all the places wherein the sons of men and the beasts of the field dwell. He has likewise given the flying creatures of the air into your hand, and he has placed all things under your realm. Therefore, you are the head of gold. |
| 2:39 |
And after you, another kingdom will rise up, inferior to you, of silver, and another third kingdom of brass, which will rule over the whole world. |
| 2:40 |
And the fourth kingdom will be like iron. Just as iron shatters and conquers all things, so will it shatter and crush all these. |
| 2:41 |
Furthermore, because you saw the feet and the toes to be part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom will be divided, but still, from the slip of iron it will take its origin, since you saw the iron mingled with the earthenware from clay. |
| 2:42 |
And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, part of the kingdom will be strong and part will be crushed. |
| 2:43 |
Yet, because you saw the iron mingled with pottery from the earth, they will indeed be combined together with the offspring of man, but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron cannot be mixed with earthenware. |
| 2:44 |
But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will inspire a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and his kingdom will not be handed over to another people, and it will crush and will consume all these kingdoms, and this kingdom itself will stand in eternity. |
| 2:45 |
In accordance with what you saw, because the stone was torn away from the mountain without hands, and it crushed the earthenware, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God has shown the king what will happen after this. And the dream is true, and its interpretation is faithful.” |
