36. “This was the dream. Now I will tell Your Majesty what it means.
37. Your Majesty, you are the greatest of all kings. The God of heaven has made you emperor and given you power, might, and honour.
38. He has made you ruler of all the inhabited earth and ruler over all the animals and birds. You are the head of gold.
39. After you there will be another empire, not as great as yours, and after that a third, an empire of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.
40. And then there will be a fourth empire, as strong as iron, which shatters and breaks everything. And just as iron shatters everything, it will shatter and crush all the earlier empires.
41. You also saw that the feet and the toes were partly clay and partly iron. This means that it will be a divided empire. It will have something of the strength of iron, because there was iron mixed with the clay.
42. The toes — partly iron and partly clay — mean that part of the empire will be strong and part of it weak.
43. You also saw that the iron was mixed with the clay. This means that the rulers of that empire will try to unite their families by intermarriage, but they will not be able to, any more than iron can mix with clay.
44. At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires, and then last for ever.
45. You saw how a stone broke loose from a cliff without anyone touching it and how it struck the statue made of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God is telling Your Majesty what will happen in the future. I have told you exactly what you dreamt, and have given you its true meaning.”
46. Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed to the ground and gave orders for sacrifices and offerings to be made to Daniel.
47. The king said, “Your God is the greatest of all gods, the Lord over kings, and the one who reveals mysteries. I know this because you have been able to explain this mystery.”
48. Then he gave Daniel a high position, presented him with many splendid gifts, put him in charge of the province of Babylon, and made him the head of all the royal advisers.
49. At Daniel's request the king put Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in charge of the affairs of the province of Babylon; Daniel, however, remained at the royal court.