2. As I looked, it spread out its wings over the whole world. Winds blew on it from every direction, and clouds gathered over it.
3. Then from its wings I saw rival wings begin to grow, but they were small and insignificant.
4. All three heads of the eagle were asleep, even the middle one, which was larger than the others.
5. While I was watching, the eagle flew up in the air and became ruler of the whole earth and all its people.
6. I saw how everything on earth was brought under the eagle's control — no one on earth was able to oppose it.
7. Then I saw the eagle stand up on its claws and say to its wings,
8. “Not all of you are to wake up at the same time; you must sleep where you are and wake up when your turn comes,
9. and the heads must wake up last.”
10. I looked again and saw that the voice was not coming from any of the eagle's heads but from the middle of its body.
11. I counted its rival wings, and there were eight of them.
12. I saw one of the wings on the right side rise up and govern the whole world.
13. After its rule came to an end, it vanished so completely that it left no trace. Then the next wing rose up and governed for a long time.
14. When its rule was coming to an end and it was about to vanish like the first wing,
15. a voice said to it,
16. “Listen, you have ruled the world for a long time, and I want you to hear this message before you disappear:
17. no one after you will rule as long as you did — not even half as long.”
18. The third wing rose up and governed as the earlier ones had done; then it also vanished.
19. The same thing happened to all the other wings: one after the other they rose to power and then vanished.