32. The head of that statue was of pure gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,
33. its legs of iron, and its feet partly iron and partly clay.
34. While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.
35. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from summer threshing-floors that the wind blows away. Not a trace of them could be found. Then the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
36. “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37. You, O king, are the king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, might and glory.
38. Wherever mankind, beasts of the field, and fowls of the heaven dwell, He has given them into your hand, and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
39. “Now after you another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over all the earth.
40. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron shatters and breaks everything—and just as iron smashes everything, so will it shatter and crush all the others.
41. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly potter’s clay and partly iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of the iron, for you saw the iron mixed with clay.