36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37 Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
38 Wherever people live — or wild animals, or birds of the air — He has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth.
40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others.
41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron — it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay,
42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay — part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.