First ReadingDaniel 2:31-45
From the Book of Daniel
31“You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image.This image, which was mighty,and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you;and its appearance was terrifying.32As for this image,its head was of fine gold,its chest and its arms of silver,its belly and its thighs of bronze,33its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay.34You saw until a stone was cut out without hands,which struck the image on its feetthat were of iron and clay,and broke them in pieces.35Then the iron, the clay,the bronze, the silver,and the gold were broken in pieces together,and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors.The wind carried them away,so that no place was found for them.The stone that struck the image became a great mountain,and filled the whole earth.
36“This is the dream;and we will tell its interpretation before the king.37You, O king, are king of kings,to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom,the power, the strength, and the glory.38Wherever the children of men dwell,he has given the animals of the fieldand the birds of the sky into your hand,and has made you rule over them all.You are the head of gold.
39“After you, another kingdom will arisethat is inferior to you;and a third kingdom of bronze,which will rule over all the earth.40The fourth kingdom will be strong as iron,because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things;and as iron that crushes all these,it will break in pieces and crush.41Whereas you saw the feet and toes,part of potters’ clay,and part of iron, it will be a divided kingdom;but there will be in it of the strength of the iron,because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.42As the toes of the feet were part of iron,and part of clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong,and partly brittle.43Whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay,they will mingle themselves with the seed of men;but they won’t cling to one another,even as iron does not mix with clay.
44“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdomwhich will never be destroyed,nor will its sovereignty be left to another people;but it will break in piecesand consume all these kingdoms,and it will stand forever.45Because you sawthat a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands,and that it broke in pieces the iron,the bronze, the clay,the silver, and the gold.The great God has made known to the king what will happen hereafter.The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”