I, Daniel, watched as two others stood there, one on each side of the river.

As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking.

Then a hand touched me and set me on my hands and knees.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was beside the great river, the Tigris.

Now Daniel lived on until the first year of Cyrus the king.

After twelve months, he happened to be walking around on the battlements of the royal palace of Babylon.

While I was watching in my mind’s visions on my bed, a holy sentinel came down from heaven.

You were watching as a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces.

He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions!”

As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty.

While he was saying this to me, I was flat on the ground and unable to speak.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of that week he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt. On the wing of abominations will come one who destroys, until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”

I saw a dream that frightened me badly. The things I imagined while lying on my bed – these visions of my mind – were terrifying me.

“Then a second beast appeared, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and devour much flesh!’

As for the rest of the beasts, their ruling authority had already been removed, though they were permitted to go on living for a time and a season.

At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. The king was watching the back of the hand that was writing.

“After these things, as I was watching, another beast like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. This beast had four heads, and ruling authority was given to it.

“This is what he told me: ‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth that will differ from all the other kingdoms. It will devour all the earth and will trample and crush it.

Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made. It was ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.