it is you, ¹  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

“Then I wanted to know the meaning ¹  of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet.

They again replied, “Let the king inform us ¹  of the dream; then we will disclose its ²  interpretation.”

The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns ¹  in its place, ²  extending toward the four winds of the sky. ³ 

The army was given over, ¹  along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. ²  It hurled ³  truth ⁴  to the ground and enjoyed success. ⁵ 

In the third ¹  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ²  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ³  and laid it under siege. ⁴ 

The male goat ¹  is the king of Greece, ²  and the large horn between its eyes is the first king.

Now let the king issue a written interdict ¹  so that it cannot be altered, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed. ² 

This is the interpretation of the words: ¹  As for mene ²  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end.

It seemed like a good idea to Darius ¹  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ²  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ¹  from whom ²  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ³  was thrown down.

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

The king then asked Daniel (whose name was also Belteshazzar), “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I saw, as well as its interpretation?”

“You, O king, were watching as a great statue – one ¹  of impressive size and extraordinary brightness – was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.

When the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners entered, I recounted the dream for them. But they were unable to make known its interpretation to me.

So these men concluded, ¹  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ²  in connection with the law of his God.”

this is the interpretation, O king! It is the decision of the Most High that this has happened to my lord the king.

So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its ¹  interpretation to the king.

As it turned out, ¹  among these young men ²  were some from Judah: ³  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁴