interpretation: "The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof
sure."

The details of the dream had been taken from the king's mind, while
conviction as to the wondrous import of it remained. This was in God's
providence, to show the folly of the worldly-wise men of Babylon, and to
bring before the king the prophet of the Lord with a divine message. The
prophet Daniel, under the inspiration of God, brought his dream again to
the king's mind:

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was
terrible.

"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver,
his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of
iron and part of clay.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer
threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was
found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth."

The prophet next declared the interpretation. And now follows the
history of the world in miniature.