¹⁷ He said, “The four large animals are four kings. They will rule kingdoms on the earth. ¹⁸ But the holy people of the Most High God will receive authority to rule as kings. God's kingdom will belong to them for ever.”

¹⁹ Then I wanted to know about the fourth animal. It was different from all the other animals. It was a terrible animal that made me very afraid. It had large iron teeth and feet with sharp bronze claws.^[a] It ate things and it broke them into pieces. It used its feet to stamp on everything else.