How long will you torment my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

He shall execute justice for the lowly of the people; He shall save the children of the needy, and shall crush in pieces the oppressor.

They crush Your people, O Jehovah, and afflict Your heritage.

You are My battle-ax and weapons of war; for with you I will shatter nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms.

Also with you I will shatter man and woman; and with you I will shatter old and young; and with you I will shatter the young man and the maiden.

And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings, and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding.

You watched until it happened that a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were together broken to pieces, and they became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that they could not be found anywhere. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

And in the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and bring all these kingdoms to an end, and it shall stand forever.

Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold in pieces, the Great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass after this. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it is sure.

Therefore Jehovah the God of Israel says: I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now Jehovah says: Far be it from Me! For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

And you shall see an adversary in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God did for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house for all time.

And this shall be a sign to you that shall come upon your two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and say, Please, join me to the priesthood, that I may eat a piece of bread.

And Samuel said to him, Jehovah has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

Go, say to Jeroboam, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: Because I have exalted you from among the people, and appointed you ruler over My people Israel,

and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes;

Moreover Jehovah shall raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. What? Even straightaway!

He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,

that He may seat him with nobles; with the nobles of His people.

PERES: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was killed.