Daniel 2:41

41 You also saw the feet and toes. They were partly potters' clay and partly iron. This means that there will be a divided kingdom which has some of the firmness of iron. As you saw, iron was mixed with clay.

Daniel 2:41 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 2:41

And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's
clay, and part of iron
That is, some of the toes of the feet were of iron, and others of them of clay: these toes, which are ten, as the toes of men are, design the ten kings or kingdoms, into which the western Roman empire was divided, by the coming in of the Goths, and Hunns, and Vandals, into it; and are the same with the ten horns of the beast, and the ten kings which gave their kingdoms to it, ( Revelation 13:1 ) ( Revelation 17:12 Revelation 17:13 Revelation 17:17 ) , (See Gill on Revelation 17:12), (See Gill on Revelation 17:13), (See Gill on Revelation 17:17), (See Gill on Daniel 7:24), some of which were strong like iron, and continued long; others were like clay, and of a less duration: the kingdom shall be divided;
which some understand of the division of it into the eastern and western empires; but rather it means the division of the latter into the ten kingdoms, set up in it by the barbarous nations. Abarbinel and Jacchiades interpret it of the Roman empire being divided into Mahometans and Christians, very wrongly: but there shall be in it of the strength the iron, forasmuch as thou
sawest the iron mixed with miry clay;
notwithstanding this irruption and inundation of the northern nations into the empire; yet still retained, something of the strength and power of the old Romans, which were mingled among those barbarous nations, comparable to miry clay.

Daniel 2:41 In-Context

39 Another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to power after you. Then there will be a third kingdom, a kingdom of bronze, that will rule the whole world.

40 There will also be a fourth kingdom. It will be as strong as iron. (Iron smashes and shatters everything.) As iron crushes things, this fourth kingdom will smash and crush all the other kingdoms.

41 You also saw the feet and toes. They were partly potters' clay and partly iron. This means that there will be a divided kingdom which has some of the firmness of iron. As you saw, iron was mixed with clay.

42 The toes were partly iron and partly clay. Part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.

43 As you saw, iron was mixed with clay. So the two parts of the kingdom will mix by intermarrying, but they will not hold together any more than iron can mix with clay.