Daniel 2:31-49

31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.

32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,

33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.

34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.

35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king.

37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory;

38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.

40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.

41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.

42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.

43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him.

47 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.

49 Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.

Daniel 2:31-49 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIAL 2

The subject of this chapter is a dream which Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed, but had forgot; upon which he calls his magicians and astrologers together, to tell him it, and the interpretation of it; threatening them with death if they did not, and promising them great rewards and honour if they did, Da 2:1-6, they urge the unreasonableness of the demand, and the impossibility of the thing; which so highly incensed the king, that he ordered their immediate destruction, Da 2:7-13, Daniel and his companions being in danger, he goes in to the king, and desires time, and he would show him what he had dreamed; which being granted, he spent it in prayer to God, Da 2:14-18, and the thing being revealed to him, he gave thanks to God, Da 2:19-23, and being introduced to the king, he both told him his dream, and the interpretation of it; which concerned the four monarchies of the world, and the everlasting kingdom of the Messiah, Da 2:24-45, upon which he was highly honoured, and greatly promoted by the king, Da 2:46-49.

Cross References

• 1. Habakkuk 1:7
• 2. Isaiah 25:3-5
• 3. S Job 12:19; Zechariah 4:6
• 4. S Job 34:24
• 5. ver 44-45; Psalms 2:9; S Isaiah 60:12; Daniel 8:25
• 6. Psalms 1:4; Psalms 37:10; S Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 41:15-16
• 7. Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:1
• 8. Zechariah 12:3
• 9. S Genesis 40:12
• 10. S Ezra 7:12; Ezekiel 26:7
• 11. S Jeremiah 27:7; Daniel 4:26
• 12. S Jeremiah 27:6; Daniel 4:21-22; Daniel 5:18
• 13. Daniel 7:5
• 14. Daniel 7:7,23
• 15. S Genesis 27:29; Psalms 2:9; S Psalms 110:5; Matthew 21:43-44; 1 Corinthians 15:24
• 16. S 1 Samuel 9:20; Haggai 2:22; Isaiah 60:12
• 17. Psalms 145:13; S Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 6:26; Daniel 7:14,27; Obadiah 1:21; Micah 4:7,13; S Luke 1:33; Revelation 11:15
• 18. S Isaiah 28:16
• 19. Daniel 8:25
• 20. S Genesis 41:25
• 21. Revelation 22:6
• 22. Daniel 8:17; Acts 10:25
• 23. Acts 14:13
• 24. S Deuteronomy 10:17; Daniel 11:36
• 25. Daniel 4:25; 1 Timothy 6:15
• 26. S ver 22,28
• 27. Daniel 4:9; 1 Corinthians 14:25
• 28. S 2 Kings 25:28
• 29. S ver 6; S Esther 8:2; S Daniel 1:20; Daniel 4:9; Daniel 5:11; Daniel 8:27
• 30. S Daniel 1:7; Daniel 3:30
• 31. Daniel 6:2