Daniel 2:32-43

32 1The head of this image was of fine gold, 2its chest and arms of silver, its middle and 3thighs of bronze,
33 4its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
34 As you looked, a stone was cut out 5by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and 6broke them in pieces.
35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became 7like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that 8not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became 9a great mountain 10and filled the whole earth.
36 "This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
37 You, O king, 11the king of kings, to whom 12the God of heaven 13has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, 14the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all--you are 15the head of gold.
39 16Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom 17of bronze, 18which shall rule over all the earth.
40 And 19there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron 20breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall 21break and crush all these.
41 And as you saw 22the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the 23firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage,[a] but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Cross References 23

  • 1. [ver. 38]
  • 2. [ver. 39]
  • 3. [ver. 39]
  • 4. [ver. 40]
  • 5. [Daniel 8:25; Job 34:20; Lamentations 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:1]
  • 6. ver. 35, 40, 44, 45; Isaiah 8:9; [Matthew 21:44; Luke 20:18]
  • 7. Psalms 1:4
  • 8. [Revelation 20:11]
  • 9. [Isaiah 2:2]
  • 10. [Psalms 80:9]
  • 11. Ezra 7:12; Ezekiel 26:7
  • 12. ver. 19
  • 13. Daniel 5:18; [Ezra 1:2]; See ver. 21
  • 14. Daniel 4:21; Jeremiah 27:6
  • 15. [ver. 32]
  • 16. [ver. 32; Daniel 5:28, 31]
  • 17. [See ver. 38 above]
  • 18. [Daniel 7:6]
  • 19. [Daniel 7:7, 23]
  • 20. See ver. 34
  • 21. See ver. 34
  • 22. [ver. 33]
  • 23. [See ver. 40 above]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Aramaic by the seed of men
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.