Daniel 2:32-43

32 The head of this statue [was] of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

33 its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay.

34 You were looking on {until} a stone was chiseled out--that not by hands--and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and it broke them in pieces.

35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold {all at once} broke into pieces and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away and any trace of them could not be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and it filled the whole earth.

36 "This [was] the dream, and [now] we will tell its interpretation to the king.

37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory,

38 and [also] {human beings wherever they dwell}, the animals of the field and the birds of heaven--he has given into your hand and made you ruler over all of them--you are the head of gold.

39 And after you another kingdom inferior to yours will arise, and another third [kingdom] of bronze that will rule over the whole earth.

40 And [a] fourth kingdom will be strong as iron, [and] {just as} iron crushes and smashes {everything}, and as iron shatters all of these [other metals], [so] it will crush and it will shatter [these nations].

41 {And just as} you saw the feet and the toes, {partly potter's clay} and {partly iron}, it will be a divided kingdom; and {some hardness} of the iron will be [in it], {just as} you have seen the iron mixed with the wet clay.

42 And [as] the toes of the feet [were] partly iron and partly clay, [so] part of the kingdom will be strong {and partly brittle}.

43 And [in] that you saw the iron was mixed with wet clay, [so] {they will mix in marriage} and they will not cling {to one another}, just as iron [does] not mix with clay.

Daniel 2:32-43 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "until that"
• [b]. Or "became loose"
• [c]. Literally "like one"
• [d]. Or "were crushed"
• [e]. Literally "and into all that dwell sons of humankind"
• [f]. Aramaic "bird"
• [g]. Or "the sky"
• [h]. Literally "all of because"
• [i]. Literally "the whole thing"
• [j]. Literally "And that"
• [k]. Literally "from them clay of the potter"
• [l]. Literally "from them iron"
• [m]. Literally "from the hardness"
• [n]. Literally "all of because that"
• [o]. Literally "and from it, it will be brittle"
• [p]. Literally "mixing they will in the seed of man"
• [q]. Literally "this one with that one"