Daniel 2:37-44

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2:37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. 2:38 Wherever human beings, ¹  wild animals, ²  and birds of the sky live – he has given them into your power. ³  He has given you authority over them all. You are the head of gold. 2:39 Now after you another kingdom ⁴  will arise, one inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule in all the earth. 2:40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom, one strong like iron. Just like iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and as iron breaks in pieces ⁵  all of these metals, ⁶  so it will break in pieces and crush the others. ⁷  2:41 In that you were seeing feet and toes ⁸  partly of wet clay ⁹  and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. Some of the strength of iron will be in it, for you saw iron mixed with wet clay. ¹⁰  2:42 In that the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, the latter stages of this kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile. 2:43 And ¹¹  in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed ¹²  with one another ¹³  without adhering to one another, just as ¹⁴  iron does not mix with clay. 2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

[2:38]  ¹ tn Aram “the sons of man.”

[2:38]  ² tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[2:38]  ³ tn Aram “hand.”

[2:39]  ⁴ sn The identity of the first kingdom is clearly Babylon. The identification of the following three kingdoms is disputed. The common view is that they represent Media, Persia, and Greece. Most conservative scholars identify them as Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

[2:40]  ⁵ tc Theodotion and the Vulgate lack the phrase “and as iron breaks in pieces.”

[2:40]  ⁶ tn The Aramaic text does not have this word, but it has been added in the translation for clarity.

[2:40]  ⁷ tn The words “the others” are supplied from the context.

[2:41]  ⁸ tc The LXX lacks “and toes.”

[2:41]  ⁹ tn Aram “potter’s clay.”

[2:41]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “clay of clay” (also in v. 43).

[2:43]  ¹¹ tc The present translation reads the conjunction, with most medieval Hebrew MSS, LXX, Vulgate, and the Qere. The Kethib lacks the conjunction.

[2:43]  ¹² sn The reference to people being mixed is usually understood to refer to intermarriage.

[2:43]  ¹³ tn Aram “with the seed of men.”

[2:43]  ¹⁴ tc The present translation reads הֵיךְ דִּי (hekh diy) rather than the MT הֵא־כְדִי (he’-khÿdi). It is a case of wrong word division.