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New Living Translation
Daniel 2:31
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“Your Majesty, as you were watching, suddenly a colossal statue appeared. That statue, tall and dazzling, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was terrifying.
You, O king, saw, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the aspect of it was awesome.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
"You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
"You, O king, were watching and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary radiance, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.
"O king, in your dream you saw a huge, shiny, and frightening statue in front of you.
"You, O king, were looking, and behold, [there was] a single great statue; this image, which was large and of unsurpassed splendor, stood before you, and its appearance was awesome and terrifying.
O King, thou sawest, and beholde, there was a great image: this great image whose glory was so excellent, stood before thee, & the forme thereof was terrible.
"You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.
As you, O king, were watching, a great statue appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome.
Your Majesty, what you saw standing in front of you was a huge and terrifying statue, shining brightly.
"Your majesty had a vision of a statue, very large and extremely bright; it stood in front of you and its appearance was terrifying.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold, a great image. This image was mighty and its brightness excellent; it stood before thee, and its appearance was terrible.
"King, in your dream you saw a large statue in front of you that was very large and shiny. It was very impressive.
You, O king, were looking, and behold, a great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its appearance was terrible.
"Your Majesty, in your vision you saw standing before you a giant statue, bright and shining, and terrifying to look at.
"You, O king, were looking and, look, there was one great statue. This statue was huge and its brilliance extraordinary, standing there before you, and its appearance was frightening.
You, O king, were seeing. And, behold, a certain great image! That great image stood before you with a brilliant brightness, and its form was dreadful.
Thou kynge sawest, and beholde: there stode before the a greate ymage, whose fygure was maruelous greate, and his vysage grymme.
Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.
You, O King, were looking, and a great image was there. This image, which was very great, and whose glory was very bright, was placed before you: its form sent fear into the heart.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was surpassing, stood before thee; and the appearance thereof was terrible.
Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image: this great image whose brightnesse was excelleut, stood before thee, and the forme thereof was terrible.
Thou king sawest, and beholde, there [was] a great image: this great image whose brightnesse was excellent, stoode before thee, and the fourme therof was terrible.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold an image: that image was great, and the appearance of it excellent, standing before thy face; and the form of it was terrible.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the aspect thereof was terrible.
You, O king, saw, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the aspect of it was awesome.
Thou, kyng, siyest, and lo! as o greet ymage; thilke ymage was greet, and hiy in stature, and stood bifore thee, and the loking therof was ferdful.
You, O king, looked, and saw a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the aspect thereof was terrible.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness [was] excellent, stood before thee; and its form [was] terrible.
"You, O king, were watching as a great statue—one of impressive size and extraordinary brightness—was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.
"You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.
"O king, you were looking and saw a great object. The object was large and very bright, and it was standing in front of you. It filled you with fear and wonder as you looked at it.
"You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening.
As for thee, O king, thou wast looking, when lo! a great image, this image, being mighty, and the brightness thereof surpassing, was standing before thee, - and, the appearance thereof, was terrible.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.
"You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
`Thou, O king, wast looking, and lo, a certain great image. This image [is] mighty, and its brightness excellent; it is standing over-against thee, and its appearance [is] terrible.
"What you saw, O king, was a huge statue standing before you, striking in appearance. And terrifying. The head of the statue was pure gold, the chest and arms were silver, the belly and hips were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were an iron-ceramic mixture. While you were looking at this statue, a stone cut out of a mountain by an invisible hand hit the statue, smashing its iron-ceramic feet. Then the whole thing fell to pieces—iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold, smashed to bits. It was like scraps of old newspapers in a vacant lot in a hot dry summer, blown every which way by the wind, scattered to oblivion. But the stone that hit the statue became a huge mountain, dominating the horizon. This was your dream. "And now we'll interpret it for the king. You, O king, are the most powerful king on earth. The God of heaven has given you the works: rule, power, strength, and glory. He has put you in charge of men and women, wild animals and birds, all over the world—you're the head ruler, you are the head of gold. But your rule will be taken over by another kingdom, inferior to yours, and that one by a third, a bronze kingdom, but still ruling the whole land, and after that by a fourth kingdom, ironlike in strength. Just as iron smashes things to bits, breaking and pulverizing, it will bust up the previous kingdoms. "But then the feet and toes that ended up as a mixture of ceramic and iron will deteriorate into a mongrel kingdom with some remains of iron in it. Just as the toes of the feet were part ceramic and part iron, it will end up a mixed bag of the breakable and unbreakable. That kingdom won't bond, won't hold together any more than iron and clay hold together. "But throughout the history of these kingdoms, the God of heaven will be building a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will this kingdom ever fall under the domination of another. In the end it will crush the other kingdoms and finish them off and come through it all standing strong and eternal. It will be like the stone cut from the mountain by the invisible hand that crushed the iron, the bronze, the ceramic, the silver, and the gold. "The great God has let the king know what will happen in the years to come. This is an accurate telling of the dream, and the interpretation is also accurate." When Daniel finished, King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face in awe before Daniel. He ordered the offering of sacrifices and burning of incense in Daniel's honor. He said to Daniel, "Your God is beyond question the God of all gods, the Master of all kings. And he solves all mysteries, I know, because you've solved this mystery." Then the king promoted Daniel to a high position in the kingdom, lavished him with gifts, and made him governor over the entire province of Babylon and the chief in charge of all the Babylonian wise men. At Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to administrative posts throughout Babylon, while Daniel governed from the royal headquarters.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
sawest: Chal, wast seeing
and the: Daniel 7:3-17, Matthew 4:8, Luke 4:5
terrible: Isaiah 13:11, Isaiah 25:3-5, Ezekiel 28:7, Habakkuk 1:7
Reciprocal: Genesis 40:9 - a vine Isaiah 27:7 - he smitten Daniel 3:1 - made
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Thou, O king, sawest,.... Or, "wast seeing" z; not with the eyes of his body, but in his fancy and imagination; as he was dreaming, he thought he saw such an appearance, so it seemed to him, as follows:
and behold a great image; or, "one great image" a; not painted, but a massive statue made of various metals, as is afterwards declared: such, though not so large as this, as the king had been used to see, which he had in his garden and palace, and which he worshipped; but this was of a monstrous size, a perfect colossus, and but one, though it consisted of various parts; it was in the form of a great man, as Saadiah and Jacchiades observe; and represented each of the monarchies of this world governed by men; and these being expressed by an image, show how vain and delusory, how frail and transitory, are the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them:
this great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee: right over against him, and near him, as he thought; so that he had a full view of it, and saw it at its full length and size, and its dazzling lustre, arising from the various metals of gold, silver, brass, and iron, it was made of; which was exceeding bright, and made it look very majestic:
and the form thereof was terrible; either there was something in the countenance menacing and horrid; or the whole form, being so gigantic, struck the king with admiration, and was even terrible to him; and it may denote the terror that kings, especially arbitrary and despotic ones, strike their subjects with.
z ××× ×××ת "videns fuisti", Montanus, Michaelis; "videns eras", Vatablus. a צ×× ×× ×©××× "imago una grandis", Pagninus, Montanus; "imago una magna", Junius Tremellius, Cocceius "simulachrum unum magnum", Michaelis.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Thou, O king, sawest - Margin, âwast seeing.â The margin is in accordance with the Chaldee. The language is properly what denotes a prolonged or attentive observation. He was in an attitude favorable to vision, or was looking with intensity, and there appeared before him this remarkable image. Compare Daniel 7:1-2, Daniel 7:4, Daniel 7:6. It was not a thing which appeared for a moment, and then vanished, but which remained so long that he could contemplate it with accuracy.
And, behold, a great image - Chaldee, âone image that was grandâ - ש×××× ×× ×¦×× tseleÌm chad s'agıÌy'. So the Vulgate - statua una grandis. So the Greek - ειÌκÏÌν μιÌα eikoÌn mia. The object seems to be to fix the attention on the fact that there was but âoneâ image, though composed of so different materials, and of materials that seemed to be so little fitted to be worked together into the same statue. The idea, by its being represented as âone,â is, that it was, in some respects, âthe same kingdomâ that he saw symbolized: that is, that it would extend over the same countries, and could be, in some sense, regarded as a prolongation of the same empire. There was so much of âidentity,â though different in many respects, that it could be represented as âone.â The word rendered âimageâ (צ×× tselem) denotes properly âa shade,â or âshadow,â and then anything that âshadows forth,â or that represents anything.
It is applied to man Genesis 1:27 as shadowing forth, or representing God; that is, there was something in man when he was created which had so far a resemblance to God that he might be regarded as an âimageâ of him. The word is often used to denote idols - as supposed to be a ârepresentationâ of the gods, either in their forms, or as shadowing forth their character as majestic, stern, mild, severe, merciful, etc. Numbers 33:52; 1 Samuel 6:5; 2 Kings 11:18; 2 Chronicles 23:17; Ezekiel 7:20; Ezekiel 16:17; Ezekiel 23:14; Amos 5:26. This image is not represented as an idol to be worshipped, nor in the use of the word is it to be supposed that there is an allusion, as Prof. Bush supposes, to the fact that these kingdoms would be idolatrous, but the word is used in its proper and primitive sense, to denote something which would ârepresent,â or âshadow forth,â the kingdoms which would exist. The exact âsizeâ of the image is not mentioned. It is only suggested that it was great - a proper characteristic to represent the âgreatnessâ of the kingdoms to which it referred.
This great image - The word here rendered âgreatâ (×¨× rab) is different from that used in the previous clause, though it is not easy to determine the exact difference between the words. Both denote that the image was of gigantic dimensions. It is well remarked by Prof. Bush, that âthe monuments of antiquity sufficiently evince that the humor prevailed throughout the East, and still more in Egypt, of constructing enormous statues, which were usually dedicated to some of their deities, and connected with their worship. The object, therefore, now presented in the monarchâs dream was not, probably, entirely new to his thoughts.â
Whose brightness was excellent - âWhose brightness âexcelled,â or was unusual and remarkable.â The word rendered brightness (××× zıÌyv) is found only in Daniel. It is rendered âbrightnessâ in Daniel 2:31; Daniel 4:36, and in the margin in Daniel 5:6, Daniel 5:9; and âcountenanceâ in Daniel 5:6 (text), and in Daniel 2:9-10; Daniel 7:28. From the places where it is found, particularly Daniel 4:36, it is clear that it is used to denote a certain beauty, or majesty, shining forth in the countenance, which was fitted to impress the beholder with awe. The term here is to be understood not merely of the face of the image, but of its entire aspect, as having something in it signally splendid and imposing. We have only to conceive of a colossal statue whose head was burnished gold, and a large part of whose frame was polished silver, to see the force of this language.
Stood before thee - It stood over against him in full view. He had an opportunity of surveying it clearly and distinctly.
And the form thereof was terrible - Vast, imposing, grand, fearful. The sudden appearance of such an object as this could not but fill the mind with terror. The design for which this representation was made to Nebuchadnezzar is clearly unfolded in the explanation which Daniel gives. It may be remarked here, in general, that such an appearance of a gigantic image was well adapted to represent successive kingdoms, and that the representation was in accordance with the spirit of ancient times. âIn ancient coins and medals,â says the editor of the âPictorial Bible,â ânothing is more common than to see cities and nations represented by human figures, male or female. According to the ideas which suggested such symbols, a vast image in the human figure was, therefore, a very fit emblem of sovereign power and dominion; while the materials of which it was composed did most significantly typify the character of the various empires, the succession of which was foreshown by this vision. This last idea, of expressing the condition of things by metallic symbols, was prevalent before the time of Daniel. Hesiod, who lived about two centuries before Daniel, characterizes the succession of ages (four) by the very same metals - gold, silver, brass, and iron.â
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. A great image — Representing the four great monarchies.
