Daniel 2:32

New Living Translation

The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its stomach and thighs were bronze,

Hebrew Names Version
As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

King James Version
This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

English Standard Version
The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,

New American Standard Bible
"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

New Century Version
The head of the statue was made of pure gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and the upper part of its legs were made of bronze.

Amplified Bible
"As for this statue, its head was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

Geneva Bible (1587)
This images head was of fine golde, his breast and his armes of siluer, his bellie and his thighs of brasse,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

Berean Standard Bible
The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,

Contemporary English Version
Its head was made of gold, its chest and arms were silver, and from its waist down to its knees, it was bronze.

Complete Jewish Bible
The head of the statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its trunk and thighs of bronze,

Darby Translation
This image's head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

Easy-to-Read Version
The head of the statue was made from pure gold. Its chest and the arms were made from silver. The belly and upper part of the legs were made from bronze.

George Lamsa Translation
This images head was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

Good News Translation
Its head was made of the finest gold; its chest and arms were made of silver; its waist and hips of bronze,

Lexham English Bible
The head of this statue was of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

Literal Translation
The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of bronze,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The ymage heade was of fyne golde, his brest and armes off syluer, his body ad loynes were off copper,

American Standard Version
As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

Bible in Basic English
As for this image, its head was made of the best gold, its breast and its arms were of silver, its middle and its sides were of brass,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
As for that image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

King James Version (1611)
This images head was of fine gold, his breast and his armes of siluer, his belly and his thighes of brasse:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
This images head was of fine gold, his brest and armes of siluer, his belly and his thighes of brasse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
It was an image, the head of which was of fine gold, its hands and breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass,

English Revised Version
As for this image, his head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

World English Bible
As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The heed of this ymage was of best gold, but the brest and armes weren of siluer; certis the wombe and thies weren of bras,

Update Bible Version
As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

Webster's Bible Translation
The head of this image [was] of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

New English Translation
As for that statue, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze.

New King James Version
This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs [fn] of bronze,

New Life Bible
The object's head was made of fine gold. Its breast and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and thighs were made of brass.

New Revised Standard
The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As for this image, its head, was of fine gold, its breast and its arms, were of silver, - its belly and its thighs, of bronze;

Douay-Rheims Bible
The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass.

Revised Standard Version
The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,

Young's Literal Translation
This image! its head [is] of good gold, its breasts and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass;

Contextual Overview

³¹ "In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. ³² The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, ³³ its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. ³⁴ As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. ³⁵ The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth. ³⁶ "That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means. ³⁷ Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. ³⁸ He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold. ³⁹ "But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. ⁴⁰ Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron. That kingdom will smash and crush all previous empires, just as iron smashes and crushes everything it strikes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

head: Daniel 2:37, Daniel 2:38, Daniel 4:22, Daniel 4:30, Daniel 7:4, Isaiah 14:4, Jeremiah 51:7, Revelation 17:4

breast: Daniel 2:39, Daniel 7:5, Daniel 8:3, Daniel 8:4, Daniel 11:2

belly: Daniel 2:39, Daniel 7:6, Daniel 8:5-8, Daniel 11:3-20

thighs: or, sides

Reciprocal: Song of Solomon 7:1 - the joints Daniel 3:1 - made Daniel 7:3 - four

Gill's Notes on the Bible

This image's head was of fine gold,.... The prophet begins with the superior part of this image, and descends to the lower, because of the order and condition of the monarchies it represents: this signifies the Babylonian monarchy, as afterwards explained; called the "head", being the first and chief of the monarchies; and compared to "fine gold", because of the glory, excellency, and duration of it:

his breast and his arms of silver; its two arms, including its hands and its breast, to which they were joined, were of silver, a metal of less value than gold; designing the monarchy of the Medes and Persians, which are the two arms, and which centred in Cyrus, who was by his father a Persian, by his mother a Mede; and upon whom, after his uncle's death, the whole monarchy devolved:

his belly and his thighs of brass; a baser metal still; this points at the Macedonian or Grecian monarchy, set up by Alexander, signified by the "belly", for intemperance and luxury; as the two "thighs" denote his principal successors, the Selucidae and Lagidae, the Syrian and Egyptian kings; and these of brass, because of the sounding fame of them, as Jerom.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This image’s head was of fine gold - Chaldee, “good gold” - טב דהב d^ehab ṭâb - that is, fine, pure, unalloyed. The whole head of the figure, colossal as it was, appeared to be composed wholly of this. Had the “whole” image been made of gold, it would not have been so striking - for it was not uncommon to construct vast statues of this metal. Compare Daniel 3:1. But the remarkable peculiarity of this image was, that it was composed of different materials, some of which were seldom or never used in such a structure, and all of which had a peculiar significancy. On the significancy of this part of the figure, and the resemblance between this head of gold and Nebuchadnezzar himself, see the notes at Daniel 2:37-38.

His breast and his arms of silver - The word rendered “breast” (חדין chădı̂y) is in the plural number, in accordance with common usage in the Hebrew, by which several members of the human body are often expressed in the plural; as פנים pânı̂ym - “faces,” etc. There is a foundation for such a usage in nature, in the two-fold form of many of the portions of the human body. The portion of the body which is here represented is obviously the upper portion of the front part - what is prominently visible when we look at the human frame. Next to the head it is the most important part, as it embraces most of the vital organs. Some degree of inferiority, as well as the idea of succession, would be naturally represented by this. “The inferior value of silver as compared with gold will naturally suggest some degree of decline or degeneracy in the character of the subject represented by the metal; and so in other members, as we proceed downward, as the material becomes continually baser, we naturally infer that the subject deteriorates, in some sense, in the like manner.” - Professor Bush, in loc. On the kingdom represented by this, and the propriety of this representation, see the notes at Daniel 2:39.

His belly and his thighs of brass - Margin, “sides.” It is not necessary to enter minutely into an examination of the words here used. The word “belly” denotes, unquestionably, the regions of the abdomen as externally visible. The word rendered “thighs” in the text is rendered “sides” in the margin. It is, like the word “breast” in the previous verse, in the plural number and for the same reason. The Hebrew word (ירך yârêk) is commonly rendered “thigh” in the Scriptures (Genesis 24:2, Genesis 24:9; Genesis 32:25 (26), 31, 32(32, 33), et al.), though it is also frequently rendered “side,” Exodus 32:27; Exodus 40:22, Exodus 40:24; Leviticus 1:11; Numbers 3:29, et al. According to Gesenius, it denotes “the thick and double fleshy member which commences at the bottom of the spine, and extends to the lower legs.” It is that part on which the sword was formerly worn, Exodus 32:27; Judges 3:16, Judges 3:21; Psalms 45:3 (4). It is also that part which was smitten, as an expression of mourning or of indignation, Jeremiah 31:19; Ezekiel 21:12 (17). Compare Hom. Iliad xii. 162, xv. 397; Odyssey xiii. 198; Cic. 150: “Orat.” 80; “Quinc.” xi. 3. It is not improperly here rendered “thighs,” and the portion of the figure that was of brass was that between the breast and the lower legs, or extended from the breast to the knees. The word is elsewhere employed to denote the shaft or main trunk of the golden candlestick of the tabernacle, Exodus 25:31; Exodus 37:17; Numbers 8:4.

Of brass - An inferior metal, and denoting a kingdom of inferior power or excellence. On the kingdom represented by this, see the notes at Daniel 2:39.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 32. Head was of fine gold — The Babylonish empire, the first and greatest.

Breast and his arms of silver — The Medo-Persian empire, under Cyrus, &c.

His belly and his thighs of brass — The Macedonian empire, under Alexander the Great, and his successors.