Daniel 2:31-36

2:31 “You, O king, were watching as a great statue – one ¹  of impressive size and extraordinary brightness – was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm. 2:32 As for that statue, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze. 2:33 Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. ²  2:34 You were watching as ³  a stone was cut out, ⁴  but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction ⁵  and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth. 2:36 This was the dream. Now we ⁶  will set forth before the king its interpretation.

[2:31]  ¹ tn Aram “an image.”

[2:33]  ² sn Clay refers to baked clay, which – though hard – was also fragile. Cf. the reference in v. 41 to “wet clay.”

[2:34]  ³ tn Aram “until.”

[2:34]  ⁴ tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.

[2:35]  ⁴ tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.

[2:36]  ⁵ tn Various suggestions have been made concerning the plural “we.” It is probably the editorial plural and could be translated here as “I.”