The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,
Parallel translations
- WEB As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,
- KJV This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
- NKJV This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
- NASB The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its chest and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,
- NLT The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The statue's head is gold, chest and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze. The descending metals picture successive kingdoms.
Overview
Each metal section represents a kingdom, beginning with Babylon as the head of gold. The diminishing value of the metals depicts the decline of human empires over time. The vision surveys history as a sequence of rising and falling powers under God's hand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 51:7Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Dan 4:22you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.
- Dan 11:2–20Now then, I will tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. By the power of his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.
- Rev 17:4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
- Dan 7:4–6The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and given the mind of a man.
- Isa 14:4you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
- Dan 2:37–39You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
- Dan 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Dan 8:3–8Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 2:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.