His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Parallel translations
- WEB its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay.
- BSB its legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and part clay.
- NKJV its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
- NASB its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
- NLT its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay.
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 legs are iron and its feet partly iron, partly clay. The mixture pictures a strong yet divided final kingdom.
Overview
Iron suggests crushing strength, while the iron-clay feet signal instability and division. This lowest part of the statue sets up the dramatic blow that follows. The detail prepares for the contrast between fragile human power and God's enduring kingdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Dan 7:7–8After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
- Dan 7:19–26Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
- Dan 2:40–43And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:33 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.