Limitless Word
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces all at the same time, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.
Daniel 2:35 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
  • KJV Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
  • BSB Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
  • NKJV Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
  • NLT 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.

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 whole statue is crushed to chaff and blown away, while the stone becomes a mountain filling the earth. God's kingdom replaces and outlasts all others.

Overview

The total destruction of the metals shows the transience of every human empire before God. The growing stone-mountain that fills the earth depicts God's kingdom spreading universally and permanently. Christians have long seen here the kingdom of God, inaugurated in Christ and consummated at His return.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Isa 2:2–3It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
  • Ps 37:10For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.
  • Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
  • Hos 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.
  • Job 6:17In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
  • Isa 41:15–16Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.
  • Isa 11:9They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
  • Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
  • Ps 1:4–5The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
  • Ps 66:4All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” Selah.
  • Ps 103:16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
  • Ps 46:9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
  • Ps 86:9All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.
  • Ps 67:1–2For the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. Selah.
  • Ps 72:16–19Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
  • Ps 80:9–10You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land.
  • Rev 12:8They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.
  • Rev 20:2–3He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,
  • Rev 11:15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
  • Isa 17:13–14The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
  • Mic 4:1–2But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.
  • Mic 4:13Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
  • Zech 14:8–9It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.
  • 1 Cor 15:25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
  • Ps 37:36But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (8)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Daniel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Daniel 2:35YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on DanielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 2:35 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.